Orange1

This perhaps should be a different thread, but this is also something I've wondered about. Then again, you can't always judge from the course itself - wasn't it you who posted that case where you had an AFF student who seemed to be completely on top of things and your other AFFI had to pull for him? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Hi Neil, welcome to the forums. I'm from down south and when i grow up (i.e. get my A license) i'll come jump at JSC and meet y'all sometime! edited to say: just seen you're at witbank! maybe one day! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[replyNot really. Each malfunction should be dealt with in different ways. Just because your canopy doesn't open perfectly doesn't mean that you should jump straight to your emergency procedures. yup - i've already ridden down a less-than-perfect square ... but as absolute newbies we're taught to follow the when in doubt whip it out rule for anything less than a perfect square... the point was though same as yours - FJC will reveal all Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Thanks. Was beginning to think the question was SO dumb no-one would answer it! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

ok. line twists have been described above, the other mals - i think as a student all you need to know is if you don't have a nice open perfect square above your head that's floating straight, you have a problem. but you'll learn on your FJC. go do it!! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

3 jumps in your profile? We had illustrations of mals and abnormalities in our FJC as well as reprinted in our training manual. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Wow. Glad you got down ok. Possible dumb newbie question re I can only summise that an initial tear in the top skin was caused on opening, but not enough to show up during my control checks. Then progressively as the canopy ride went on tore more and more. Isn't ripstop nylon supposed to stop tears getting worse, or isn't the canopy made of ripstop, or is there another factor I'm not aware of? Thanks Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

lol. we hired a partyman for my kids party on the weekend (clown/puppet show etc) guy turns up, and it's one of the other students on my DZ!! I now have a photo of him in a clown suit which will find its way to the DZ Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

We don't use radio here - we use bats (your paddles, i presume) and we only get them on our first jump. (So you learn very quickly to get yourself down safely by yourself ) Very easy to see the bats from way up high, and you should get your S's and flare perfectly if you follow the batsman. Our instructors also go over our landing pattern with an aerial photo during training, and again at the DZ itself on take-off. Use an arrow by all means if you have one, but the windsock is also quite easy to see from up high and more reliable as you can get a sense of windspeed. One of our instructors suggests losing "arrow dependency" asap as apparently they can get stuck. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Congratulations... hoping to make that post myself in the not TOO distant future!!! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

a 280! i like it cos i've stood up no-wind landings

A kind lurker PM'd me this weblink. I post it here because it seems to answer all my questions as well as the issue re different size canopies flying differently at the same wingloadings. It's by Scott Miller. Maybe will help some other newbies. http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/choosing1.pdf Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Yes, I'll ask my instructors, but just wanted to get some opinions here too. 2 main questions. I'm going to start looking around for a canopy soon, and a 150 at my exit weight will give me a wingloading of less than 1. (I'm using 22lb here for rig weight as a rule of thumb, but am not sure how much a sq foot of parachute material weighs so it may be less?) Are there any problems associated with too low wingloading eg if I get a 190 or 210 will it be a problem? I'm very light on my student canopy but also know that these behave better. And if I am used to a wingloading of around 0.5 will a sudden move to say 0.9 or 1 be difficult to handle? Second, at some stage I presume I'll want to go above 1. Do smaller sizes (say 120 which would give me 1.2 based on same exit weight calc above) come in 'normal' squares or are they mainly elliptical? Thanks Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Standard procedure on our DZ - EVERYONE gets a pin check. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Thanks - have already ordered Germain's book. Unless Scott Miller decides to visit SA that course may have to wait a while Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I've heard of pregnant women jumping. The risks MAY be small... but how would you feel if something went wrong (we all know how some 1st jumpers get so overloaded they ignore instructions on the way down)? I wasn't jumping when I fell pregnant but I stopped (horse) riding as soon as I knew. I'd only ever fallen off once ...but I wasn't prepared to take that risk. Just my $0.02 Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I hope this isn't a dumb question. I'm still trying to get beyond just the very basics of understanding how a ram-air canopy works!! Student canopies are "unstallable", if I understand right this is from lengthened brake lines. Why is this rather safe aspect not extended to other canopies - I presume there is a trade-off somewhere between this and better performance in some other aspects? If I wanted to have my own (as yet unpurchased!) chute modified this way would I be able to, and why would I or wouldn't i want to? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

thanks - got that typical newbie thing about asking more experienced jumpers to do two-ways! (Um, just thinking forward , not getting ahead of myself!) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Try sort by "post date" rather than "relevance"...

...and some of the girls THINK they just want the once-off and end up hooked A # of the DZs here require 1 SL jump before AFF. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

tequila! how's the arm? AFF - delta was recommended to [the girl with pink hair? what's her name?] cos the dal sometimes has hassles getting 2 AFF guys on site - anyway i'm happy to try it out and and yes they video the jumps for debriefing, and by doing it in 10 days solid (incl weekends), if i'm lucky and the weather is kind i might get the ISPs done that week as well.... so that was my thinking. The dal will still be home

lol - eilat's right on the egyptian border - pretty long walk back to sharm-el-sheikh though Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

dunno about there but you can hop across to Israel - I believe there's a DZ in Eilat? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

This is a decision I've made. Nothing at all to do with believing AFF is superior, but rather logistics - the DZ I use is small and open weekends only, if i'm lucky i'll do 2 jumps a day. i have other commitments on a number of weekends and with the weather turning (nastier) i figure it could take up to 4 months (!!!) just to get off progression. So, i've booked a week off work and am doing AFF at a closer, busier DZ that's open every day, and should be off progression by month end... hopefully. So the main reason is to get towards my A licence faster. Any hints from anyone who's done the switch about what to expect? i'm a bit wary of overconfidence - for example, i've basically lost any door fear i had, etc so i think it should be a bit easier for me from a "sensory overload" experience... am i too confident here? Does having done SL help or hinder me? To be honest I also feel a bit like I'm "stepping back" - i've already done a free-fall on my own, now i need 2 instructors holding on to me? Two other girls from my DZ have done the same thing, but for different reasons. One just couldn't get through the 5-second delay, the other had done 15 SL jumps and was ready in terms of manoevres but mentally couldn't psych herself up to do a F/F. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.