bqmassey

There are several requirements to be able to get an A license. One of those requirements is 25 (or more) jumps. This does include AFF jumps. As I said, the 25-jump requirement is one requirement of many. You could have 100 jumps, but if you haven't fulfilled those other requirements you can't get signed off for your A license.

The following isn't in regards to being a videographer, "camera flyer", or any jumps in which filming/photographing is the purpose of the jump. A person can, after falling out of an airplane seven times, go from never having even SEEN a skydiving rig to someone who's capable of jumping out of an airplane COMPLETELY solo. Seven jumps from complete whuffo to a skydiver who understands how the equipment works, is capable of exiting an aircraft at 14,000 ft, maintaining a stable freefall position, deploying a canopy at a predetermined altitude, handling malfunctions that might occur, and piloting that canopy down to the ground—all completely unassisted. AFF has shown us that with proper instruction, humans can learn new tasks at an incredible rate. It's mind boggling to think that with seven jumps you have adequate experience to skydive with zero supervision, while it takes 193 jumps to be able to do the exact same thing while wearing a camera (one not much larger than some altimeters). Certainly, with proper mentorship and instruction, a person can be taught to safely bring a camera along for the ride, and can be taught this in fewer than 193 jumps.

Well, eventually you'll get use to the 230 and might want to get down to a 210. If it's an option, finacially, I'd keep the Pilot and also buy a bigger canopy that you're more comfortable flying. When you feel entirely comfortable moving down again, or visit a drop zone at a lower altitude, jump the 210. I have some jumps on a rented Pilot 210, loaded somewhere between 1.1 and 1.2, and I really liked it.

WTF does that mean?

Yea, I'd like to be able to do this without the altimeter trying to adjust the zero afterwards. From what I can tell, they will continue to do it until it senses takeoff.

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees a difference between the two. Personally, I don't feel like they're the same thing. There definitely is a common ground, though. Both POVers and camera flyers should expect the extra distraction and find ways to mitigate the dangers imposed because of it, both should be familiar with the snag hazards, and both should have EPs suitable for their setup. A certain amount of jumps shouldn't be a sole prerequisite. I'd hope that someone with 2000 jumps who's never worn a camera, and someone with 50 jumps who's never worn a camera, would both seek advice from someone with camera experience.

Honestly though, don't y'all think there is a difference between a "camera flyer" and someone who's jumping for POV footage? 1.) A jumper wants to wear a GoPro while him and his buddy practice sitflying so they can analyze it on the ground 2.) A jumper wants to start filming tandems (strapping on a Rebel and a CX-100 with bite switch and ring sight) or for competition teams To me, those situations are entirely different. Sure, they both add a level of distraction that doesn't exist without them, but in entirely different degrees. Example 1, the focus of the jump isn't photography, the focus of the jump is... the jump. Example 2, the camera flyer is focused on angles and shots and getting good footage. Certainly there's a gap in the amount of experience needed to do this safely, or do y'all really think that as soon as a person is competent enough to wear a GoPro to get some POV footage, they're also fully prepared to start flying around and below tandems and AFF students while wearing an HD cam and a digital SLR on their head. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that wearing a GoPro should be taken lightly. Anyone who wants to do so should be well briefed on the additional hazards and distraction it poses and prepare accordingly, but certainly it doesn't require the same amount of skill and experience as does being a "camera flyer". In my opinion, there's a difference between a fun jumper with a camera, and a "camera flyer", and that difference extends beyond just the size of the camera.

What a great dropzone! It's truly a dropzone for everybody: tandem jumpers, AFF students, fun jumpers, teams, family and friends who just want to watch, etc. They make sure everyone is welcome! There's plenty of room to come out and watch. Sit on the large deck, or bring out your own chairs. The landing area is plenty big, and there is a separate area for HP landings (with a swoop pond). There are a lot of outs around the DZ if for some reason you have to land off. Feel free to land at the far end of the LZ, a truck and trailer drives through and picks everyone up. If you're a fun-jumper and you're new to the dropzone, make sure to get a good briefing on the landing area and the traffic patterns. It can be hard to find from the air if you don't have someone point out the landmarks. The scenery is really nice, though! They jump a Twin Otter. It's a great jump plane with lots of room, and a big door. If you're looking to make a tandem jump, you definitely can't go wrong with STF. The tandem instructors are GREAT with students, the camera flyers put a good effort into making the video worthwhile, and the price is great. It's overall just a fun place to be, regardless of your experience (or inexperience) in the sport. In my opinion, Skydive The Farm sets a benchmark that all other dropzones should strive for, AND THE VIBE IS GREAT!!

Atlanta Skydiving Center recently changed to Skydive Georgia, probably to try to shake off the terrible reputation they have. It's the same bad dropzone. I hate to leave a bad DZ review. Typically if I don't have something good to say about a place I'll just keep my mouth shut, but this place deserves the negative review. The only good thing about this place is that there are a few cool fun jumpers that hang out there. If you stop here for a tandem, your experience will vary. A lot of the tandems get processed like customers at a McDonald's drive through. Their goal is to get you through as fast as possible. Some of the instructors and videographers put more effort into it than the others, but it's clear that the culture there is move you through to get to the next money-making opportunity. The landing area is small, sloped, and surrounded by trees. This is a dangerous combination. If all of that isn't enough, the business practices involved with this DZ are downright wrong. They're heavily involved with Skyride, which is a very immoral and nearly criminal organization. It's a scam targeted at people new to the sport (tandems). Make sure that if you're shopping around for a place to do a tandem, you ask what altitude is included. Most places with a turbine aircraft only give quotes for full altitude (usually between 13,500 and 15,000). Skydive Georgia (Atlanta Skydiving Center) will typically quote you for a lower skydive (less freefall time, less fun). They do this so that their price SOUNDS competitive on the phone. If you don't ask, they won't tell you that they're not giving you a full-altitude jump. When you show up, they'll try to get you to pay extra money to go up to the same altitude that the other places go to. There is absolutely no reason to jump at SG/ASC when Skydive the Farm (one of the highest rated DZs in the country) is only a few miles away. Do yourself a favor. If you're considering jumping checkout either "Skydive The Farm" if you're on the west side of Atlanta, or "Skydive Monroe" if you're on the east.

For me, the most difficult part of the deployment (emotionally) was after I got back. I didn't have any major at-home issues so I was fine, but a lot of people aren't that lucky. You spend a year or more over there fantasizing about how great things are at home, how you just can't wait to get back, and how awesome it's going to be. You get home and for a week or two everyone's happy to see you, things are great, there's no rockets or bullets and family friends are all being nicer than usual. Then, all of the typical civilian stress hits. Financial issues, family and relationship issues, children that don't know you anymore or have gotten used to you being gone, etc. For those with wives or children, a years worth of problems get dumped on you. You realize that for a year you were gone, and things AREN'T like they were when you left. Your friends and family have gone on with their lives, they weren't on pause. Me and some buddies stopped to eat at fast food joint. This was within a week or two of getting back. I was watching some guys my age, maybe a couple of years younger, play some fantasy card game at another table. The more I watched them, the more infuriated I got. They were so wrapped up in some fantasy world, getting mad at each other for having their card beat (or something like that, I don't really know how it works). They got all up in arms about some fucking playing cards. I got very, very angry. I kept my mouth shut, but I'm sure I was red in the face. I couldn't believe how different these kids' problems were from what ours were so recently. They're bad day is when they lose a playing card, while people their age were on the other side of the world... THEIR bad day.... I didn't say anything. We left, and I spent some time evaluating myself. I don't get upset like that anymore, it was just shocking to come back to such an entirely different perspective on life. Now, on top of that, add financial issues, relationship issues, parenting issues, and a whole bunch of other things... and you can see why people might be a little bit overwhelmed by it. I don't know how different things are today from the other wars. Maybe daily life in the civilian world is just more stressful, in general. Maybe the economy and financial issues have something to do with it. I do think, though, that the suicides are probably reported much more consistently these days, that shit is probably tracked a lot better now. I don't really know.

I'm shopping for a digital altimeter. A thing I've noticed is that some of them claim to constantly be adjusting for field elevation. (I think they sense the takeoff and set that to zero, maybe?) That's good if you're landing at the same elevation as the runway, but what if you aren't? What if your LZ is not level with your runway? Do any of the modern digital altimeters have an easy way to zero the alt prior to each jump?

They might. The only way to know for sure is to contact them. Different DZs handle this differently.

How long ago was this? Is this waiver still required? I was under the impression that it wasn't.

There is absolutely no way I would burn a US flag, but I wouldn't want to live here if you couldn't.

I'm just curious, how did the conversation with the passenger go?

How's that going to help people that refuse to keep their eyes open for other jumpers? Make them score 100% on a 200 question aerodynamics test, fly their canopies through hoops, demonstrate 100 perfect downwind landings, blah blah blah. It's all worthless if they think the sky is theirs. The most skilled canopy pilot in the world is just as deadly as the least skilled when neither of them are looking out. The culture needs to change. The prevalence of higher capacity aircraft have put more obstacles in the skies. Fast, square parachutes have made those obstacles less predictable and more difficult to avoid. Has the culture changed to compensate for those changes? Has the guidance handed down from the veterans to the newbies evolved in proportion? I don't know, I wasn't there in those days, but there is absolutely no doubt that too many people dismiss the dangers of canopy flight. Rules and regulations won't fix that. Education and awareness will. It's on the DZOs to MAKE collision avoidance a part of the culture at their drop zone (including enacting policies to mitigate some of the risk factors specific to their DZ). It's on the instructors and mentors to drill it into the heads of the less experienced jumpers. It's on EVERYONE to have zero tolerance for close calls and dangerous jumpers. Vigilance under the canopy needs to be taught from jump one and reinforced to no end. "See and avoid" needs to be just as much a mantra for skydivers as it is for VFR pilots. Sure, you can regulate the danger away and make it impossible for people to hurt themselves. Keep going down that road, though, and eventually we'll all be doing our "jumping" in wind tunnels.

Helicopter insertion of a SEAL Team. They had practiced the operation a number of times. They were on the ground approximately 40 minutes in total. Or so I've been told. Well that's boring. I had a much more elaborate action scene playing in my head. Involved a HALO entry, NODs, laser designators and aerial striks... and some pre-placed four-wheelers (with Mk 19s) for exfil. But,... mission complete!

I'm trying to picture the event in my mind. I don't know if it'd be a CIA team, Seals, or Army SF... but the way I picture it.. it started with a HALO jump from 30,000.

The war's not over, that's for sure.. but FUCK YEA!! Oh how I would have loved to be the one to off the fucker.

Yea, I definitely felt that the canopy stuff was a bit under-emphasized during my AFF. When I went through the program, I, like everyone else, started on the radio. The radio is good, but I think a lot of instructors depend on it too much. If radio communication fails, the student (even on jump one) should have a damn good idea about how to get themselves down safely. Even on the first jump, a typical student shouldn't need to be told when to make their turns and when to flare. If students were more prepared for the canopy flight, the instructors wouldn't need to be on the radio as much. Students shouldn't be learning the basics in the air, they should be practicing what they know. The canopy flight is the part of the experience where the instructor can't save your life for you. It's serious stuff, and the AFF instructors should teach the canopy portion of the skydive as thoroughly as they would if there was no radio. Anyways... Some jumpers are all about the freefall portion of the jump, and only see the canopy as a way to get to the ground safely. Others take more interest in the canopy ride and understand it a little better. Seek those people out and talk to them about it. Some people will be happy to elaborate and give you ideas. Some might even jump with you. One thing you might consider is picking out a specific target to aim for. Obviously, your first priority is to land safely, so don't do anything crazy to hit a small target, but having a more specific goal than to land anywhere inside the bounds of the landing area might give you better feedback to work off of. I'm no expert canopy pilot, but doing that helped me a lot. When my goal was to hit the 2000' LZ, i got down just fine, but I wasn't building any mental picture of what the last stages of the descent should look like. I saw zero improvement in skill or confidence until I started working on my accuracy landings (for the A card). "Aim small, miss small." Good luck!

Yea, I really, really want to... but they say I need some kind of "license" before I can do what I want... poor sports.

Wow, thanks for all of the great replies. It sounds like there isn't a simple way to know when to make that turn to base to accurately put yourself at the target. Sounds like it just takes time getting used to your canopy in different conditions. It may be a while before I really get to know a particular canopy, as I'm renting gear and can't jump the same rig every time (or even the same wing loading). One requirement I have left on my A proficiency card is "land within 20 meters of a preselected target on at least five jumps". Right now, that seems like my biggest hurdle. I'm planning a trip up to Skydive The Farm this weekend and hope to get three days of jumping in. If all goes well, I'll leave with a completed proficiency card. Thanks for all the replies, folks. It's been helpful.

lol, that was a generic reference, not one specific to me. Like I said, I have thick skin. I can handle the criticism. I've come up in other hobbies and occupations that were dangerous in nature, and I've never seen this dynamic be as strong as it is on dz.com. I just hate to see others have to deal with it. I feel like there are more productive and proactive ways to act. If a student asks an honest question, there's nothing wrong with giving them an honest answer. "This is my opinion on it, but run it by your instructor" seems productive. "You're stupid for trying to learn on the internet, go ask your instructor." does not. If you wouldn't do that to a newbie that approaches you at the DZ, why would you do it on here? There's nothing wrong with someone thirsty for knowledge using dz.com as a place to discuss things and ask questions, as long as it's not their sole source of information. I'm chill, just having a friendly discussion.

If I've given off the impression that I feel that I'm an above average student, or that I know everything about skydiving, I apologize. My skills and knowledge are average at best, really. I have a LOT to learn, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I ask for advice on a very frequent basis, both on and off the DZ. There are two points that I'm trying to get across. 1.) Many "students" are conscientious enough to take what they read on DZ.com with a grain of salt and run it by a trusted party before they make any changes to their gear, habits, or procedures. Not all "students" are going to run out and immediately try something they read in a YouTube comment or somewhere else on the internet. Most "students" I know have the common sense to check information against multiple trusted sources. WE'RE NOT ALL IMPRESSIONABLE YOUNG CHILDREN THAT WILL DO ANYTHING THAT ANYBODY TELLS US TO DO. 2.) Obviously, anyone of any skill level can post anything they want on the internet, so everything you read on here should be considered carefully and taken with a grain of salt. There is plenty of misinformation, but... DROPZONE.COM DOES STILL CONTAIN GREAT INFORMATION FOR SKYDIVERS, whether you like it or not. When it all comes down to it, being a student doesn't stop when you get your A license or any other license. Anytime you're presented with information that's new to you, whether it's a new style of gear, a new procedural best-practice, a new skill or discipline, you should give it a lot of consideration before you make it a part of your skydiving. For instance, you run into some stranger on the dropzone raving about their new magnetic d-bag. Before you go buy one and starting jumping with it, it'd be wise to talk to your rigger or someone you trust about it and any effects it may have on packing procedure or safety. Being prudent in this way isn't something that you should expect from students, it's something you should expect from any skydiver with a sense of self-preservation. This "us vs them" mentality, this "I have XXXXX jumps so I know everything, you only have XXX so you know nothing" attitude doesn't seem productive. It's one thing to look out for the less experienced and help keep them on the right path, it's another to tell them they have no ability to think for themselves and pound it into their head that they're too slow to understand. I guess I'm just tired of seeing everyone assume that because you're a student, you're going to be out there on a suicide mission until someone more experienced comes to save your life. Believe it or not, most of us like jumping enough to want to be able to do it tomorrow. Personally, I'm far to stubborn to leave skydiving because of this attitude, but there ARE people that will learn better from a mentor, not an asshole. My guess is that experience and skill is gradually developed. With that comes the truth that it develops quicker for some than others. Maybe I'm wrong though, and there is some magical thing that happens to every jumper that transitions from "student" to A license holder that makes them immediately able to know exactly what they're doing (at which point they are eligible to receive advice from dz.com). If not, can someone please let me know what jump number or license is the threshold between "go ask your instructor" and "here's what I think"? I'd like to get there as quick as I can, so that I'll be allowed to participate in conversations without my instructor watching the screen.

Yea, I need to spend more time experimenting with flying in brakes and with the risers (safely of course). Using tricks like that to change your glide angle are helpful, especially when you're on final and can use the "accuracy trick" to see where you're headed. The accuracy trick is awesome because it works in real-time. It doesn't require any other information to work (canopy glide ratio, winds, etc). All of that is factored in automatically. Maybe you're landing off airport, maybe you're at a new DZ or with a new canopy, maybe the winds changed dramatically since you got the winds aloft data. Maybe you're not at the altitude you planned to be at at a certain point in the pattern. There are a lot of things that can take you off your planned pattern points, things that will require you to adapt on-the-fly. Let's say you're on the downwind, abeam the target landing point. The only decision you really have to make is when to make the turn to base. (The turn to final isn't really a decision, as the length of your base leg is already fixed.) Once you're on final, you can use the accuracy trick to adjust your descent, but at that point it may be too late. It appears to me that the most critical decision in regards to setting yourself up for an accurate landing once you're in the pattern is when to make the turn to base. Is there a way, while you're under the canopy, to know when it's time to make that turn? Some kind of rule of thumb that, like that "accuracy trick", takes all factors into account?