Mockingbird

The best advice you are gonna get *ever* on this forum is this bit from me right now: Don't get advice here...Ask your instructor. Yes, I realize that and appreciate your reminder. But it's a weekday and my instructors are God-knows-where, and at this stage of learning, skydiving is on my mind 24/7. I realize that the technical questions can & should only be answered by my instructor. But isn't this forum good for finding out things from others' mistakes? I truly DO understand & appreciate your concern. Thank you. Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

What about the controlled 90º turns? Any advice? Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Would someone educate me about the difference between steering rear risers and steering front risers? Like, I've heard of steering with rear risers if something is wrong with toggles or you have two canopies out, but I've never heard of steering with front risers. Why would one do that, and what effect does it have? Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Does anyone know where I can see a picture of someone flying their reserve? I've never seen a Reserve out. What part of the container does it come out of? Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

What were you doing wrong in Level 4? (That's the one I'll be doing next week, weather permitting.) Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

I had to laugh that you were the only one who landed on target on your first level 2 jump. Doing the LANDING PATTERN correctly is going to prove to be my greatest challenge I think. I just don't "get" where I'm supposed to be distance-wise (horizontal distance) from the dz when I'm 1000' AGL. Once I can figure that out, it seems easy enough to determine where to start the other two legs, or so I hope. *BIG ANNOUNCEMENT* I'M THE ONE WHO STARTED THIS THREAD, AND I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT YESTERDAY I DID LEVEL 3 AND *PASSED*!!!! So, next week I will attempt Level 4. I can hardly wait!!! Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Dear Luke, thank you for enlightening me on this. I will write it on the inside cover of my SIM so that I don't forget! If you think of anything else, be sure to let me know. With much appreciation, Mockingbird Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

I didn't know that antibiotics can cause drowsiness... I never noticed that, but then we all react differently. I take suphedrine the morning of every skydive--- I have superbad sinuses; always stuffy, and I don't want a sinus headache from the pressure changes, so I try to keep everything open and clear. I've never noticed any side effects from it. But we're all different. I'd NEVER take an antihistamine before jumping; that'll for sure put me in lala land! On the morning of my very first tandem jump, I was really stuffed up, so I used Afrin nasal spray---- man, I'll NEVER do that again!!! Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Fun slideshow, LisaMarie! You looked good out there! Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

You do my heart good. Thanks for the story.

Thanks. I'm still doing happy dances.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged me! I re-did the jump this past weekend and passed. I never lost track of my altitude--- checked it often--- and pulled on time. When will next weekend get here????? Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

LOL... I WISH! Unfortunately, I won't be able to return for a second try until the following weekend as I will be having houseguests this weekend. Have fun for me. Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Glad to hear the word, "normal"!! Boy I wish I could get up there and try again right away. Very relieved to hear that I'm not the only one that didn't process the most important signal of them all!!! That's hilarious; thanks. You are da' man! Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Thanks to everybody for the words of encouragement. I am taking it all to heart for sure. My major concern wasn't the fact that I flunked Level 2, but WHY I flunked Level 2--- my concern of having gone totally blank at one point. I thought, Omygosh, what if I have a tendency to go blank??? That would mean I shouldn't skydive. But a bunch of y'all have told me, and some have even sent me PMs (so sweet, thanks), that what happened probably won't happen again. Well, I hope not. I guess we'll have to see. I had a little flashback this morning and realized that I actually DID see my instructors give me the "Pull now!" signal, but by that point I was a bit confused and I thought (now, don't laugh) that they were pointing at each other! I looked at one, and he was pointing toward the other guy, so I looked at the other guy, and he was pointing back at the first guy. What a dumbbell---they weren't pointing, they were giving me the Pull sign. I will make a point of reporting back on how I do the next time. I appreciate everyone's support. Y'all are great. Blue skies to everybody! Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

The instructor who debriefed me didn't seem very concerned about it since I corrected it after a couple of signals (after first signal, I extended my legs just a little, then with the second signal I extended them more and got the thumbs up). He mentioned lying on stomach with legs at 45º against front of sofa... and toe taps to keep L. and R. calves and feet at same level. I'm so SORE today, I'm not even gonna' try arching! Lying on stomach in front of sofa with feet up sounds good, tho'! Looking back on not having altitude awareness is a Scary Thing. I'm glad yours is good! Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

I'm almost *positive* that we wouldn't have met up with the cloud had we exited the plane promptly. I hesitated a bit...probably a good 8-10 secs. It's funny how you can practice something in your head all week and then when the time comes, it's "HUH?" Now that it's the "morning after" so to speak, I'm feeling a bit more positive about the experience and think that I will be quite a bit more "together" mentally next time. I'm 50 years old and I can tell you that the pattern has been for my entire life: when I'm out of my element, new things don't come easy for me, but if I want something badly enough, I will excel. It's just that bumpy start! Thanks for your kind words and encouragement to hang in. I will!

That's what I was hoping to hear. Thanks. Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Do you think tomorrow is too soon to try again?Quote Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Just out of curiosity, Billy, what if this should happen to me again?!!! Do you think it would indicate that I just don't have the aptitude for this sport? Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Bear with me; this will be long. I flunked my Level 2 jump (First Jump). I lost altitude awareness and an instructor had to pull for me. Afterwards, he went over the dive with me, and we decided that it was basically a sensory overload of sorts which made me go "blank". However, after boo-hooing about it when I got home and telling my closest friend about it, I realized WHY it happened, or at least a major factor for why it happened to ME. (Basically, I have a weird brain.) Other than having to adjust my legs (knees were bent at more than 90º--- almost like on a tandem!), we settled into freefall pretty well. I did my COA, my practice touches, and my second COA--- at this point I was totally taken off guard by our falling through a cloud. It was like we were in a giant steam room. I looked up from my altimeter to check the horizon so that I'd know which direction to turn for the counter-turns maneuver which was next on the dive-flow. But there was no horizon in view because of the cloud we were in. This is where I went blank. I think the reason (other than the weird brain) this made me go blank was because I only knew the dive-flow by rote. When the dive-flow got interrupted, I totally lost my place and drew a complete blank. Both instructors gave me the signal to lock in on my altimeter, but I only looked at it, and the numbers didn't register in my brain. "6000' " meant nothing. When they gave me the signal to pull, the signal meant nothing... It was just a hand in front of my face with no meaning. I remember now (w/ my friend Anthony's help) learning the alphabet when I was a kid. I learned it by rote, like every kid does--- the letters had no real meaning yet. If someone interrupted my recitation, say, as I got to the letter "J", I couldn't just pick up at "K" and go on from there; I had to start completely over at "A." I was so mad at myself on the drive home that I thought I must be mentally retarded or something and probably shouldn't try to jump again. Besides only knowing the dive-flow by rote memory, another reason the cloud blew my concentration was because I had only practiced the dive flow in a perfect scenario--- one maneuver after another, only separated by altimeter checks with nothing unexpected happening. But in real life, the scenario changed--- a big unexpected cloud-thing happened! NOW, as for the rest of the dive? Well, we exited all right, in spite of my being a little weak stepping out of the door. My arch was not bad; we became stable pretty quickly. I did the altimeter readings and yelled them out to each instructor, and I did the practice touches, although on the first one, the one on my right had to guide my hand to the pull. After the cloud incident and all that followed, my canopy opened fine-- although I was so angry at myself that I didn't even inspect the canopy and lines for several seconds. If there had been a large gaping hole or if the slider had gotten stuck part way down, I wouldn't have noticed. What a klutz. Anyway, I did my 180º turns right and left, and started to do my flare, but the instructor with the radio said something to me which I couldn't make out until I cleared my ears. Later he informed me that he had said to follow him and the other instructor to the landing area. That would've been nice to hear. Instead, I felt unusually alone up there, 5000 feet above ground level. I had been told to "stay in the playground" and not wander, and not to get close to the target until I was only 1000'AGL. So, I kept having to make S- turns and sometimes turn into the wind to stall for time (and altitude). Finally, as the needle got to about 1500' I started making my way to the line of trees on the right side of the landing pattern. I heard my instructor tell me that I was doing fine but that I needed to move closer to the line of trees. I never did make it as far to the right as he wanted (distance and depth perception was coo-coo), but it worked out anyway, thanks to his instructions. Anyway, I crossed over the runway, and made a left onto the base leg, then he radioed said I needed to start my final approach. So the base leg turned out to be rather short-lived. OK, so I start my final approach at about 300' AGL, with hands all the way up. Although I was getting close enough to the ground that it seemed to be rushing under me, I was determined to keep my hands all the way up until I was told to flare. As soon as I was given the OK, I flared as best I could but only got the toggles down about waist-high (I need some strength training). I was prepared to to a PLF, but didn't really need to--- I kind of slid in on the side of one leg (so glad I learned how to do that playing baseball!), about 50 yards SE of the target. Nothing hurt, so I started to stand, and the wind caught my canopy, so I was dragged a few feet backwards. As i very clumsily gathered up the lines and canopy, a sweet girl named K. ran up to me from the pool area to see if she could help me. She showed me how to gather it all up in a more *organized* fashion, so that I could carry it in over my shoulder like all the *experienced* skydivers do it. We got a good laugh out of that. Then D. ran out there and walked with us back to the packing area. Both girls were very consoling to this old girl. Needless to say, I'll be repeating Level 2. If something like this (ESPECIALLY THE LOSS OF ALTITUDE AWARENESS) has happened to anyone else, would you please let me know? I could sure use some encouragement, unless it's something that's likely to happen again if I get distracted. Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Avion, thanks for saying this. Now I know what MY instructor was talking about when he was demonstrating the resistance we're supposed to feel when we're doing it right. I was unclear; now I get it. Thanks. I hope to make *MY* first jump this weekend.Quote Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

Having a "club" for people over a certain age is really a great idea, esp. for those of us who never even got STARTED at it until they were over the hill-- we face several unique challenges. Anyway, thanks for the info!

All of y'alls posts have been great and I've really appreciated them. It was especially encouraging to hear from "Firstime" since he's just a few short years my junior. What he said here: reminds me of the saying: "The forties are the old age of youth, but the fifties are the youth of old age." Anyway, I've decided that in OCTOBER/NOVEMBER (when it's cooler down here-- I can't take this heat), I will make another tandem, but it will be an instructional tandem rather than a purely "fun" type. If I have saved enough money, I will go from there with the tandem progression into the AFF program. In the meantime, I will read a lot, watch my tandem video (luckily I have a copy on DVD as well, because I think I'm gonna' wear out the tape!) and get on the treadmill, as I also have as my goal to lose 10 pounds before the next tandem. So, here goes... Thanks, everybody. See you in the sky!

OK, did the profile thing. Now I feel all vulnerable! (I exaggerate; I just wanted to use the embarrassed little smilie) Thanks, everybody, for your encouragement. I guess what I need to do is go to the DZ where I would most likely be training (SkydiveSanMarcos) and try to get a feel for how friendly & professional, etc., they are and then make my decision. In the meantime, I guess I'll just keep watching my tandem video over and over and over, and my "Extreme Skydive" DVD.