Mad47

Hook'n'swoop suggests to attach a chem light to main PC. Seems like a good idea but one should only do it under riggers supervision.

You already got a lot of advice from people much more experienced than I'm. I will just add a few points that, I believe, might help to get a maximum amount of fun from night jumping. 1) Plan you day in advance. Our DZ requires (and I believe it is a pretty common rule) that jumpers who plan to participate at night jumping make at least one "day" jump same day. If you did not get enough sleep the night before and than made 8 jumps during a day, jumping at night is not going to be fun and might even become a safety issue. 2) Get you night equipment ready in advance and do not rely on gear store. They tend to run out of chem lights right before you try to get one from them. 3) Make sure you eat your lunch and may be dinner before you start night jumps since your skydiving day is going to be much longer than usually. 4) Wear dark sunglasses during brief and preparation – it will help your vision to accommodate to dark. Do not stare at bright light when you prepare for dives. 5) Make sure you are absolutely familiar with landing area, pattern, exit order, break off and pull altitudes (S&TA will usually cover these issues during brief). 6) Before you board the plane, get out from the hangar, stay in the dark for a few min and look around – Where the moon is? Where the lights are? It will help you to find DZ when you are under canopy. 7) Do not do anything stupid under canopy and do not drop your lights – it will look like someone is going in and it will not be appreciated by those who organize the even. 8) The black guy chasing you when you are on final is you – do not try to avoid him by making an aggressive turn. Many people made this mistake in past. 9) Do not forget to let manifest or organizers know when you land so they will not be looking in fields when you are drinking beer. 10) If you plane to make more than one jump – pack ASAP after you land because the intervals between loads are usually short. Have fun!!! I am very new in sport and only got 8 night jumps under my belt but I can tell you – they are absolutely awesome!

1) Showing up at local DZ two years ago to make a first AFF jump – could have been living a normal live and had more money if I did not make this mistake 2) Jumping at 32 mph wind next day after my SCR party. Had "A" license and 30 jumps under my belt Thanks God my first instructor saw what I was ding and grounded me. 3) Every once in a while catching myself thinking that I already know a lot.

TSL meets & Nationals

I am by no means a tunnel rat, but I recommend to get at least an hour. Even under supervision of a great coach you cannot possibly learn a lot in only 10-15 minutes. Yes, you will probably be tired after an hour or two but it is well worth doing because your freefall skills will improve dramatically. When you are in the tunnel, it feels like there is never enough time. You do not want to be in situation when you just started to get a feel for it but your time is already up. Since it is hard to stay in the chamber for longer than several minutes, people usually split the booked time with at least one more person. So, lets say, if you and a friend of yours book 2 hours of coached tunnel time and you only do solos (usually they will not let newbies do RW), each of you gets approximately an hour of tunnel time. Have fun!

Yep ... A lot of Jr teams would probably loose the motivation to play. How in a world a team that just strated can compete with those who have been doing this for years and getting paid for their jumps?

1. Whats your name? Anton 2. How old are you? 33 3. Why did you decide to start jumping out of airplanes? Wanted to impress a friend of mine. We did AFF-1 together. 4. Single or married? single 5. Do you have kids? nope 6. What do you drive? DelSol 7. Have you ever done a kisspass? yes 8. Where do you live? Dallas 9. Do you have any pets? nope, but one day I'll get a German Sheperd 10. How many jumps do you have? 400+ 11. What color eyes do you have? blue 12. What is your nationality? Russian 13. Have you ever dated someone you met off the internet? Yes ... 14. Favorite Movie? Casablanca 15. What do you do when you arent skydiving? Reading, working our, drinking, cloning genes 16. Have you ever BASE jumped? not yet 17. If not... do you want to? see above 18. Do you have siblings? younger sis 19. Where do you want to travel to the most? Tibet 20. What's your favorite color? Green 21. Where was the last place you flew to ( not skydiving )? ... hm ... I don't remember

Here is my record: I got 7 traffic tickets in 3 years before I started to jump (4 of them were speeding tickets) and 0 since I got my A lisence 19 month ago. Speeding is unsafe and expensive plus, in my opinion, most of the people who drive very fast are not skilled drivers.

It depends on the several factors including the type of jumpsuit you wear, your body type/biuld and your skill /technique. For slim 6.3' 189lb guy (like i'm) wearing tight RW siut 89 is a good speed. Quote Has anyone done any better? /Quote If hook'n'swoop was around, I am sute he would provide some very impressive statistics of his tracking dives. 89 is definitely not a limit

Oh that's why people always chop it ...

I would probably try this all if I get PC in tow at 11K on high altitude hop'n'pop. Otherwise, it seems like a very dangerous waste of time.

I do not see anything wrong with seeing the group exited before you unless there is a clear problem with horizontal separation due to short delay between groups. If both groups fly on bellies, 10 seconds delay gives you less than 2000 ft vertical separation. If you can stand on the ground and see the 10-way formation exiting the plane, why cannot you see the group just exited before you?

Huh ... I have heard a story from my first instructor and rigger about the guy surviving a bag lock on BASE jump in Canada. Apparently 3 ft of snow saved him. When people on the top of the exit point saw what happened got down to get his body, they found him talking with his wife on cell phone ...

The water is almost as hard as concrete if you hit it at high speed.

In any case you would have to steer your malfunctioning canopy to hit the "target" which seems a bit unrealistic because it is not responding well and you are already low. I would try to concentrate on putting as much input as possible to make is stable having the landing target as a second priority .

I think it is a good idea to try to complete AFF in a shortest period of time, so saving up for a few month is a good call. Plus do not forget that spring is usually windy in many places. Sitting at DZ and waiting for winds to calm down is a very painful experience when you are a student.

I hate to say this but I would give up tandems. The chances of tandem student getting infected from HIV-positive tandem master are extremely low, probably much lower than chances of tandem student and TM going in due to double mal. However, the chances of getting a lot of shit because of tandem student braking ankle on landing and THEN discovering you are HIV-positive are higher. In a world with history of many ridiculous law suites there is no guarantee that someone will not start a law suite against you. I am really sorry, dude.

4-way - 2.5-3K Formation loads - 2.1-2.5K

What a mixure of opinions ... here's mine When you progress through AFF levels you will probably start from 5.5 and then gradually go to 4.5-4K. However, your instructors will probably tell you on every jump when (hiw high) they want you to pull and if you get a clear pull signal at 6.5, you better pull. When you become a licensed jumper, you will need to follow USPA recomendations for your experience level, however your pull altitudes will vary significantly depending on type of jump, familiarity with particular DZ, spot, and some other conditions. There is a MINIMUM altitude for every type of license. Listening to those who say "I always pull at 3.5" isn't a good idea because: On big ways you often go low (sometimes to 2K) to make sure that you pull in clear airspace If you wear a camera you better pull higher because you need some extra time to deal with malfunction If spot is bad and you are last guy out doing solo, you might consider pulling higer to get back to DZ (same rule applies if you jump at unfamiliar DZ), however, if the spot is bad when you are participating on big-way jump, you go low (the organizers will usually tell how high everyone pulls), and land out because pulling low is safer in this case. For obvious reasons you gotta pull to be open above the hard deck. Some present "I don't give a shit, I pull at 1.5" attitude and scare those who watch them from the ground, not to mention possibility of two out due to Cypress fire. The bottom line is think, look for advice from those whose experience and attitude is proven and learn how to stay safe :)) Blue skies

this pic is posted at Russian skydiving site dropzone.ru Indeed, does not belong to incidents forum

It is against my personal policy to report someone to S&TA for making some stupid mistake ONCE. However, if this is a pattern and the person is being a hazard for the others on regular basis, talking to experienced people who have a lot of respect at you DZ is probably the best way to resolve the problem. Someone with "I know everything" attitude will probably not listen to you because you have less jumps. This attitude already means that person in question believes that she does not need any advice, especially from new jumpers like you. Talk to those who have a power to ground her for a long time and make them explain to her that she still does not know shit and that she needs to follow safety requirements like everybody else.

~250-270 jumps ~ $ 5K 2 tunnel camps ~ $750 competition fees, travel, hotels, repacks ect ~ 2k looks like this year isn't going to be better ...

Not all FF's are like that ... Alchemy has competed last year in 4-way advanced with 7.5 average I heard they were forced to do some pushups as a punishment for every brainlock ... :)_

Good post. We will prpboably use all these advices as our team plan for this year. Right, Robin ?

How is it possible for JM sitting by the door of tiny C-182 going into spin to let/force terrified students get out first?