Bill_K

My wife and I spend every available weekend at the DZ. It's awesome. Wouldn't have it any other way. Welcome. On another note, I know you're energized and looking for gear, but you'll want to make sure you get gear that is suitable for your skill level and that fits correctly. Get with your instructor before you impulse buy gear. It will probably save you from buying something that's not right for you. Blues, Nathan Thanks Nathan, I'm completely commited to waiting until I speak with my instructor and probably will wait until I'm on jump 5 or 6 before I get to serious about it. I hope to have the AFF 7 jumps out of the way by the middle of next month. Weather and time permitting I'll be working my way toward the 25 for a class A by Thanks Giving. I want to enjoy this for a long time and am therefore commited to learning and doing it right. BK

My wife has already agreed to go, not sure if she'll just go once or take up the sport too, I'm hoping the latter. My 9 year old boy wants to go now, but I don't know if he can, I'm not sure on all the rules regarding kids jumping. Excited is a good word, I'm pumped. Have spent most of the free time that I've had today reading and reading and reading. I really want to learn. I'm trying to find a recommendation or idea of what I should get as a first rig. I'm trying to find something that will be safe and usable. I'm not a small guy and want to make sure that I get the right size.

Will do for sure. Thanks again.

Thanks Bigun, that's what I needed. I'll order it right now. Maybe it will be here by time I go back out on Thursday!! Also thanks for the other link, that's probably something that I could do to fill the time between jumps... I really don't care to do it to build time as aviation is not my career anymore, but I still do love to fly. Maybe I can trade jumps for rides... Can you get to the uspa.org website? I'm not able to get it, it's coming up as page not found.

Hello All, I'm brand NEW to this sport and being a flight instructor I understand about staying current and regulations, etc. So that being said, what are they here, I heard the thing about doing a jump every 30 days for the first few jumps, is that the AFF 7 jumps or is that the first 25 jumps? After you get a class A license, how often do you have to jump to stay current. I doubt that any of these will be a factor for a while as I can see myself out there every chance I get after I get my own gear. I guess the best thing to ask, is there a link that has the most common reg's listed out, and what they mean, etc? TIA, Bill K.

Not sure if good is a strong enough word for it. I'm still on cloud 9, reliving it over and over in my mind. I keep getting that feeling in my gut over and over and wanting it again. You know that one that says in one way this scares the heck out of me, but that's why I want to do it again so bad... I'm hoping to go to a closer DZ on Thursday after work and get setup with an instructor to really get going. My wife is so awesome for letting me do this, in fact she's saying that she'll do it too. I can't think of anything better than my wife and I doing this together on a regular basis. BK

Hello all, I finally did it. 20 years ago yesterday my father was killed in an auto accident, so this year rather than sit at home and get depressed my wife decided that I should do something that I've been talking about for some time now. So yesterday we drove 2 hours to a DZ up state from us a bit and I did it. My wife and three boys were there to enjoy the moment with me. We had to wait a loooong time because there were a lot of people there. Once we got on the plane and finally got to it I was pumped. The only point that I had any apprehension at all was when the instructor told me not to put my hands where the latches that attached me to him were about half way down when we were under canopy. So we moved them to the guide ropes? What ever the things are that you use to steer with? So I got to drive it around a bit. All that being said; I'm hooked for life. I bought a log book and am hoping to go back this weekend and get two or three more jumps toward the AFF 7 jump thing and then move on to the 25 and get my license. I want to do it now without anybody on my back. I really, really want to be solo up there to enjoy the entire ride, not that I did not enjoy it with an instructor too, but I’m just really looking forward to doing this more. I found this site because I was already looking for gear of my own. I’m sure that I’ll be asking plenty of dumb questions so bare with me. Until next time, Bill