b_dog

Here's my home DZ, I think the image is a couple of years old because you only see one designated landing spot but now they have two.

My local DZ (Skydive Taft) only offers AFF, no static line jumps. That's okay, I'd rather do AFF despite the cost. Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'm leaning towards just going for it, we'll see. Here are a couple pictures of the tandem jump, in case anyone was curious.

[QUOTE]Reserve pack jobs and CYPRES AAD depreciation maintencance and batteries total approximately $25/month.[/QUOTE] Regarding the reserve pack jobs--really? I thought it just had to be inspected and/or repacked every 120 days and that would be all you had to pay for that in such a timeframe.

[QUOTE]Generally you're cleared to jump solo after AFF, though you will not be a licensed skydiver. In the US, you will need a minimum of 25 jumps, not 20, to get your license.[/QUOTE] Oh, ok. I thought you could not jump alone at all until you had your A license in hand, but if you can wean into it after level 7 then that may not be so bad. I suppose if I budgeted myself well enough, I wouldn't have to stop cold for a couple of years, but could maybe jump once every one or two months. I'm aware that there's an important time limit between AFF jumps--at my local DZ they said they want students to do the next level within 30 days. But if I went into AFF my plan would be to do each level two weeks apart until I'm done (since I get paid every two weeks, heh) with the assumption I passed each level on the first attempt. That's something I could do now, but as for the equipment and stuff, that'd have to wait maybe a long while.

Heh, sorry, I tend to get long-winded when writing.

Greetings! Well, this past Saturday I went with a couple of friends and I did my 2nd tandem jump. It had been over a year since doing the first. I had even more fun the second time around, not just because my friends went with me this time but also because the TI and I actually did some maneuvers. On the first jump my TI was an extremely safety-concerned guy and we just jumped out of the plane straight into the arch position. This time, though, we did several flips upon exit and we did sort of a bullet dive, where he put our arms to our sides and had me dip my toes, and I could really feel us gaining speed before we returned to an arch position seconds later. You can really see us zip by on the video, too. (And yeah, I got a video this time because I regretted not getting it the first time). After deploying, my TI let me steer the toggles for a little while before he took the controls at about 1,000 feet as usual. Knowing that this was my second tandem, once we got back to the DZ he really egged me on about going into AFF. I'd really love to, but I have a couple of concerns. The good thing is that I could afford AFF right now--just reserve that $240 for the first jump from my next paycheck, and then reserve the cost for my subsequent jumps in alightment with my future salary. However, what am I to do once I have completed AFF (assuming I do well enough and pass each level the first time around)? Even after 7 jumps, I'll still need 13 more to get to 20 in order to be able to jump by myself, and until then it'll still be 13 more times I'll have to shell out that ~$160 or so. But even worse is getting my own rig--even when I have my own license and can jump on my own and what not, a new rig suitable for my skill level is still going to be at least $3000, and combine that with accessories like an altimeter and an AAD, it will get costly real quick. Which is fine, except that I really won't be able to handle those finances for maybe 2-3 years until I am done with school and have (hopefully very quickly) established myself in a steady job. So, is it wise to go through AFF only to stop cold for a couple of years until I can get my own equipment and get fully involved in the sport? It won't do me much good to learn the skills in AFF only to not really apply them for my own self two years down the road. Is there even an expiration date for the first license and the number of jumps you need in a year to maintain it or anything? Thanks.

Speaking of the afternoon, that has me worried. As a post already mentioned about wind conditions in the afternoon, that's not good news for me considering in two weeks I'm planning to go with friends on a tandem at about 3-4pm in the afternoon (the earliest I can plan it since we have morning jobs on Saturday). If that's true, I sure hope the weather conditions that day are unusually cooperative. It will surely suck if they tell us we have to reschedule.

What time of day do you like best to jump out of the airplane? Do you have any preference? What are your reasons?

Read up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dichotomy Anyway, yes, I would prefer your #1.

In my instance, at least, it's mostly due to finances, as many posts have mentioned. Especially as a college student when I have to save up for books and tutition and such, in addition to helping out with the house bills, it doesn't leave a lot of room to save up to get full-on into the sport. Around $1200 for AFF isn't that bad, but then getting your own gear is what really breaks the bank. I won't curse the prices because I understand that stuff is expensive and that's just the way it goes. Some people have spoken of people who do a tandem just to say they had gone skydiving and then they are never seen around a DZ again. I do not want to be one of those people. I was finally able to go on a tandem to get a taste of the sport and I'd like to return and become a regular. So probably once I'm done with school and have established myself in a steady job, I'll save up and finally get more involved.

I didn't mean to appear that I was focusing on the potential for dying. That was the issue of the post but it's not what I dwell on when I drive to the DZ. Anyone entering the sport is going to evaluate what kind of risk there is for a serious accident and that's the phase I was going through. Moreover, I would never say the things in the OP at the DZ to my tandem instructor. I want him to know I trust in his ability and experience. And no, I didn't jump to get over a fear or buy into peer pressure or anything. I did it because it's something I wanted to do since I was a kid. However, my friends going with me might fall under the former.

Certainly. It's far from any of the main reasons, just an extraneous feature I noticed.

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has felt more scared about the second time around as opposed to the first. My first experience was pretty calm. The night before, I slept fine. Driving to the DZ, I kept my cool. Hanging out in the hangar with all the other skydivers was a neat experience. I met my tandem instructor, he fitted me up with gear, and I was excited. It was when we boarded the plane that my heart rate began to increase, and by the time we were climbing in the air, I had a mild case of the shakes. Bear in mind I had only flown once before, years earlier. That anxiety was compounded by the knowledge that I would be soon jumping out of the airplane! But being in the company of 13 other experienced daredevils was comforting. I kept my anxiety to my self; I didn't want to look insecure among these pros. So, despite feeling a little sick under my own skin, I kept calm, and it wasn't bad enough to make me think twice about what I was doing. Then we were approaching altitude (13k feet I think it was) and they opened the door, and that's when I turned white. One by one the people in front of us all jumped out, my instructor fastened us both together real good, and we scooted our way to the edge. I'll never forget that feeling as I was hanging out, staring thousands of feet below me. It was part absolute terror, part absolute adrenaline, part absolute excitement. I don't believe I had ever experienced such a mixture of emotions to that degree. Then we jumped, the fear seemed to have disappeared and it was the best experience of my life (so far at least). Best $150 I ever spent, for sure. The other cool benefit is that of bragging rights. It's true that not many people would get into this sport, as evidenced shortly after my first jumped when I freely told people, "Guess what I did last week, I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane!" People would say, "Damn, you've got some balls" or "Wow, I could never do that" which makes me feel all the more better. So, I definitely want to do it again, especially with friends. It was just odd to me that even in the planning stage for the second jump I was feeling kind of nervous, whereas I didn't feel that until I was actually in the plane for the first jump. I know it's a dangerous sport, I know there is a threat of dying. And as others have pointed out, if something goes wrong it probably will be a painful death. But I do feel such a spectacular hobby is worth the risk. That's pretty much the conclusion all regular skydivers have come to, no?

There's nothing wrong with being a smart-ass. I appreciate humor in any form. I just took this particular instance the wrong way. You know, context and all. Ah well, no harm done. Remember the internet is a crappy from of communication. No nonverbal messages, no tone or inflection in voice, so you have to be careful about using sarcasm or other such stuff.

Uh huh, and I suppose my appreciation of that wasn't already apparent in the OP. (Why doesn't this forum have a roll-eyes smiley? Grr.) I got the joke. I'm saying he wasn't funny for posting that, as I took it as being a smart-ass reply to my post. The joke in itself, I understand.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I acknowledged the irrationality of such reasoning in the post even though I was experiencing fear, so that wasn't necessary. I understand that there are things one can do if put in a displeasing position. Even so, as a newbie with an expert on my back, I doubt there's much I could do to help my instructor if something went wrong. You're not funny.

Someone also once told me that if I were to go skydiving and the parachute failed, that in freefall I should turn my head, place one arm around my back, place the other around my torso, and cross my legs. Not because it would save my life, but because they'd sure have a hell of a time prying me from the ground.

Of course, if one participates in this sport, one accepts the risks. I was not claiming otherwise. I accept the risks and I think it's worth doing something so extraordinary. That doesn't mean one can't reflect on those risks and imagine themselves in such a situation. My post didn't really have a 'point,' just random thoughts.

A year ago I went tandem jumping by myself. I had fun and it went smoothly, now in a couple of weeks I'm going to do it again with a couple of friends. Doing it with friends should add a new level of enjoyment. Strangely, I'm more freaked out about safety issues this time than I was for the first jump. It doesn't help that there is a fatality database at this forum listing the recent deaths in the sport. Even though I know rationally that these are largely isolated incidents and that thousands of people jump around the world without much trouble each year, the possibility of being that unfortunate 1 out of 1,000 brings me pause. The fact is, this is a dangerous sport, as everyone is obviously well aware. Despite all the competence of modern equipment and experienced jumpers, you are in fact jumping out of a perfectly good airplane and racing toward a 7,900 mile diameter rock at around 120 or so miles per hour, destined to become a splatter on the ground if you did not have your equipment. If just one thing goes wrong, you're screwed. So, in consideration of this danger, in the instance that the parachute and the reserve both fail or if I fall out of the harness or other such uh-oh, at least smashing into the ground would pretty much be an instantaneous, and therefore almost painless death, no? Impacting the ground at terminal speed, I'm sure the sudden extreme transfer of energy will ensure that your bones and other insides will result in only a millisecond of severe pain. I hope so, at least. It would sure suck to be a crumbled mess on the ground, all your nerves sending the reality of your present situation to your brain as it slowly loses consciousness for good. That is all assuming a full speed impact of course. I know people have died after impacting with spiraling canopies or colliding with other objects with a lesser speed; I'm sure those were painful before blacking out. But I try to keep a sense of humor about things. Should I find myself on that day having fallen out of the strap or something, I'd like to think that instead of screaming in absolute horror as I fast approach oblivion's embrace, I'd do something silly like flap my arms and think to myself, 'Well, at least I get to die doing something awesome' and remind myself that despite having lived a short life that I should be grateful I was one of the lucky ones to have even been born at all. It's a morbid thought, I know. But even for seasoned skydivers, I would imagine that even many of them would, before each jump, think that this could be the last. At least they lived life to the fullest.

Skydiving was something I had wanted to do for a long time, I finally got to do it, it was awesome, and I will surely do it again. However, BASE jumping is something I could never do. I'm sure there are a few skydiving regulars out there who also do BASE jumps. Skydiving involves jumping from a much higher altitude than pretty much any landmark on earth, I'd wager. 3,000 ft cliff vs. 13,000 ft from the airplane. (Yes, there are places on earth much higher than 13k, but places like Everest don't have sheer cliffs IIRC) But it's not the height issue that bothers me. The important distinction with BASE jumping is that whatever you just jumped off of, you see it's structure as you pass by it on your way to the ground. That would completely freak me out. As it is, when I look over the edge at the top of a skycraper, or over the edge of a cliff, I just about get a serious case of vertigo. With straight skydiving, it's just not the same. There's no reference point as you're falling. From doing it the first time I remember that, despite the initial sensation of falling and the rushing wind and all that, it almost seemed as if were were floating, maybe flying, instead of falling. Go figure.

Going skydiving (although a tandem) for the first time was probably the best experience of my life. I'm glad I was able to do it once and I sure want to get into the sport, and I am saving up for the AFF course now. But I must confess that the potential danger of the sport is requiring some effort to accept. Like the one article at this website says, "Skydiving is not ten pin bowling." A fact that I was beaten over the head with after I signed five papers of legal waivers at the DZ. I do want to go into skydiving, but as with everyone who is in the sport knows, there could always be the case where something goes wrong and it could cost your life as a result. Yes, that can be said about many things in life--even driving to the store, you are at potential for serious injury or death. But it seems particularly egregious in a sport such as this. And yes, the more knowledge and skill you accumulate, the more you will be prepared for trouble. But as I have seen it said a few times at these boards, you could do everything right and still die. And as a stark newbie, I can't help but think my absence of experience is recipe for disaster. But everyone has to begin somewhere, I guess. I read the fatality database, and I can see many of the ways things can go wrong, either due to human error or equipment malfunction. I mean, not only do I have my own life to consider, but I must also consider my family. Each of our families has an emotional investment in our being alive, and I feel uncomfortable putting that on the line in participating in a sport that would repeatedly place me in possible immediate danger. But I know these are the same things everyone in the sport must consider, both fresh blood and professional. I suppose it makes that quote ring true, "If you want the ultimate, you have to be willing to pay the ultimate price." Everyone who is in the sport has agreed to take that risk, so that they could live life to the fullest. If I go into the sport, I will have to do the same.

Prices are sure to go up at the local DZ, I imagine. Wouldn't it be great if we had planes that could run on water?

Skydive Taft, which I suppose would be my home DZ, has a neat communion of skydivers, and the weather is ALWAYS perfect for a jump.

What is a 'hop n pop' by the way? [/newbie]

I know it won't ever be *cheap* but at least if it's cheaper (than it is at the outset) then maybe I won't have to live off of a sole diet of top ramien to afford it.