Jeth

Hi Aviator! Welcome to the sport!

Just do it!!!

Great read! I took 2 friends for a tandem when I went back for my AFP. One of them got hooked and will be doing AFP next year. (She figured she would -- likes extreme sports) The other one didn't. She said she loved the experience, but didn't have any desire to learn how. So I guess its like that TM said - a few hate it, a few get hooked, and the rest just have fun. I wasn't expecting to get hooked, and it does suck to have such an expensive passion, but it's all worth it when I get in the air!!

Hey there Seneca! Welcome to the sport! I see you did your jump at SDC. Were you one of the Mad City skydivers there last weekend? I am a student there right now. They have a great program! And let me tell you -- if you think the tandem was great, just wait till your first solo jump!

Thank you Tigra!!

Thank you, that was my point. Injuries can happen anywhere, anytime. And if you're a skydiver that does not mean you are guaranteed to get injured or killed. BTW, mine is not that bad. I may not need surgery on the ligament and nothing is broken. People just overreact cuz I got the injury by skydiving. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

OMG, thats incredible!! Geezus! I would've told her something worse!! Ya, all the people who previously knew I jump said "I was hoping your injury wasn't from skydiving." Why does it matter! What, it's not as bad if I fell down the stairs? An injury sucks no matter how you get it. Geez. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

OMG, you are so right!! I have already heard a million times that I could've died and I'm crazy for wanting to keep jumping. Geez. I just had a bad landing, it happens when you're learning to skydive! Oh, and to the person who said skydiving IS dangerous -- duh! I never said it wasn't! These people just have no concept of how injuries happen in skydiving and they think of all the worst-case scenarios all the time. I mean, I have a friend who has a worse knee injury from running! Injuries happen in any sport! People just overreact cuz of their ideas of skydiving. (Yes, I am aware skydiving is more dangerous than running. ) "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Man, this sucks!! I really wish I had made up some story about how I got hurt. Instead, now everybody who sees me hobbling around is thinking that skydiving is so dangerous. I am sooooo sick of trying to justify it to people!!! I wish I had gotten hurt doing something else, so I wouldn't be bringing skydiving down with me!! Nobody believes me when I tell them that the reason I got hurt was because I didn't land the way I was taught. And it also doesn't matter to them that my previous jump had an awesome tiptoe soft landing. All they see is that someone who skydives got hurt. They think on every jump we come crashing to earth. They don't get it, they will never get it, and I'm sick of trying to explain it!!! Geezus. I am so sick of this. The next person who asks me what happened I'm going to tell them I fell down the stairs!! In case anyone is wondering, I came down fast in very low wind and didn't PLF so I slammed forward/sideways on my knee and tore it. If I'd done a PLF, I'm sure I'd be fine. So now I've learned about low wind landings. Thats what being a student is all about. I know I'll be practicing my PLF's this winter!! "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Hey there!

Ok I know I'm asking for trouble here but as "rules" is this a hard and fast thing or is it more of a guideline? I was at 1:1 still on student status at skydivechicago at 70 jumps (and for the last 40+ and probably the next 200+ ) I've been jumping at or just over 1:1 (170 main, I weigh 160 without gear) I dont think I'm riskie, I can already do most of bill's famous list, still working on refining and getting more comfortable with some of it, and I'm in no hurry to downsize I paid a lot for my main and its fun to fly but in no way do I feel foolish or riskie to be at the loading I'm at.. I don't think I'm anything special I just think that the training at SDC is better then most dropzones. So is that true about the training at SDC? Cuz I was wondering about that. I see all these students here that are flying these huge canopies. I'm at SDC and they put me on a 190 at 1:1. They put everybody at 1:1, guys and girls. And some of my fellow students were okay'd to downsize towards the end of their progression so they'd be higher than 1:1. Is SDC the only school that starts students at 1:1?? Is this to my benefit? BTW, I'm not complaining, I have landed okay under the 190. I'm just surprised that other schools are using such big canopies for students. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

I didn't need to hold off -- I'm experiencing the world with my husband!

LOL I like that one.

Welcome!

This is my fear in this sport. I am not so much scared of myself going in, but if I ever witness someone else's last day, that might be too much for me. I hope and pray that if I ever do, that I don't know that person. Cuz if it is someone I know, I don't know if I could continue to jump. I've never seen anybody die. The closest thing is when my father got in a very bad plane crash. He was very, very badly injured. I don't want to see something like that again. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

That's awesome, congrats!

Screw you guys!! Oh sure, I was at SDC yesterday, but it was all cloudy and windy!! Then on the day I have to go back to work, its all sunny!! I wish I could quit my job. But that would make it a little hard to pay the mortgage. Sunny, great to meet you yesterday!

Is it? I know that the red one is on velcro, but I was thinking that the silver one is just in a little slot on the harness. (Dangit! If I had my own rig, I could go look! ) Maybe theres velcro inside there. Anyway, I will definitely peel & pull it when the time comes. I was just curious.

Right. Hopefully if I do things right my hand will be on it before I even pull red. Thanx for the info. I'll ask my instructor, too.

Owning was definitely the way to go for me. But I live in an area with really high rents. I got a much bigger, nicer place for way less than a rental would cost. Not to mention I wanted to build up some equity. Also not to mention when interest rates fall you get a cheaper payment. When you rent your landlord gets that benefit and I'm sure doesn't lower your rent. Ya, it is a pain selling and buying, but in the long run it brings many benefits like equity, tax breaks, home improvement practice, and decorating control. Also the fact that you never have to move unless you want to. I'm definitely happy with being a home owner.

Hello, I haven't had a cutaway yet *knocks on wood*, but I was just wondering if you do chop and have an RSL, and that pulls the reserve out before you pull the handle, will the handle then fall off the harness? Just thought of this while I was bored at work practicing my EPs. Thanx.

Yup, similiar things have happened to me. At our wedding we made it no-kids cuz I'd seen too many weddings spoiled by some baby crying or kids running around the reception hall. Some people weren't too happy about that and said they couldn't come w/o their kids. But the nice thing was that was all the people we didn't really care about anyway. All our friends and family that know us knew we don't like kids so they respectfully left them at home.

I can only speak for myself when I say that I genuinely want a family with a husband and kids. Not just because it's the 'normal' thing to do.

And a very good saying too. The sad thing is people feel that the higher they climb the ladder the less they have to do. Extremely backwards. When I was in the Navy one of my O-5s would often pick up a mop and scrub the floors right there next to us peons. It didn't just stop there. When handing out cleaning tasks he often assigned the harder, more dirty duties to himself. What did that do? It made us look up to him in a way few enlisted men looked at officers. He had the pulse of every man under him. He was a true leader. He lead from the front. And because of his leadership we would follow him anywhere. And he knew it. Ok, hold on a minute!! Just like that one guy said -- he gets paid for his mind. Me, too. I get paid for my expertise in a certain area. And, believe me, when stuff needs to get done, I do it. And I'm damn good at it, too! But there are days of downtime or times when you get stuck on something or times inbetween projects when you are bored. Thats just the way it is. Back in high school I worked at McDonalds. Back then I shared your sentiment. I always used to resent it that the head manager wasn't back in the kitchen helping us mop the floors or wash the dishes. Then one day we got a really big lunch rush, so he actually did come back and help wrap the food. And just then some of his friends came walking in. They saw him back there and said "Whoa! Whats up? Did ya get demoted to cook there?" Then I realized. They are right! He was the head manager, not the cook! And he shouldn't be expected to mop the floors to get respect from us. It is our job to mop the floors, his job to run the store. Thats just the way it us. Everyone has their job. As long as you get treated with respect, you shouldn't hold it against your boss if he doesn't do your job. Thats not his job. There, I said my piece.

That's about 20 more than me. I got here at 6:00 to get stuff done and have been surfing the net all day. Wow, thanks! I feel better now.