rendezvous

you'll be surprised how accomodating guys can get !

well, when you jump off a balloon you have very little control during the first few seconds until the air flow builds up. You can actually talk to your buddy during the first 2 sec. of the fall. You get a feeling of jumping into nothingness. It's also totally silent so you are very aware of each thought in your mind. It's just an amazing feeling.

From BBC: It has also put this rather earnest daredevil into the record books for the first human flight unaided and unpowered across the 21 miles of the English Channel - or 35km if you prefer. From CNN: First person to Skydive across the English Channel Ok ! It's a remarkable feat and very impressive but my questions is (A) Does this really qualify as a record for unassisted and unpowered flight of 21 miles since using the delta wings is being in the same league as paragliders and hanggliders, with the difference that this wing is not efficient enough to take you up. The records for paragliders and hanggliders I'm sure are much more than 21 miles. (B) The CNN claim that he skydived across the channel. Well, not quite because the take off ( or launch ) may have started as a skydive but flying with the assistance of a carbon fiber wing should take it out of the category of a skydive, shouldn't it ?

I'm sure happier things happened at the WFFC last year but death is the only association to this sport that really makes the news. I hope there's a press clip out there that talks about the better aspects of the convention too.

How do I figure out whats the date of manufacture of my ripcord pin ?

I personally think that if you have to have someone hold your hand to jump....That its not for you. So what would be your views on an AFF student who overcome with anxiety screws up his first one or two levels and heads out to the tunnel, comes back with excellent skills and a lot of confidence to perform near perfect Skydives on his remaining AFF Vs someone who actually works to overcome this anxiety and fear in actual skydives but passes the AFF in some 15 to 20 jumps with moderate flying skills. Which of these two do you think the sport is really ment for ?

Ok ! so how come all these folks exited the plane and found themselves to be stable before pulling while my AFF was one spinny affair !

really cool ! makes me want to do it someday. I guess I'll just have to wait until I have a few more jumps under my belt.

I've never jumped one and I would definitely be interested in trying it out. I'll check in once I there.

But I'm afraid it I reached for it in a feet down position immediately after cutaway I could momentarily tip backwards a little which seems even worse. Well, the procedure is to arch a bit before you cutaway. That way you will no more be standing vertical or feet down. Anyway, if you have a Static Line your pilotchute will probably be out much faster than the time it takes your body to react to the loss of support from the main. Not promoting that you rely on it, but that's probably whats going to happen. At this early stage in your Skydiving I'd say keep the procedure common, simple and same for everything i.e cut and pull no matter what. It's more important to have a parachute on your head than to be thinking about what would be the cleanest way when it actually happens. With time you'll build more awareness and will be able to take those decisions. At that point you can revisit your procedures if you want too. If you fly a conservative canopy and later slowly transition out of it you'll be quite safe and can keep your procedures quite simple. After all you did manage to come out of what could have been a very nasty situation so do not loose faith in yourself. If you lived through it you did well to survive and will do even better then next time.

I my opinion you can hold off on a new rig at this point or next year. For now get something that is affordable and air worthy. Something that will last you 200 plus jumps.You'll find a lot of such rigs up for sale. Look for affordability within the limits of your safety and experience. Save the money that you would otherwise spend on a new rig and spend it instead on jumping. As for jumping 4 times a month, well, what really matters is how many times are you going to rent the equipment for it if that is what you are planning to do. You'll need to work that cost out and see if it makes sense to rent that many times vs just going along with a second hand rig.

So it means I'm good for the convention with a date of April 12th then, right ?

When I registered online the required reserve repack date mentioned in the confirmation was April 13th or after but the website says April 12 and after. Mine is April 12. Which one should I go by ?

Is there any paper work required for someone with a baloon to conduct a baloon jump or can anyone with a baloon give you a ride up. Also, when you do a baloon jump over some kind of farm land, does landing by the farm or in it constitue tresspassing and has anyone got into trouble for it. Just curious.

I guess you should talk to a few DZOs to see what they think about a course like this and what kind of a job would they give you if you had something like this under your belt.

I want to know what impact is this 500 jump requirement for the D license have on other things that the D license allows you to go for. Will snything that currently requires a D license continue to require the same or will it be revised to a C license with 200 jumps min.

Hey ! congratulations and welcome to Skydiving. Don't be dissapointed at the mistakes. They make you understand the sport much better and are important for the learning experience. I'm sure most here have had enough mistakes to deal with during their AFFs and even more later. The more I understand the sport the more I realize that I'm far from being perfect in any aspect of it. If Skydiving was that easy everyone walking on the road would be doing it. You are now part of a unique bunch of people so enjoy the experience and be open to learning and making mistakes and you'll do just fine. Enjoy the rest of your AFF because your life and your wardrobe as you know it is about to change.

Thanks. I'll have a look around.

OH ! Ya ! plenty of those. Took out one of the guys in a 4 way I was doing. On a point I was trying to do, I dropped a bit, moved forward and moved back up in a 360 turn only to find myself in someone elses slot. Took him out and then funnelled the whole formation. How much I wanted to forget that jump later on.

Ok ! may be this is a silly question, where do you get glow sticks for Night Jumps. Is there a particular type of store I need to look in.

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At 27 jumps I'd suggest you stay the heck away from pulling in track. It's not worth the experience. Not until you really understand the mechanics behind what happens and what it can do to you and your gear. If you want to experience a hard opening, just wait a bit and I'm sure you'll experience one not too far out in the future. I've opened in a track once ( by mistake ) and IT WASN'T A GOOD FEELING ! ... scary I like, but this went further and knocked the wind out of me. It can get quite dangerous so my advice is NO ! Don't do it. Atleast not with only 27 jumps under your belt.

Just wanted to get a feel for the kind treatment people have received viz a viz their rigs and airline travel since this topic seems to be quite hot right now.

I'm buying the Tony Suits pit special for RW with mega booties and I wanted to know if going for the extra Knee and Butt pad option is worth it or not. Also, if yes then which is better codura or parapac.

Oh ! I'm definitely going to be there Jet or no Jet. All set for that. Just wanted to know if the big plane was planned for this year.