Orange1

Congratulations!! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Am going to be in Spain later this year and hopefully will be clutching an A-licence by then, can anyone recommend DZs in the Andalucia region? Preferably where they speak English and have decent rental equipment. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Will this be updated for other countries at some stage?

Well done jeth!!! Good on you for facing that fear and overcoming it, and wow 4 jumps! Excellent. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I can almost assure you it's better than fighting the propblast from a sitting position in the door One day (soon) we'll be grown up enough to dive out the door Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Thanks for posting that. I'm about to start thinking about my own gear and - mainly thanks to DZ com threads in general and specific posts like this - am acutely aware of the wingloading issue! I don't mind babysteps and will probably have a w/l of 0.7-0.8 on my first canopy - which will still probably feel way different from my student canopy given that my wingloading on that is around 0.5 Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Congratulations!! As you can see we are all waiting to see what kind of jump you chose to do first! May you have many many more Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Congratulations! It just gets better from here on. Keep us updated on when you lose the umbilical Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Maybe just a rule on our DZ then. They seem to have more than other places

Presume your DZ is not only open at weekends Guys - thanks for the input. Bottom line is to get to the DZ and jump as often as possible. I'm never gonna be practically able to do 15-25 jumps a week ... then again i have no ambition to be a skygod but i do wanna be safe and have fun in the air. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Not sure what the MOPs actually are here except that until we get a packing licence we pack under supervision, but I was told that when I start "of course you won't be packing student parachutes"... Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

my (newbie) experience - on the SL jumps you count to 5 seconds for same reason mentioned as per IAD above. (It's uncanny how many people have said that they are SURE the 2nd SL jump took much longer for the chute to open... hmmm, I suspect it's just perception) but once on freefall even at low altitudes the count goes pull000, 5000, check - so only 2 seconds to start checking (check is also turning head to clear burble) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

hmmm... i dunno, i suspect the frustration comes out in other ways - road rage, wife beating etc. Like I said, my own wacky theory. But I have become a much calmer driver since I started jumping

It's my own wacky theory that human beings are hardwired to NEED adrenalin exposure. Since we don't get it from hunting mammoths and running away from lions these days, we need to get it by skydiving and other "extreme" sports. (Any of these as extreme as getting chased by lions? nah.) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Discussed in the history & trivia forum, see for example http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=620319;search_string=geronimo;#620319 Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I also did a downwind landing - luckily we have very soft sand at our DZ and I got away with a couple of bruises (and a mouthful of sand). But in our FJC we were taught - I forgot it then but never will again - that you always do a PLF on a downwind landing. You might want to try actually practising PLFs on normal landings, if you don't mind not standing up in front of everyone else to get you a bit more comfortable with translating forward speed into it? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

PROOF POSITIVE? Click on the BPA link they provide... Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Exact location? Look at that map again... and i couldn't find any phone #s, which seems a bit odd? Also, I don't really know, they say they are "linked" to the BPA? What does that mean? Isn't there a national skydiving body in Ireland - if there is it's not mentioned. And if they've been operating as long as they say they have surely the locals should have heard about them by now? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

And are they the only DZ in the world that includes a "full set of your own custom made equipment" in the cost for AFF....??!! And up to six jumps on your first day of static line jumping?? And another 300 pounds for DRP & 1st freefall training after static line... isn't this usually 'free'? (is at my DZ) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

yeah, what Salsa John said. i did SL not AFF but had to repeat a few jumps - problems with getting my exit and arch right. i was really pissed off when i realised i wasn't gonna get it done in minimum # of jumps. then one of my instructors said to me: every jump teaches you something. this way, you KNOW you are ready before you move on, so you are safer and have more confidence. i think he's right. i also think by that time we are counting jumps in the hundreds and thousands, doing an extra couple at the beginning's not gonna be such a big deal

welcome, great ps looking at your url - do you have a cat? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Would be nice if we HAD any tunnels here to use . Just my circumstances re family etc - and it is harder at a small DZ - I can probably do 50 -60 jumps a year... Which is still way over the BSRs, but way less than what you recommend . But thanks for the pointers. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

(I'm just a newbie but) We are taught (and I know in US it's the same cos it's in Poyntner's book) that slower canopies and lower canopies have right of way. He points out that upward visibility is very poor under canopy, which may also be a factor with your guys? (also why lower pilots have right of way). And I guess one would assume that a more experienced pilot on an HP canopy would be able to get themselves out of trouble easier than a novice on a slow one. Having said that, as a newbie I must worry about what you've said. Just my own experience on our DZ is: (1) we are taught to always look in the direction we're about to turn. Presumably there are some turns involved in your newer jumpers "holding" - why aren't they looking? (2) is it an issue with the layout of your DZ? our usual holding areas (prevailing winds) are either N or S of the DZ, with the runway to the W and the advanced landing area W again, so there would be no reason - usually - for anyone to hold over those areas. (I stand corrected but I think we actually go on wind hold if it starts blowing easterly - but i've never been there in those wind conditions) I guess what I'm asking is - is the problem the rule, or is it possibly in the training/briefing of your students, or the layout of your DZ? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I get your point on that, but by the same token then how can anyone here judge if 58 jumps in 2 years is enough, a lot, or not? I was just kinda asking for general guidelines. It would also be different (I guess) for say someone who at least reads something about skydiving every day they don't jump, or practices EPs or whatever, and those who don't think about it at all between their once-a-month currency jumps... (and yes, unfortunately I DO know people in the latter group.) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I would like a bit of clarification if possible on some of the comments on currency in some threads in incidents. For example, in one thread one someone stated that "58 jumps in two years is not a lot". I can see the point, and I realise there could be issues wih the timing, BUT this was well over minimum BSRs? I realise keeping currency at the absolute minimum required by the BSRs is NOT the way to go, but presumably these were drawn up with the ideas that it would be enough to keep jumpers safe? On a related question, what would the experienced guys here themselves recommend in terms of minimum jumps per month for say students/novices/A licenses? (Bearing in mind that not all of us are able to spend all weekend every weekend at the DZ, much as we'd like to)... thanks Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.