schattenjaeger

Yah, I REALLY feel sorry for those instructors. That one guy went chasing after him 'till God knows how low, I would've bought him a case of beer for every 1000 feet AWAY from the jump altitude we were, definately NOT sue him

I don't know about you guys, but this whole topic gives me the willies! *shudder*

I'm doing my AFF level 3 on Thursday, and can anyone give me any tips for exiting the plane stable? (we use a Cessna C208 caravan, with the door on the side, we're taught to put one hand inside the door, one outside, put our feet next to the edge and parralel to it, etc. and just to step out and arch, to put it in a nutshell)On my both my previous jumps I de-arched, flailed my legs a bit, and corrected it before I went over onto my back, and finished the dive fine. Anyways, I'd much rather not exit unstable again:) I THINK my problem is both times I looked down right as I left, and probably fixated on the ground, and now that I think about it, looking at the ground horizontally is fine, but arching while stepping out of the plane with your head down like that is nearly impossible! Does that sound right? And of course I'll address this issue with my JM on Thursday, but I'd like more input beforehand as well 2nd question- I know I need to get all these done within 30 days of each other to avoid reccurency training charges and whatnot(funds being a bit o' an issue for me)but do you guys still jump when it starts to get cold? Thanks!

The Jim Curtis idea sounds right, but the person on the right actually looks female to me. Might just be me though

OH MY GOD! I actually went and watched that Lutz video! Is it just me or did the JM grab his hand to put it on the PC, and he broke his hand free and went for the cutaway?

Well, where I am, we do COAs(circle of awareness, check the altimeter, then each instructor for hand signals)then I'll do 90 degree turns in each direction. I think I might have 3 practice touches in there too, I'm not sure yet. Anyways, thanks for the support!

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not like "lalala going skydiving lala", I'm still like "HOLY **** WOOOAHHHHHH" only the second time the overriding fear of death wasn't as strong.

*goes to skydivingmovies.com and watches a few other students in action* Oh lord, a couple of those made ME nervous, I feel sorry for the instructors!

REALLY new, in fact. As in, I'll be going for my AFF level 3 jump next Thursday. I was wondering, how does the average student usually do on those? My level 1 jump was also my FIRST jump, and I looked a bit flustered, but did everything I was supposed to(practice touches, deployed at the correct altitude, landed safely, etc.)the second time I felt a LOT more comfortable doing it(it was almost scary how non-scared I was)yet both times I de-arched on exit and almost went over onto my back, but corrected it quickly both times. I know I won't pass level 3 unless I exit with some semblance of stability, but I'm pretty sure I've got that down now(it probably didn't help my arch that I was staring at the ground both times as I stepped out) and I've also got leg noise. Everything else is fine, it's just my legs. So, for two jumps, am I just being too harsh on myself, or is that normal? I figure I can't be too bad considering some of the stories I hear from my JMs(like the student who froze after her chute was out and wound up landing like 2 miles away)Heck, my canopy control is good, if nothign else