Rhonda66

lmao - you know what I mean...

Do you love the girl? You know, I don't get these people that just say they are outright against marriage and commitment - don't knock it till you try it. I can see not wanting to rush into anything, which is wise, but why break it off completely? If you tell her that you really care and maybe would consider something more serious someday, I'm sure she would be more than happy to compromise. I love my husband so much - he's my best friend - we jump together, we fly together, we do just about everything together and I could never imagine living without him at this point. Even if the relationship were to deteriote one day and we had to divorce, I wouldn't regret our marriage. However, he sounded exactly like you when we first met when he was 23 - he never wanted to get married, never wanted kids - my, how things can change in a matter of years and when you really find that right person for you... We all know that guys typically do not communicate with their significant others very well so just tell her how you feel - If she really loves you and you go about talking to her the right away, she will definitely understand.

Forget the 182 - buy me a Citation...

Ok, I just have to stand up for "shitsu"'s here - the correct spelling is Shih Tzu....

I don't think there's any right answer to this, but personally I think it's better to do a tandem because you really have no idea how you're going to react to freefall until you've tried it and I don't think it hurts to be strapped to someone very experienced in case you freak out on your first jump like I did. Rhonda

My husband and I are both skydivers - wouldn't have it any other way. Freefalling together has formed a bond between us that can never be broken. People always tell me how lucky we are that we really enjoy doing something together. Rhonda

You obviously don't know my hubby - He is a VERY unique one :) I don't know if it's good or bad yet :) Rhonda

That's how he is too.....I can respect that, but just because he could do stand-up and head-down at 50 jumps doesn't mean I have to.....I'm happy taking it slow and learning on every jump - for me, it is a miracle just to be a skydiver and to love it as much as I do. Rhonda

Thank you - that really helps and makes me feel a lot better. I felt like I wanted to quit after that, but I will push on - and you're right, I won't jump with him if he keeps up that attitude.... Thanks, Rhonda

That's what scares me - I don't want to read too much into it or try to analyze it, but where do I fit in when he doesn't care that I felt too pressured (and I told him that) - I feel like we're competing a lot of the time and it's really taking the fun out of it - I think it may be time for a jumping separation for a while - part of me tells me that's part of the problem - since I got off AFF I have ONLY jumped with him while he has jumped with other people when I can't jump..... Rhonda

Yeah, but what freaks me out and makes me mad is that we just happened to be put at the back of the plane with only one group behind us and I took the initiative to speak to them and he was also mad that I did that.... Honestly, I felt that it was more of a guy thing and that he didn't feel "cool" doing belly flying and exiting first with the belly fliers - I think he just wanted to be in the front of the plane with the guys from Arizona Freeflight, etc. - that's what makes me mad about it. Rhonda

Jumptown's my home DZ! Yea, they do a good mix of both - I'd say about equal. Last time I knew, we had a Caravan up there cuz we lost our King Air :( There's a lot of good, friendly people there with skill to jump with you too. Perhaps we'll see you there - I'm thinking about taking a drive next weekend.... Rhonda

Hi - I'm not at all afraid to freefly, but I have no idea how to right now so I didn't think that was the right time and place for it - I would have felt a lot better about it at my home DZ. That really was the only issue - my hubby takes it very seriously and he wants us to freeefly because he's "bored" with belly flying. It's no refection on our relationship. I just feel pressured to freefly now when I haven't even gotten belly flying down 100%. I think he thinks that somehow pressuring me will help me to do it faster, but I know I'll do it when I'm ready for it... Rhonda

No religion here - not Atheist either, just no religion. My parents didn't raise me with one and I wan't baptized. Same for my husband....... Rhonda

Ok, here goes - I was in Eloy last week with my hubby. We hadn't jumped in six months (since just before Sept. 11). I have 200 jumps over 5 years, which shows you how infrequently I get to jump. He has 400+ jumps over about the same amount of time. We started off by belly flying and I was really rusty, which I think can be expected, but I was having fun anyway. He started giving me a hard time because he was doing video and he wanted us to freefly, which he is half-decent at, but which I've never done. I also have a hard time diving out of the plane still because I always somehow manage to turn back and face the plane on the way out because that's easiest for me. I said I would just solo and pointed out that we were supposed to be jumping for fun - that we aren't training for the Olympics or something like that, but he was mad so I told him to go freefly himself and I'd solo for awhile and then maybe we could jump again together later when I was back in the swing - I also had a new canopy, which is really all I wanted to concentrate on at the time. So finally we do another jump together and when I asked him what we were going to do (assuming we would do our usual belly fly) he says "we're freeflying" - I froze up like a student and really started to panic because the plane was loaded with freefliers and they exit the plane after the belly fliers and I was really afraid to be in the air with all of these freefliers around us because I knew I would end up on my belly and I know you can't do that when you're freeflying. Fortunately, we ended up at the back of the plane with one two-way behind us and I told them that we were going to attempt a freefly and warned them I would probably wind up on my belly and asked them if they would prefer to go first. They said no, but they said not to worry about it because they would give us plenty of time - we also ended up on a go-around so we really had plenty of time before exits - I just want to stress that I would not even have exited the plane with him if I felt that anyone would be put in jeopardy myself. I would have solo'd or rode the plane down before doing that myself. What happens on the jump isn't important, but of course I ended up back on my belly and my hubby was pissed - the situation ruined the vacation pretty much.... Now, what I'm wondering from you guys is 1. Am I an idiot because I can't freefly or exit the plane in a perfect dive with 200 jumps? I mean, am I slower than other skydivers in learning, and wanting to learn, this stuff? 2. Was it reasonable for my hubby to push me like that or am I justified in feeling that he was a complete asshole who put our lives, and possibly other people's lives, in jeopardy? In my opinion, that's not how you learn new disciplines in this sport and I was, and still am, really pissed off at him for pulling that on our vacation... Thanks for your input. Rhonda

Hi - We just travelled from Boston to Eloy and back on America West. Normally we carry the two rigs on with no problem, but we decided to check them in suitcases this time - no problems - and both contain CYPRES.... Rhonda

I think it depends on what you mean by "experienced" - I think if you have been granted an A-license and a ticket to jump on your own, then you can consider yourself experienced in this sport. Expert and experience are two totally different terms..... With 200 jumps I consider myself experienced. I can get out of the plane, do my manuevers, pull, flare and land my canopy without instruction or assistance, but I'm certainly no expert. What bothers me even more are people who think they know everything about skydiving because they have a high jump number and they lecture you about everything. Like this guy who recently lands after my husband and asks him, "do you know you landed downwind?" and starts to give him a hard time - If there was any wind at all, it must have been about a half a mile an hour wind and my husband landed perfectly, but there's always someone who thinks they know it all and it's their way or no way. Good advice when necessary is almost always a good thing, but giving someone else a hard time because you think you're a SkyGod is not...... Rhonda

I have 10 hours in a Diamond Katana - then I started jumping, then I went back to school - graduate in may and will try to get my private pilot license soon after. It's something I have to do...When I'm driving on the highway, I want to pull back on my steering wheel and take off, know what I mean? My Uncle is a stunt pilot - flies a Decathalon - that's how all this shit started in the first place :) Rhonda

Hey - my husband and I were there during spring break too - I think we did the balloon jump at the same time as you and a girl you were with!???? On friday, right? You went first on a 3-way and we went last. We have video of you guys leaving the balloon...... Missed your reserve ride though - good job! Rhonda

I imagine that you are right - now I really want to find out. Next time I go to Pepperell I'll see if anyone remembers what exactly happened that day. Yes, that would be interesting if it was a Racer - then I can just go stick a sock in my mouth about the gear checks :) Rhonda

That is freaking nasty!

I totally do - I can't even really explain it myself still, but I swear to you it happened. If I knew what gear he was jumping, I could probably explain better, but I don't know. This happened in Pepperell nearly 5 years ago when I was a student and the instructor wasn't my regular JM and I haven't seen him in years. I wish the instructor was out here so he could tell his version of the story. We exited from 13K out of an otter - I tended to get unstable on exit during AFF which I did. I beleive I was at about 11K when I got stable and looked at my JM. He was in a stable belly to earth position as was I. There was fabric, which at the time looked like part of a canopy, but must have been the PC, sticking out of the container and just hanging right behind his head and also what looked like bridle to me just flapping around - it was clear that something was wrong. If he had a spring-loaded pilot chute I can't explain why it didn't launch...it just looked like it was snagged. I backslid and kept shaking my head no when he signaled for me to do my manuevers and he just looked sort of aggrevated. It didn't look to me like he ever thought something was wrong with his gear and he never looked up - just at me - thinking everything was fine and I was crazy for not doing my manuevers. I got really scared and started to wobble so I pulled a little high. When I looked down, 2 chutes were out and he was spinning bad. I saw the main finally release and I watched him land under just the reserve. I told Fran what I saw and they kind of looked at me like I was nuts because I guess they would have expected the same thing you did and I was only a student, but then they found his rigger's packing seal in the back of the plane where we had been sitting and decided that the pin was in fact dislodged when we were still in the plane and my JM said that he had been moving around a bit - we sat on the floor of the otter then and he had his back against the wall behind the pilot. I just asked my husband who was with me that day if he ever heard anything more about it or if he could explain what happened now that he has 400+ jumps and he said no. They had asked me to fill out a report about what I saw, but I didn't jump for a while and I never did it. My JM said I did the right thing because I felt bad that I didn't do anything. He said all I could have done was signalled to him and I really tried to. He said he would have smacked me if I tried to pull any of his handles, which I know I couldn't have done anyway at the time. Can you/anyone explain this series of events because I've always wanted to know what the heck happened on my Level 7 #1? It was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life so I can't even imagine how my JM felt at the time...We were all just very happy that he was ok and I didn't think to ask any questions. The jump isn't even properly logged in my AFF logbook due to all of the excitement that day..... Believe me, I understand your confusion completely - you're only getting my student version of the events that day and now, as an experienced skydiver, I still can't explain it any better than that... Rhonda

Yeah, it was dislodged before we left, but nothing came out until after we were in freefall - the instructor had no clue. It mal'd and was stuck in a sort of horseshoe configuration right over his head right up until pull time - I backslid and tried to signal to him and he kept motioning to me to do my Level 7 manuevers, but I just wanted to get the hell away from the mess. I pulled high and he fell to normal pull altitude, pulled normal and the PC cleared and both the reserve and main launched simultaneously - or so he says at that point because all I saw was the two chutes already out and spinning in a downplane after I pulled. He said that one set of risers was across his neck and he had a very hard time cutting the main away, but he was eventually able to and landed under just the reserve.... Got it now everyone? It was a really freak situation and I almost quit after witnessing it....... I did get to do Level 7 again for free and I passed :) Rhonda

Hi - Nope, it was dislodged long before exit at the front of the otter where we were sitting... Rhonda

That's all fine to say now, but I'm sure my instructor felt the same way and he had no idea that his pin was dislodged during the ride to altitude - he could have known if someone checked, even himself - it's your perogative to have your pin checked if you want it checked or not have it checked if you don't want it checked, but it would really suck to become a statistic if a pin became dislodged and you weren't aware of it - and it would suck even more if your chute deployed on exit and brought down a plane full of people.....I guess you have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages and make your own decision. Still, I saw it happen to my own instructor and it scared the hell out of me so I know it could happen to anybody. Rhonda