MikeJD

I like Shroppies Betterer Yer in a crowd of one! Two. If we get one more it really will be a crowd.

8th floor on tippy toes That reminds me of the riddle about the guy who lives on the 20th floor of an apartment block. When he arrives back there on rainy days he takes the lift all the way up. When it's fine he gets out on the 12th and takes the stairs the rest of the... ...never mind. Given the context, it's not much of a riddle any more.

There's a lot of this sort of thing in the news lately. But it's easier to sympathise with some people than with others.

What he said.

What he said.

I can't (and don't really want to) click on the link, but just to clarify - was that six years of injecting, or one injection and six years plucking up the courage?

Jessie Crossman: People probably told you that Jessie Crossman was the only person skilled enough to jump from a 747. Pete Nessip: Well, the actual phrase used was "dick brain".

I think this already gets you clear of the 'problem student' category. Seriously, I don't think there's any reliable way to tell in advance how you'll react to skydiving or to skydiving instruction. I don't SCUBA dive, but I'd guess that's probably the closest comparison in terms of your prior experience - 'alien' environment, life-saving procedures, non-verbal communication, new equipment to learn. No matter how long it takes you, expect your instructors to have at least as much patience as you do. That's part of their job! Good luck, but most of all, enjoy...

...or you were stressed. Our brains don't always react in the most helpful way to stressful situations - that's why we drill so much on the ground for situations like this. In terms of finding your handles, if you're struggling how about starting by just locating your harness webbing? Since it runs all the way from your hip to your shoulder that should be easier - then you can just slide your hand up until it encounters the cutaway pad or reserve handle and it doesn't matter that they're not in their 'normal' vertical position.

It's been a few years, but I used to jump an aircraft (BN Islander) where the rule was that the door must not be closed below 1,000 ft. The 'door' in this case was really just a glass-fibre cover - essentially unattached, but secured to the inside of the fuselage by bunjees. When not in use it would be slid up inside the aircraft towards the pilot, which always involved some awkward shuffling around. I was never sure of the reason for the rule, but presumably it was either: being quite awkward to remove and stow away, there was a risk that it'd impede our exit in an emergency; or, that being fragile/ brittle it'd be liable to shatter and injure people if in place during an aircraft crash.

I guess that's no stranger than eating Parma Violets (I'm sure you remember those, Tony

Congratulations, guys. I notice Ms Rasche has done the usual journalistic trick with the term 'skydiving'. Is it one word, is it two words, is it hyphenated? Let's hedge our bets and alternate between all three versions at random.

What's the capital of Slovenia? Welcome, Joey!

Welcome! I've never done a tandem, but it does seem by far the way most people get into the sport. When you say you had an amazing time after you left the plane, were you very nervous up to that point?

Hi, and welcome! It's always nice to see such enthusiasm - reminds me of the heady days when I first started. Good on you for trying to 'get your ducks in a row', but just a word of caution about trying to find out too much before your course - as a newbie you've no way of sifting the good information from the bad, so you could be in danger of having to 'unlearn' stuff when you actually get under instruction. And don't whatever you do try to prepare yourself by watching Point Break. Once you've made up your mind to actually do a course, don't try too hard up front - have faith in your instructors to teach you what you need to know. They'll assume they're starting with a blank slate. :)

Since just looking at those pictures made me queasy, I think I'll leave them to it. As to a surprise jump, joking aside I'd say we should leave them in peace and not crash their party. Any BASE during the hours they're operating would get likely get the staff into trouble, and quite possibly the attraction closed down. Oh, and nobody likes a show-off.

What a touching post. Of course we're all going to have to stop jumping at some point (or die before we get chance!), and I expect when that happens to me I'll feel similarly bereft. I'm not about to tell you to ignore the advice of a health professional (especially one who knows the sport) - but as others have said, never say never given that we have very active skydivers who are missing lower limbs altogether and severely disabled people jumping tandem. But for now, concentrate on healing well. That is the most important thing and the only immediate one you need to worry about. Out of interest, how long had you been out of the sport before you came back to it last year?

I haven't scared myself too badly yet - had a few close calls over the years, but typically the danger appears and is (hopefully) gone so fast that you don't have time to worry about it. 'My' scariest jump was actually somebody else's that I watched from the ground. It was a collision and wrap between two people on opening. After a few seconds we saw what seemed to be a cutaway canopy coming down, but then we realised somebody was still tangled up in it. There was a lot of frantic yelling from the specators ('Chop it!' - not much use, but you can't help yourself ) He eventually got himself unwrapped and had a very short reserve ride. He came back in good spirits, laughing and joking and glad to be alive - but never jumped again.

My ex lost her frap hat in freefall and had it handed back to her by a visitor after it landed in the airfield car park. It got a little wet since it hit a puddle, but it was unscathed (as was the audible inside it). I guess that's the good thing about those old leather hats - they're kind of floaty. Full face helmets tend to take at least some damage from impact, even if it's only the visor - and I guess if they happened to hit someone then it wouldn't only be the helmet that got hurt!

Yeah, I jumped one in Dubai a few times. It was excellent - operated by a uniformed crew, with controls and instruments that put me in mind of a WWII bomber. There's something about those big Russian planes - they are beasts. Just don't look at the tyres .

If he'd bought that phone from Larsen and Brusgaard instead of Apple, they'd have given him a new one for nothing.

In all honesty I'd say that my audible is my main device and my visual altimeter the backup. Ahead of those, but not really consciously, come my internal clock and visual cues in my peripheral vision. Of course the latter two rely on consistency of exit altitude, freefall speed and landscape. In my experience it's easy to be thrown by any variation in those. I mostly use my visual altimeter on the way up! Jumping with a team, we have set routines at specific points during the climb - pep talk, team handshake, final gear checks etc. On the other hand, I typically only look at it in freefall if it 'feels' like we're about at the bottom of the skydive, and I haven't yet heard my audible. I also tend to glance at it soon after opening - that's another time when it's good to know exactly how high you are. Regarding the guys who don't wear them, I'd be curious to know why. To me a visual alti is relatively inexpensive, not really any kind of inconvenience, and a calibrated tool that tells you how high you are for any situation in which you might need to know. I certainly wouldn't jump without one by choice.

I don't think it's stupid at all, but I'm finding the us-and-them 'stinkin whuffo'-bashing in both threads kind of off-putting. Can't we just vote for them because they're a nice, deserving couple?

Most everyone here has entertained or impressed me at some point, and 'favourites' come and go. But in general I like different people for different things: For humour and anecdotes, Ryoder, Airtwardo and Turtle. Although for my money the out-and-out funniest poster here is SkyBastard - but he hasn't been around much lately, and I think in any case maybe you have to be British to appreciate his dryness. For brain-the-size-of-a-planet insight, it has to be billvon. For all-round old-fashioned niceness, John Mitchell. For conscientiousness and common sense, NWFlyer. For sharing a joke about our US cousins' use of English, Shropshire. For bringing poetry to the great unwashed, truckerjean. For modding with a light touch, Skymama. The list goes on...

Never really got into the British version. I think the best thing about that show is the anagram!