Mad_Jasper

I'm on 6 and have done 5 jumps (2 today) in the last two weeks. I have a few bruises around my shoulders and a stiff neck. It helped a lot when I started walking out my landings. A cold beer helps with the soreness.

AFF5 and AFF6 jumps today. Had a little trouble with a flat spin on 5, but nothing major. On level 6, I had no problems with gaining stability on exit and on my backflip, but when I tried to adjust my heading for forward tracking, got into another flat spin again. No tumbling, just could quite maintain my heading. Got to 6K feet before I quit spinning and decided to perform a delta. I did and pulled at 4500 ft. Instructor was not too happy with the late maneuver. I don't have to repeat 6, but I do have to do a solo exit practice jump practicing heading maintenance. I was worried about the flip and 360s and lost it on a 90 degree turn. Nailed my landings though. While disappointed that I didn't move on to 7 just yet, I feel it was a productive day. The things I thought difficult were quite easy and I had a hell of a lot of fun. My confidence is soaring at the moment. And most importantly, I walked away.

Feeling much better about it today. The wife really reamed last night about it. She reminded me why I wanted to do this to start with. I'm going to concentrate on enjoying the fall and not worry about anything else. Thanks!

After AFF4, I was thinking to myself that I didn't pass. When I debriefed with my instructor, he told me that everything was great, other than being a little stiff at times and that I had one leg extended slightly farther than the other. I guess it boils down to a lack of self confidence, something that I normally do not lack. Looking over my log book, I see less than 4 minutes of free fall time and I'm expected to do back flips in two more jumps?!? AFF2 was awesome. I was complete relaxed and it was a great skydive. My instructors had bragged to other jumpers on the ground who in turned complimented me when I landed. I don't necessarily care whether I'm complimented or not, but that's the feeling that I want every time I jump. That's why I wanted to do this in the first place. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

Dude, you're missing my point... or maybe I wasn't clear about what I was trying to say. I have no problem with the AFF program not do I have a problem with the need to demonstrate basic skills before jumping. I've also haven't had any problems with stability, arching, etc. What I'm concerned with is making some stupid little mistake that would require a retake. Case in point. As I went through NPQ training about 10 years ago, one of the drills required setting up a ladder, ascending the latter, and cutting a ventilation hole in a simulated roof. I had no problem demonstrating those skills, but when it was completed, the instructor reminded me that I had failed to put my gloves on.... something that I would never forget in a real fire. Thanks for the encouragement.

Ok. I loved my tandem jump subsequently leading to begging AFF. I loved AFF1 and 2 and couldn't wait to get out of the airplane. I was anxious on 3 and 4. It wasn't so much for my safety as it was passing the damn jumps. I did without any problems. I have since found a DZ much closer and I'm scheduled to jump Sunday... hopefully 5, 6 and 7. However, I am nervous as hell about failing. I don't know why, but it's just nagging me to the point where I'm almost dreading going. I'll be glad when I can finally jump for me and not for someone else.

Thanks. My instructor did tell me about the potential for the Cypress firing. No spiraling below 2000 feet for me.

Thanks!! I am considering finishing at SDA. I spoke with (can't remember his name) Tuesday when it looked like I was going home without jumping. I do feel very comfortable with my current instructors and that goes a long way, but it's just freaking difficult to get up there. I've been checking around and SDA looks like a great place... I can't wait to get up there and try it out. Having my family with me is important and it will be much easier at SDA. Thanks for the invite and I'll see you soon.

Spent two days at ASC this week. Too cloudy to jump Tuesday, but my wife encouraged me to hang around another day and I managed 2 jumps Wednesday. I have to admit feeling uneasy about jumping. I never could figure exactly why. My wife and daughter were unable to go... maybe that's part of the reason. Another reason was that I was lacking confidence in myself. Maybe I've been looking at too many Youtube videos. AFF3 felt great. When I was released, I turned to the side a little, but got stable quickly and stayed stable the rest of the way. I also had a stable deployment. Flared a bit early because but my PLF was great. No bruises this time.

Sorry, Leesburg Ga. I spent the last two days in Cerdartown... only jumped twice because of the weather though. There's a place in Thomaston, GA that's open on weekends. I thought Thomaston around Statesboro, Ga but actually only 90 miles away. My mistake. I should have looked it up when first heard about it. I finished AFF3 and 4 yesterday. It was a lot of fun.

LOL!

275 miles. I live in the bowels of hell.

For the tandem and the AFF1 it was worth it. After the tandem, I felt like this might be an hobby I would really enjoy. I decided to do AFF1 and take a few days to reflect on it. We were in Duluth Saturday and had time to drive over (about 70 miles) for AFF2 and after that I am completely hooked. I was going back Sunday night and stay until Tuesday, but the weather wasn't cooperative, so I'm going back tonigh and try to get as many jumps as I can while feeling comfortable with what I'm learning. Then I'll go back over the weekend and try to finish AFF. Thanks for the link. I'm reading over it now.

There only one closer and that's Opelika AL. They're only open on weekends and they will require me to retake AFF for reasons I won't get into. Weekends only are the biggest problem for me. There are several DZs within a 250 mile radius, but for now, I'll stick with ASC even though the owners are not well respected within the sport.

Adventure Skydiving Center in Cedartown, GA. It's about 230 miles away from my house. I found one DZ that was closer (100 miles), but there were some limitations and honestly, I feel a high level of comfort with the employees at ASC.

I was near the DZ because of my daughter's cheerleading competition so we decided to take a chance on getting AFF2 in after it was over. Got there about 4:30, but they squeezed me on the sunset ride, which was alone awesome. I felt much more relaxed and confident than AFF1. AFF1 I felt that I had barely enough time to do what I was supposed to do before 6000 ft and had decided if I made my turns and forward movement once, I'd be happy. Turns out that I repeated my turns and forward movement 3 times before wave off. It was great... for the first time I actually felt that I was flying. The only hand signals from the instructors was a thumbs up. I felt stable and totally in control from the time I left the plane. I had a problem with my deployment. I pulled and on my 3 count, the still no semblance of a canopy. When I got to 5, I looked over my should as my instructor punched my chute and it opened. I had a few line twist, but kicked out of them easily. I had a lot more confidence with canopy control and did a few spirals on the way down. I still misjudged my landing. Last time I flared to late, this time to early. PLF worked wonderfully. Overall, the only correction by my instructors was that I was a little too aggressive on my first set of turns, but corrected it on my subsequent sets. While I flared early, they said I executed my PLF flawlessly. I do have a question though. How much control do I actually have in my freefall? My instructors told me they were along for the ride and I honestly barely knew they were there, but I don't know. Oh, and the plot treated us to a little 0G on the way up. It was a great day!!!

Skydive Fitzgerald is closed. Skydive Opelika is only 100 miles away, but the owner told me immediately that he doesn't accept ASC (Cedartown, GA) students and went on to criticize ASC for several minutes. He commented that ASC students don't learn anything and that they rob the student blind. After talking with him for a little while, he said he would accept me if I came to talk with him one weekend. As far as his fees, there was only about $100 difference over the seven jumps. I looked over the reviews and Opelika only had 4 (5 star rating) whereas ASC had around 65 (4 star rating).

That is a great thought! I searched the Net and made dozens of calls trying to find a closer DZ and this is the first I've heard of anything as close as Fitzgerald. I'm looking into it now. ***updated*** The skydive center was shut down about 10-15 years ago according to the airport. Still screwed, I enjoy hanging out at ASC in Cedartown, but I don't have anything to compare it to.

I was thinking about that but my wife would cut the boys off if I decided to take time to jump during our trip. She's been very understanding and supportive... I don't want to take advantage of her. To be honest, I enjoy our WDW vacations to the point I really would rather spend the time with my wife and daughter. Cedartown is about 1 1/2 hours closer anyway.

2.) Leesburg, Ga.... Orlando is about 5 hours away. 3.) Obviously I can't perform turns and flips while arched on the floor, but I can focus on my arch and learn to react to hand signals as opposed to wondering why in the hell the instructor is giving me the peace sign. 4.) Well I do have back problems, disc degenerative disease, spinal stenosis, 3 herniated discs earlier in the summer... all due from a car accident almost 20 years ago. I've worked very hard on conditioning, stretching, and core exercises to keep my core strong and went almost 3 years with out pain. Back in May, I would have to agree that skydiving probably wasn't for me. I had serious pain for nearly six months. I was basically told by my ortho and spinal surgeon I was SOL... until one day I felt a knot near my spine in my lower back. It was almost like a pain button. I consulted with several doctors but they wrote it off as a lipoma and not the cause of my sudden severe pain. Well, I convinced one to give me a local anesthetic and BAM, no more pain. Finally convinced a general surgeon to remove the lipoma form my lower back 2 1/2 weeks ago and I haven't had any pain since. Subsequent xrays reveal that while I still have disc degeneration disease, the herniated discs and stenosis have cleared up. It seems the lipoma was causing inflammation and muscle spasms resulting in my spine being compressed. So when I say that I was thankful for my back pain earlier this year, that's what I was getting at. I've actually been cleared to skydive... but not crashing.

I can't even talk her into a tandem... They even offered a free jump Friday 'cause she's a hottie, but no joy.

Wasn't showing up in my MAC.. tried a windows machine and the "upload profile picture" button appeared. Thanks.

My first jump was in May and it has consumed my thoughts ever since. I'm actually thinking about divorcing my wife and selling my kid so I'd have more money and time to jump.

I'm looking around for one but so far I haven't found one any closer than a DZ. My wife has graciously agreed to help me train for my subsequent jumps. Every night, I simulate 4-6 jumps from the exit count to the landing. I prop my feet on the couch and arch on the floor and perform my TLOs and my wife drills me on hand signals. My hope is that the TLOs will be second nature so that I can focus on body position and interaction with the instructor. My instructors were very pleased with my progression but I'm always critical of myself. It looks like my finances will be OK to complete AFF the week of Thanksgiving should I not have too many repeat failures, but I'm hoping to get in a tunnel at least once before then for some practice. I don't really have a lot of anxiety jumping so much as that I'm just awestruck once I leave the plane. When I did my tandem in May, I forgot about the cameraman... the experience was so amazing.

I'm on the South so that's not too much of a problem. I was concerned that the long breaks in between would cause a little more anxiety and diminish my ability to focus on the objectives. I was awestruck briefly last Friday during AFF1 after leaving the plan and had to make a conscious effort to do my TLOs.