gimpboogie

I am a student skydiver (only 1 yr in this sport) and my method of entry to this sport is through tandem progression (then on to AFF). While trying to learn, I came across this thread. Thanks for the reminder.... on a positive note, my AFF coach stressed the circle of awareness starting with my tandem progression days when he would key me in to "lookin for the others" in the skies. As he indicated to me, most of the time there was no one else in the skies except a tandem or two, but on one occasion we had a FF check out student who had pulled high, under a canopy at 1,500f coming directly towards us. Now, having grown with a one cesna 206 DZ to a 2 cesna with a grand caravan DZ, I am so glad Angus always stressed the circle of awareness, as am flying in the skies with everyone else coming down from above me (mostly I am the first 1-3 out the door of a load of 18). We had a canopy collision of experienced divers at our DZ at the beginning of the season, which reminded me to read more about how to avoid this. Thanks JP for this timely reminder for us all. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Aug 6th 2007 ANGUS SMITH from PST took me for my 1st skydive - a tandem. The week there after, he agreed to help me learn to sky dive, and the journey began....for me to learn to skydive as a paralyzed athlete without any prior skydiving experience. By the fall of 2007, in 2 months we were able to get 9 tandem dives in and plans were under way for the next yrs progression. During the winter Will McCarthy our rigger built these 'gimp FF pants', which we initally built around the model of Peter Hewitt's pants (SA) designed around ideas proposed by Tonto when Peter was his AFF student. Angus was in contact with the Skyventure wind tunnel franchisee, and two generous offers of tunnel time came forward. Skyventure NH was determined to become our testing grounds for the 'gimps in FF'; project we had trampled upon. Angus' friend and TM, videographer, and coach_ Dave Hatherley joined the group and after harness hanging and testing our equiptment we did a few pre-jump tandems with Angus and FuzzyDave on our way to NH to the tunnel, spring 2008. There I was gifted with a great tunnel instructor, tunnel time to determine my FF capabilities, and some fime for my daughter to enjoy this FF environment for the first time. !st AFF, and Stsatic line dives were accomplished and despite a chance in plans to needing to hold off on the FF component until later, this year has proven it to be possible to teach a paraplegic to skydive. This was a HUGE FEAT if the SKYDIVING COMMUNITY, for DZO's such as Adam Mabee and Tom McCarthy gave me the opportunity to jump, riggers, a world class canopy accuracy pilot, tamdem masters, coaches, tunnel owners and instructors, videographers and jump masters have helped make this all possible. Also, without the help of any of these individuals along the way, this project would not have reached to these proportions to date. Without any of these peoples help, from the first tandem on to the tunnel instruction, the first AFF's and static lines, this "paraplegics in flight" (affectionately known as the "gimps in FF") project would have been grounded. I do not have the ability otherwise to live in this realm where my vision brings me.. to fly the skies with this elite group of people who find themselves here in the blue skies. Thus this is a story of what the skydiving community has accomplished in a year. It was places such as here, people whom Angus reached out to, such as TK, Tonto, and FuzzyDave to mention merely a few DZ.COMers who had input, gave help and offered of themselves. Then came the general skydivers, follks here, the skydiversnetwork and at my DZ PST who joined in making this poissible. Jeff King was the first guy to join our little group of adventurers on the ALS trails, as journey on to find ways to keep me motivated to stay alive long enough to see a big vision, a dream I have come to pass. That dream is yet to arrive, but one day I want to see a paralyzed skydiver demo accuracy into the opening ceremonies of the olympic and paralympic games. to show the world we can, and that no dream is too big..., we make our desires reality, if others tell us our desires are not reality. Jeff came to join us with video each time we asked, and he still journeys with me. Luckily we will be jumping together sometime in the future again for another first, and perhaps many more. All aspects of the skydiving community, internationally, became involved, gave of themselves, their resources, invested time, energy and effort into this. Through this, our lives have been for ever changed and enriched. My new circle of friends cares for me and my kids.... Angus came in a snowstorm to my bedside when I was in critical care, to see me and remind me of life yet to live, it was enough to wake me up n save me.... my daughter got to travel to the USA, to Boston, went to Cheers (learned what Cheers meant to us old folks!), came to the tunnel, was there for the 1st AFF (thats enough for me, of my kids watching me jump... that needs not happen again), and flew in the tunnel herself. My son had his 18th birthday celebrated by having tandems with his dad, best friend and mom in the same plane with him... all of us for a family tandem! These are ALL experiences that came only because skydivers gave of themselves and joined in to celebrate life and living with us. This first yr of this project has seen a paralyzed skydiver doing a AFF dives, static line dives, and tandem progression dives having come into the sport without prior skydiving experience. The next yr, I hope to develop accuracy canopy skills and expand my reportoir of canopy piloting and jumping experiences. Having been flying with the kitewing, and 12m kites, expanding the canopy flight portion seems natural progression for me now. FF is a desire yet to be fullfilled completely. If also feels as integral to a dive, as air and bread to a human. the 4 FF solo dives I did, (with 50+ secs of FF), were accompanied with one or two instructors, and did not fullfill the requirements for my expectations. The FF section of this project is on hold at this time until I figure out the leg stability issues and the deployment stability concerns. Noticing that I physically do not have the range of motion to pull with my right hand without twisting at the torso-pulling my left shoulder down and into a barrel roll-helped me-because now I can focus on trying with my left hand and FF is again a potential in my future. This will be determined fairly soon this second year. This 1st year was celebrated with numerous cases of beer, at two DZ's and continues to recruit into the 'gimp FF team" new tandem masters willing to push their limits and flying with me. This challenge has been first taken (didn't I tell you there are lots of 1sts, and lots of beer in this story) up by Chad Leslie at PST as the next tandem master after Angus to have learned to fly with gimps in Freefall. Three areas of interest has come forward. 1) seeing more possibilities for individuals with disabilities to skydive, through not only public aweareness but actual contact with others who now are in the process of arranging a skydive for themselves. 2) progression in the teaching methodology for adaptive skydiving. As members of the coaching association of Canada, CSPA is mandated to provide accessibility within the sport. This it has allready done by having deaf skydivers competing and participating in all levels of our sport. Their desire to further this potential has been shown, and the progression made here, documented can be a template for an adaptive skydiving certificate with restrictions (i.e. focussing on canopy control rather then FF components) in the future. The sport itself can be revolutionized to involve tunnel training/competing events for individuals with varying levels of paralysis (our ability to sky dive is proven by a few paralyzed skydivers and I hope to be proving that skydiving is a sport that can be taught to a paralyzed individual who has never been in the skydiving environment. Some have pointed out that having the knowledge of skydiving prior to paralysis somehow helps those skydivers regain their ability to dive. If that is the case, then having someone as myself skydiving should provide some incentive to further consider the potential for others with paralysis to dive solo. 3) shattering of myths/shifting of paradigms. Yes society is progressing, thinking is shifting and people accept women in authority roles, visible minorities in professions, and gimps in free fall! It is understood more often now then ever before that we (individuals with disabilities, or as some of us affectionately call ourselves 'gimps') can do just about anything we want to do, and usually that means we change the equiptment we play with and we all fit in the same sandbox/blueskies. year one completed with tandem gimps flying freely solo in the blue skies and moving on to year two with the desire to expand upon this base. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

welcome and my salute your way certainfly for the accomplishment of the static line and for the general attitude you hold high. Thanks for coming by, and sharing with us your time and experience. Having some learning to do myself here in the paralyzed skydivers division (we're few in numbers but holding our own here), I welcome any comments. Taking your thoughts on landing to heart, started to think about it and realized that I also tend to favour one side. I have a better landing when I set down on my weaker side... the one which I notice is more bruised after a week of jumping, but my stronger side is always ready for more, and never injured or sore. don't know if there is any relation there. welcome and stay strong, -minna To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Skydiving is ever evolving, and new ideas fueled by determination to see a larger paraplegic skydiving feat accomplished some day .... has pushed me to try a different way to skydiving solo. I did the FJC emergency procedures section again, and showed to Angus and Adam that I can go out there as someones dope-on-a-rope. so it is now, I am cleared on the static line to move to TTO's. Strange skydiving progression I have. with more then 35 skydives, and over 21 min FF time I'm NOW getting into the TTO's. LOL (this is review after review.. and I love every dive of it ) when I can get a modified left pull container repacked I will try to get some FF time back under me. (the gear I need had a reserve ride and now there will be two of us shifting between a solo 270 and a 190 main in that container.... I'm going to have to be extra careful, for I wouldn't want to open to the 190!) Done tons of static line dives now, just to keep jumping and creep those jump numbers up-hopefully next time I go to the DZ the gear is ready and Adam n I can start practicing how fast we can manage the main canopy shuffle. Am determined to jump all summer and autumn and see what that brings. Focussing on accuracy landings and the last 900f of the dive. Finally had my first messy line twists (induced by myself-I slipped out of the plane while trying to set up to launch myself) - the lines were just a long braid of twists. Nice to realize the EP's kicking in, as checked for my handles and started to untwist kept my eye on the alti. All fit in place as planned and my neptune recorded 8 secs of FF off that static line before the twists came out and the canopy over me was beautifully under control. (all the other static line jumps it records zero secs of FF). Have had no troubles after figuring out how to fit the harness main lift webbing properly (I was sort of hanging loose in the harness the first few times... with the chest strap pushing my chin up to restrict my head movement.)-glad I had that figured out before the line twists-that would have been uncomfortable. Landing on my own, I still have a tendency to 'hover over my target and drop into it'.... i realized it on a no wind day last weekend. I want to work on that one, for it is the key to my success as a skydiver-landing properly. butt slide landings are working well, (like I said when I do not hover over the target and drop myself on it) and I am starting to learn from my canopy... I had fun playing with the risers last weekend while getting to know my canopy better. thought to share a pic of Angus now that he's lost his strap on student he's back to reading the 'tandem skydiving for dummies' book. oohh yah, i guess here's update photos to share... me flying free over PST! Photos taken by my friend Dmitry Rudchenko To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

My son Mikael turned 18 last month, so it seemed like a fitting way to celebrate; when he asked for a skydive for himself and his dad, his best friend and I to be on the same caravan load. Thanks to Adam mabee of Parachute school of Toronto, this was possible on July 26th 2008. Mika, accompanied by both his parents, and his best friend jumped with TM Chad Leslie (whom we have initiated into the "gimp FF team" by doing a tandem with me), while his dad jumped with "Toronto Bill". I with Angus Smith, and Derek with TM Juan from 13,500f out the Grand Caravan-"The Little Girl" piloted by Jason with Jeff King on video. This is a part of skydiving that is unbelievably cool, being able to jump with your family, celebrating family occasions. A great weekend to pick for his celebration, the 25 yr reuinion of PST jumpers was vastly attended by skydivers from around the world, giving Mika a small taste of this new world opened up to him. Happy Birthday Buddy, Blue Skies for ever, -mom To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

thanks for sharing, great dive Mathew, and hope that you will join us in the skies again soon! To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

yah there was a motorcross accident yrs back, landed on a truck, 3 wks in a coma and on it went from there., this one, its ALS. Lou Gehrig's disease that's trying to take me now. I'll fly away, it can't catch me. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

I think it ends at F E= exhibition, and F= 'F*ck'd up OOPS!" (hoping no one gets the F licence, but seems that every yr someone or another does) OOhh maybe G=Ground Rush for the BASE jumpers? H=Hospital was your mailing address for several months licence To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

that's great and whats just as wonderful is that I have you IN my camera that day. Nice weekend of jumping, we had fun! Congradulations, you ARE an inspiration and this yr with the Caravan really helps to get us all up n flying.... FUN new things happening at PST for sure, including the provincials... COme watch skydude jump, and the gimps in FF flying along with him.... very soon in the skies of PST To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

the jumps with Angus are going places. landings are getting better, and if all goes well a few exciting new developments will arise... with confidence in it all working out, I will trudge ahead with newfound determination and desire to finish this project. keeping you posted, once things are finalized and settled and I have a positive move forward to report. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

LOL you just cracked me up till i spilt my beer, yup those 'first' beers... yup, that's exactly correct. I bought beer the first time i went back after my first tandem. then i bought it for the first time i pulled myself a canopy above my head. then i bought some for the first time i didn;'t fart in the plane,... ooohh no that was Ryan.... then i stole some for the first time i stole beer, and started a food fight at the restaurant our skydivers go to, called 'wild wings' (I thought they really meant 'wild wings' thus some started to fly from my general direction, and then, well there was an end when the paper towel rolls went flying to our instructors head). well you get the idea. so for your first trip to the dropzone, (what we call the DZ ) you might as well bring the beer, since you now know about it -having looked into the finer points of skydiving... good to know these things before you try to do something like jumping out of a plane, figure out how much beer you should bring if you want to jump again. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Hello 'cookie lady'. great that you've arrived. I'm the extremewheelchairs one on skydiversnetwork at the skydivers with disabilities forum and pink mafia sistehood forum, (but didn't find anyone to dock with yet... )... did dock with 7 other guys involved.... chicks rule, if we can draw out 7 guys of a plane to chase us down holding hands, while a 8th guy is video taping it all. That's great that you're finding friends allready here, at the dz dot com forums. nice place here, very much so. be well and remain safe, -minna To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

I was hoping to get down there for the boogie coming up on the long weekend but I need to check out where my strap on is going to be first... and folllow him, unless Will is willing to take me on a tandem at Gan. Maybe asking Tom n Will about that if it is a potentiality for me..... Thanks for the good advice and kind words. I felt so comfortable with you all there, to jump there. The wind tunnels are a place I cannot go. It is a place where anyone who has issues with things such as catheters, cannot go into wind tunnels. especially ones with recirculating air. I guess it isn't a total impossibility, with a full face helmet, depends, and duct tape at the wrists and ankles.. lol seriously, I needed to get out of the tunnel my trip there came to an end short due to these issues. But it is totally understandable from the tunnels perspective. Anyways, so no tunnel flying is never going to be an option for me. It's in the air or not at all. I flew with Angus this Sun. Waited for 2 days to get in 2 dives, was worth every moment of it. Thankfully I got the dives in, because my body was starting to burn from the inside out, like it sometimes does (nerve pain) within minutes of landing that dive... I was not debriefed before my teeth were chattering from the pain. But that was my last dive, by then regardless of wether the pain was going to stop me or not. Then I took some medication. I wont even bring to the DZ the perscription medications, only tylenol ones with 8 mg codeine for me on diving days, at the end of the day. I really truly am hoping to come to dive in Gan. It might work out. I'd like to come there this summer for sure. Diving with Angus this time was not the same. I felt some level of insecurity of how my lower body seemed to feel like it was dragging us down, and we could not accomplish the backflip exit we used to be able to do (when my legs were tied at the knees), we just sort of wobbled around until Angus had grabbed my legs with his feet and then we sort of flipped after that. I feel my upper body pitching upwards when I try to move my arms to pull. I have a slow wave off response now under these conditions, it takes me 1,000f of alt. to get from the wave off till we are under an open canopy. It used to be 500f quite serious difference with the knee's tied together or not *and no leg braces of any sort*. I don't like the way it feels, but until I'm told to change that, I'm going to have to try to learn to like it. I did notice a HUGE difference in how well I could execute the 360 turns after the tunnel as to compared to before the tunnel. Also canopy control is getting better, now i was able to do a nice gentle stand up landing for Angus and a gentle sit down for me. I liked my own landings better, although they were all butt slide ones. I felt comfortable with them. I still hold hope that I could revive this project somehow.... but really see no other options at this point for me to fly alone except for looking for places to jump off myself. For now,I am far away from that possibility. For now, I am enjoying flying the canopy, and becoming more aware in FF so that should be good... enough.... for now..... i guess..... got a 48" pilot chute sent my way....,., and an invitation to go live an hour away from my favorite mountain near Whistler.... but that is not what was on my plans.... I am not leaving here yet. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

seriously though the only weekend numbers that I can offer is my DZ did 42 FJC students, 50 tandems, n 270 dives in a day, (this was not a 'special day' as in a boogie, but just a day we got really busy!).... this is pretty huge for our DZ since we have been a one 182 or a 206 DZ up to a 2 plane including a Grand Caravan, so the folks are coming from everywhere!!! to fly the skies at PST. For me, it was my first time going back into tandem with a goal in mind... a goal to reach.... after my failed AFF attempt. We did do a couple of 'fun jumps' since, (like the 8 way that was a great surprise, a super thing i will never forget)but now I am back in the skies with the purpose of learning something, becoming better at my FF skills so I could hopefully fly again, and learning better canopy skills so I will become good at accuracy. I think tandem accuracy should be a possible place to compete, for people with disabilities that hinder them from becoming solo divers. Perhaps there is a way to ensure that the tandem masters toggles are not utilized for canopy control (but ofcourse are available for use if need be to avoid emergency situation... maybe some kind of electrical sensor on their toggles to sense a certain amount of pressure to being the ;'cut off; point at which it is considered to be steering/riding the canopy). coming back to start learning again, doing 2 dives... so that's my personal 'numbers' for the weekend. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

hey my friend, glad to see you jumping sounds fun! the skiing is over now for a while I presume My buddy had a weekend where he did his check out jump with a 270, went to a 210 and down to a 190 by the end of the weekend. He didn't really plan on the 190 but decided to try it out (scary stuff). He loves the 190! go figure Let me know what your up to.....' lets catch up To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Way the rip that cord Granny@!! Your more then one up on me now Granny.. and well taken care of also... flaring a little high, heck I did that for my first 4 jumps consistently , religiously and with persistence.... until.... but that 4 hr ROAD TRIP??? TO GET AWAY FROM A 182 DZ??? I just can't get that....I have to do a ' 4 hr road trip' every time we go to the dz and i can only go when someone else is going, and i pay gas... lol ok seriously though and it's been a 182 oohh sometimes we got a 206YAH!! DZ until be brought in the Caravan. Now its a 270 jumps, 42 FJC students, and 50 tandems in a day DZ. I guess I take it for granted that I have a relatively 'short' ride to get down to the wind tunnel, (thats 20 hrs from my home) or down to Gan where I did my first AFF (thats about 8 hrs from here). Been thinking of moving to BC, snd wondering if the DZ distances would be just as far there.... as they are here. Granny, I'm still super impressed with your awareness of the situation. I know how it can be sort of 'dizzying' to be spinning so fast (was just doing that a while back in my dives ) but your ability to think it through, and execute your plan is awesome! To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Sorry TK I failed you all. I did not accomplish anything past 4 AFF dives, 3 of which were repeats of the 2nd dive. Nil in progress and scared Angus out of this altogether. I wish I had better news to share, and help to offer. You can see the videos of my first aff on youtube under the nickname extremewheelchairs. The other dives I will get video up sometime, but they show the instability we had at time to pull. sorry. I'm looking to find a new way to get this done. like everyone else i guess. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Hey Frank, Yes, I hope to be on the same load with you some day, flying Angus like a demon, head down.... n practicing that screamin landing the tandem canopy is capable of, if done correct. It sure starts slow, but builds speed faster... maybe I can bury a toggle under a heel and do the happy dance as the alti. dives. No, I think I just need to get the rig I think of getting, and learn to fly on my own. I can fly paragliders fairly well, and the kites and such... never smashed myself up, except in trying to land thigns like a backflip with a motorcross bike (before even learning a superman ) landing on a truck serves me right! Hope to jump in Gan again.... you guys have a sweet, clean, nice operation. well run, and a fun bunch of people. Next time I know to bring my big plane.... to play while waiting for my tandem ;) oohh about that building or the antenna, no, crazy is all of us just for being here in that case. where does 'crazy' start? 'Have you ever imagined what it must be like to jump off a cliff ? Maybe you have, but more to the point is, have you ever imagined what makes it possible for someone to put themselves in that position of wanting to jump enough, that they themselves now find themselves at the launch point. This does not happen by accident. This is the culmination, the coming together of fantasy, desire, faith, knowledge, ability, visualisation. Accepting a challenge of your own design, a brutal confrontation between ones personal life and safety and puting ones self out on a limb, far from the safety we naturally yearn for.' - Chuck I feel that. I had hoped to achieve it through skydiving solo. it turns out not. so move on to the next thing on the list of things to do before.... To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Bow? awwwww Get yourself a C-kite, mucho power

thanks for the great reply, means much. yes well i do still 'fly' on my own with 12M bow kites and that 55 sqf kitewing (kitewing.com to see what it is) -i'm their official 'gimp test pilot' for the kitewing, noone in a chair has flown one as far as the company knows. there are only two of us who even own one, but the other never informed them if he got himself to fly it or not... i flew mine this winter a bit, and summer.. well thats when the fun begins I've gotten to well over 60f for at least 8 seconds at a time with the 12m one... its a little more sudden when it comes down sometimes then a parachute is.... thus i said in my intro forum post that skydiving saves my life because i didn't dare do those other 'flights' then...... when i was trying to learn this, but now, i can learn more intense sh*t with the other means of flying' ground launching sounds like fun too! while i can ride tandem with Angus if i got a bit smashed up doing them, but i could never have been able to skydive even with a headache, never mind bruises, blood noses and bumps, fracxtures like the other stuff gave me..... i'll be ok. i'll fly tandem like mad~! and fly my other toys now again. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

at this link http://www.parachuteschool.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2048#2048 To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

This weekend, to put it bluntly -went TERRIBLE and then absolutely beautiful and exceptionally wonderful. Angus and I tried that dive again (the one where I flipped around, with him flying head down trying to get me belly down so he could pull my parachute) on Sat. -same results. we modified things even. Tried to add leg braces, we lifted up the opening altitude from 5,500f up to 6,000f. Same results except Angus held on to me, trying to stop me from flipping over, and I struggled with every technique-hips down, full arch, relaxed hands, arms back to compensate for backsliding, n head up- i could find to remain belly down-stable to pull. I blew past my opening, and Angus opened for me again. Serious talk-he said 'if you were an able bodied diver i would say now-your done, im not going to endanger you by allowing you to continue'. He then said, 'i know you have a lot on your plate,-kids, illness, ass hole ex, on n on' and 'try to get those demons out of your head, because we will try this one more time tomorrow, and if you cannot pull at the correct altitude, with stability -each two tries prior he ended up pulling because I was becoming SO unstable trying to reach out there to pull that i would be flipping like a rag doll at 150mph towards ground and even if the body position was not 'terrible' during the automatic activation device opening, it is at 1,200f putting me directly into the beginning of my landing pattern, without legs up -which takes me about 2,000f of altitude to finally pull them up!-thats huge amounts-and i would have to land with them dangling, and we all know what that could mean). Sat. night was the toughest of my life in some ways, and the only way I could deal with it, was to stay in my tent until 11AM Sun -one hr before that dive-my test-do I continue in this progression, or am I going to become a tandem passenger again. I did the dive, it was just as bad, we enforced the safety even by putting two instructors and the left (Fuzzy Dave) side one was only to hold on to me when I was NOT trying to pull..... so he was there for back up to correct me if i started to roll/flip). We upped the opening altitude again! to 7,000f! that last time I tried to pull -first two I could not accomplish it without the slight tilt ready to flip-so i arched again and am stable as a rock, flying still, not moving only arching (IF ONLY there was an automatic opening device set to 5,500f and i could belly fly, flat-stable until it does its job, and i can fly canopy) 'like bad-ass' someone said of my canopy skills -hope that's good... and two more divers telling me they are 'impressed', saying ' -THATS how you fly a perfect approach and landing softly"... thats huge compliments... but if i cannot pull that chute, i cannot do it. so, my skydiving 'career' as a future solo student, and A license holder is yet another 'dream' gone. as the wind blows, where it goes -nobody knows; I am (they still say I am a 'skydiver', but how does one define that?) now again a tandem passenger (with Angus telling me he was emotional on the way down with his canopy after he had to pull for me at 4,900f!!!! he tried to let me that much.... even though the agreed altitude was 7,000f!! .... he said 'I would be selfish and irresponsible if I allowed this to continue, but I will fly with you until the end of time, always, as you permanent strap on instructor... and your ash dive in the end"... and we cried.) I believe him-if the best in the world cannot teach me this,' i cannot do it. i believe him because i respect him more then any other skydiver i know. thats the weekend. but there is a nice surprise he organized for me, a HUGE one. he offered to do a tandem 'in a few hrs' he said, and i thought it was only him and me and we would double backflip exit and with him on top of me for the stability, i can even pull, and he said he trusts me completely to fly us in under canopy. So up we go, and I see that ALL the most experienced jumpers, the best there is, AND my 'eye in the sky' Jeff King, whom i truly have come to learn to care so much for, and a second camera man-Steve, and fuzzy dave (my camera man I was told he would film me) so we get out, after one back flip, there is NO flips regardless of how much I try.-Angus sure IS stable, I tried to get that second flip but he overpowered me, to keep me stable. smiling at fuzzydave, while the others who all jumped after us. tracked down to.... -little did I know what was to come... then all of a sudden I see Jeff king, coming up right beside me, and a 30 yrs of skydiving 'skygod' Steve-a camera guy whom I respect also shows up to my right- and my friends, the ones whom i have come to respect, and watch in awe as they train for in swooping, 'freakfly free fliers'-whom i would have become one of.. then canopy pilot experts of our DZ and elsewhere, and am so impressed with their flying... and who i look up to in this sport... ALL gathering around me, in a '9 way' circle with fuzzy dave flying between above us, below us,zooming his camera lens at me smiling like i never have before-seriously- and i was laughing and so so happy i have never felt such happiness... i know it must be weird, that other events in my life not brought me this kind of happiness as it did, to fly down from 13,500f down to 5,500f with these people, all together everyone smiling and giving 'thumbs up' signs to me. After we all came down there was group photos, someone ordered Pizza for everyone, and and beer-for people like me Wink, these people whom i so much respect, came up to me at one time or another tonight and told me several things from 'your the bravest person ive ever met', to 'most courageous', to 'you've got more balls then anyone', to 'ive thought of killing myself so many times in my life, and now i see you, and i will always think of this, and how brave you are, if i ever think to do that to myself again... your awesome.. you have NO idea what influence you've just had on my life', to 'you ARE a skydiver ALWAYS'. what a mix of emotions for one 48 hr period. -minna photos:http://www.parachuteschool.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=210 To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

thanks, I'm looking forward to trying that dive again next Fri or Sat. This time I want to find the stability to do excercises without us ending up spinning or flipping. Here is the link to the fully edited video (some very nice photos FuzzyDave took, while taking the video). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNP6xKIzVzI To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

wow! that's cool! excellent :) To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

I'm deeply honoured by your high assessment of me, but please, let us not use the word instructor and me in the same sentence, it makes me very uncomfortable -i have 14 skydives, and 2 AFF to date.. I DO want to provide as much infoo from my perspective -as the STUDENT i am, remember that, my perspective is only what i believed i perceive, followed by what my coaches tell me to wrok on, improve, modify etc. but back on this all, thanks ALL for your interest to see how this all goes along. part 2 went like this AFF#2 was decided to do out with one AFF instructor, and camera man (who was qualified to help to become the 2nd AFF if needed). 1) we had a bad day for weather, the day befiore I s[ent 5 hrs in the rain, under tarps, stil getting wet trying to put up a tent to live in, to follow DZ RULES re limited space etc. etc. anyways that failed with the winds gusting me and tent and tarps away and off to lala land. 5 1/2 hrs of work drenched, was NOT GOOD CHOICE the day prior to the 2nd AFF. #2 day of 2nd AFFM,, winds were strong all day and I was a'on hold' for manifest until student wind limits came. #3 I was wanting to some day do a head down, to which my instructor discussed with me, and it was a possibility for me to do a tandem dive to practice other canopy skills IF there was time. Time came. I was getting ready to gear up for tandem, when we went to plan B -back to doing student AFF dive since winds came down and we better go now or who knows what happens. #4 Focus was good I beleive for me, during the clib\mb, and during the exit. we modifed the exit so I was kneeling on my legs at the doorway rather then hang my feet out the door. this permitted one instructor and a small doorway to deal with. plus camera man behind me. exit was good. i found stability. all is well. got thumbs up to start excercises, we were to do the prasctice pulls again. switched hard deck for opening main, as well as wave off (up to 6,000f from 5.5f) I immediately noticed that without A"rick the planet' on my right, Angus and I started turning ojn a 360 axis due to my backsliding due to my legs almost bent up to my butt-staying in one place and not flopping around was a blessing. #5 Backsliding was corrected not only by me but Angus. thus when practice pulled all seemed doable, (we were turning about once ever 2 secs at slowest but my neptune recorded our fastest speed to be 148mph instead of 128 with the tqwo AFF's). That was fine. The real pull came, wave ooff weas fine. After that I dipped my head *chin down) to place my hand on it while looking for the pilot chute handle, i flipped us upside down so fast i have never moved that fast. it was a 'cool' feeling, no scariness panic etc, except arch, arch arch' was my mantra. after review, Angus and Dave both tell me that Angus DID help me get back to belly down. When it was happening a) I felt like it was not a long time at all, (which it w3as not, it was more like a barrel roll) BUT my sense of awareness was NOT the best, i arched thought I got us belly down, and then waited for Angus to act. I knew we had blow past 6,000f, perhaps close to 5,000f and i knew if i blew past 3,000f i'd be goping golfing. So I thought it was best to leave AnGUS WHO surely had his heads on his shoulders, do take over a bit there. I needed to focus on what to do next because if I did not see Angus I would have to go to main immediately and first try to check alt. inccase i've blown my hard decka and go to reserve. SO when thigns do happen unexpectedly it is extremely important to know 'ARCH ARCH' MANTRA, and to focus on altitude, and what to do next - is it pull main , or go to emergency procedures. enmd result, we are again modifying some sort of braces into the legs -we cannot do this fully without them. -we are doing this dive again, these issues must be resolved. -the landing is important tio plan. the radio man -DZO had different 'signals' then the previous one. different radios and also i heard and then not heard what was ebing said. it came and went, for me. i believe it was me, and my adrenalin. so alternate plan incase of radio not working or these sort of issues, is to have. along with emergency landing plan. our alternate plan was to look for Angus and he would fly my pattern so i woudl follow him,. I had wrong harness/container. my chest strap was so high below my chin that it was pushing my head upward making a bit difficult for range of motion to see sideways or low doqwn. I lost concentration (or hearing of?) the radio often, but knew sun was in the direction i needed to fly in iorder to get to where i was going. then i saw angus. i followed him in. the landing was the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES I WAS SOAKED! first of all, two geese decided to flhy directly across my final approach about 200f abnove ground. we misse4d each other :) then i saw the bowl and knew i was not making it there, unless i did something stupid like try a 30 degree or more turn below 100f. so i had to land close to the runway, right into a big puddle. the ophoto looks like i am sliding in a tobaggan of water on my butt, splashing water alll over me head on downward like in a shower... sliding and gliding quite a bit until i grabbed my right riser and opulled the chute down to the ground. it was a great jump, despite the increased turning due to backsliding and the leg issues, despite flipping around back to ground and back again while trying to go for a pilot chute, it all went qwell and the landing was great. this dive will be redone again. 'REPEAT' the log book says,. like it should. -minna To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works