nigel99

Hop and pops are great fun and almost certainly safer than your average skydive. The aircraft must be correctly configured, but that is true on any jump. Part of the problem is people's mindset. They get scared of exiting at 4000 to 5000 feet, but they will happily break from s formation at the same height! From 5000 ft you've got 15+ seconds to get to a normal deployment altitude. We should actually be doing them from 2500 or so and even then it's not a panic. For what it is worth, I'd say a tandem has more risk than a hop and pop. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

It'll be like being back in school, where the faster kids don't get anywhere near their full potential because they're being held back by a broken system. We should learn from that lesson and not make another broken system. I completely disagree. Just recently someone ran a canopy course aimed at learning to swoop at the dz. A guy did his 100th jump on the course - while jumping his big arse canopy. If you are keen and gifted you'll learn to fly the shit out of your Navigator 220. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Allowing hop and pops to exit without cutting back the power and slowing the aircraft. I don't know the economics of it, but it costs the dz some money to do a hop and pop run on the way to altitude and the more they cam continue to climb the cheaper it is for them. I don't know what the typical flap settings are for a jump run, it would be interesting to know for a 182 and caravan. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I learned something here: A manufacturer will build a rig that is not RSL-ready. I always thought the only thing that could NOT be ready would be the risers. Hey Andy, Teardrops were supplied without any provision for an rsl as standard (may have changed now though). Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Hey Grue, The problem with peoples progression is that we are all different. I would say that I am below average in canopy handling skills, despite being on a couple of canopy courses. The powers that be have to make a judgement that balances the people with hot shot skills against the dunces. I don't think it hurts to enforce lower wing-loadings. You can still start learning high performance landings (double fronts etc) on a large canopy. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

out of curiosity, i know quite alot of newbies at my DZ that go straight into freelfy once they are licensed because it's the "cool" thing to do..is this a red flag? Granted though they might have tons of money to hire a FF coach or might have a access to wind tunnels. Remember different countries, different rules. Here you are not allowed to freefly without a B license. So as oldwoman said it is a red flag when a senior instructor (I won't bore you with dzso qualification requirements, you can read them on the apf site) starts making exceptions. It's about the same as a BSR in the USA being waived or ignored. The red flag to be clear is the men pandering to a young woman, frankly its sexist, and they should grow up. I've heard it said that the easiest way to earn your B license is being able to tit pack. Anyway, I think the thread has drifted on long enough. Best thing she can do is find an experienced jumper who has no romantic interest in her (another woman, gay guy, married with scary wife or married with lovely wife) and get them to mentor her. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Don't worry about what all the dorks on here think. Change your avatarto a picture of a troll or an image of funks Just remember this isn't anonymous internet, many jumpers read the site and people from.your home dz WILL be reading stuff here. Also realise for the most part if you're looking for serious answers to the type of questions you're asking post in the women's forum, generally you'll get a better quality reply. Good luck, and enjoy Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

It's been just 4 days since you started This Thread saying you were thinking about applying for the job, and basically asking what it was like. What's up? My guess is that it's either Funks or JR. But I could be wrong. Guys, I'm getting pretty upset here. I don't even know who "Funks" or "JR" are. Can someone explain??? why does everyone keep saying I'm these people? Look on my profile if you don't believe me. I have a pic of me free flying. That's proof enough. Haha - busted. You're not suppossed to be free-flying before you have your B license. That will be 3 demerit points Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Can't take her seriously as a jumper until she starts showing up to the DZ without makeup on. Oh, you guys are so lovely to me. Some of what you said is true. The first part. But FYI, I don't wear make up to the dz (tried once and the helmet and goggles smudge it anyway ). And my canopy is pink, which doesn't match my eyes, but is my favourite colour I skydive because I truly love it, which I have a right to do. Not because I want to "pick up guys" or "look cool". I'm (mostly) teasing, because I date a jumper. If we broke up she'd be deported so I'm not too concerned about sharing a DZ, but even if that weren't the case I file it under "whatever". Anyway, jump for whatever reason(s) you want - if you've got the right attitude, people will jump with you. If you've got the wrong attitude but you're attractive, some (desperate) people will still jump with you. FIFY Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Short nails, little or makeup and laughs when she farts More seriously, most skydiving ladies are pretty laid back, low maintenance types. Generally they seem to have good self esteem and solid expectations of what they want in life. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't believe it is one of the trolls - she knows too much about APF regs. I believe it's someone young and full of excitement about their new found hobby. She's just coming across as a major drama queen and I'm pretty sure she'll be stressing about her makeup getting smudged or the canopy not matching her eye colour next. God help everyone when she breaks a nail. So far she hasn't really portrayed the typical 'sky chick' vibe (excuse the generalisation), so just enjoy the tourist while she's in town and send Vader down there to get her Robbed Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Don't worry about 'anyone else'...did YOU? I mean of course DID you...before they threw you off the place & told ya not to come back ? It was ok, they all had sky hooks. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Thanks I'd downloaded it but didnt see flat turns. I'll reread it. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Meh, I prefer friendly and competent manifest chicks. I worked with a chick who was super hot once, but she was a real bitch. The best part was when she got fired for uploading porn at work. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Ignore the snipes about girls etc. So far there has been one good post and that is that manifest will stop you jumping. If SA is similar to WA you're not going to lose friends over it, but it is stressful and long hours. That said if you can get rostered on every 2nd weekend working at a dz is a great way to learn. If you can other dz jobs give you more freedom. A packer B rating will let you pack student and tandem gear, the beauty of that is to some degree you can slot jumps in. GCA and helping with tandems is also good - to help with tandems you're just harnessing the students up for the TI. It's more fun than it sounds. If you want to work full time at a dz in Western Australia I know a place that is looking for all sorts right now. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Thanks Andy. I've got to get my head wrapped around all this before next Friday. I'm hoping to get a chance to do a couple of hop and pops this weekend to play with the dynamics of it and maybe fly proximity with a mate and video the response. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Any suggestions on the best method of teaching flat turns to novice skydivers (20-50 jumps). I don't like the wording and method used in the Australian B license manual. The manual currently suggests: 1) Do a normal turn and take note of the induced dive/speed. 2) Do a flare (not a flare turn) and note how the canopy dives when you release back into full drive 3) Do a turn and immediately apply opposite toggle to return to level flight. I've abbreviated the notes but this is the outline method. As the point of a flat turn is to turn with minimal altitude loss, does it make sense to emphasize staying 'under' the wing? It is relatively easy to observe the fact that the wing is overhead - too much toggle turn and you will move further behind the nose, apply too much brake on both sides and you end up swinging towards the nose (flaring). It should be blindingly obvious but to prevent thread drift - all this obviously at a safe altitude and with due respect for traffic and the spot. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Actually I think this misses an important part of the lesson that could be learnt. Doing gear checks with the wrong mindset is as bad as not doing them at all. It's interesting how 'obvious' things slip past us - a brilliant example is this experiment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

These are excellent responses to a safety lapse wolfriverjoe. You mention below, I'd add #3: How can I prevent it in the future? to the list. Perhaps I could've been more explicit. I've thought a lot about 1. but I honestly don't know. I wasn't rushed, wasn't distracted. Perhaps tired because it was the 23rd jump in 4 days, but that wouldn't be the first time I've done that many jumps in 4 days. Maybe just a combination of tired, hot, distracted. I'm not really sure. It actually took me a few mins when I got to the ground to figure out how to even misroute a chest strap... For 2., I looked, but didn't LOOK. Tugging on my chest straps aims to solve this by bringing in a kinetic component to my checks that had been missing before, and in the process make it much more likely that I LOOK. I disagree that the tug/pull is a solution. All that happens is you lull yourself into a false sense of security and give a half hearted tug without looking - I can pretty much guarantee that you could 'pass' a misrouted chest strap in that case. The route cause is complacency. For 300 odd times you've looked and it was alright - so your brain filled in the gaps when you looked and you saw what you expected to see. I've been cleared to jump by an instructor with a full twist in my harness that might have prevented me cutting away - another jumper noticed it. The point ultimately is 'expect' to find a problem, make sure you are devoting conscious effort to the checks and repeat multiple times. I partially agree with those who say have a routine and stick to it - but sooner or later someone is going to interrupt your routine. It's a real problem and some of us who have thorough routines, lull ourselves into a safe sense of security - all the while feeling smug that we are safer than the average jumper. The sheer fact you don't catch problems 99% of the time, is the problem - you simply don't expect to find one. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I really struggle with the concept of these race based associations. Maybe it's because they are the most visible, but it seems there are plethora of "Association of Black..." I get that minorities need representation, but are black accountants really more disadvantaged than other people? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I've only been around tandem skydiving for a couple of years (previous jumping history there was no tandem) The impact of tandem is going to be highly dependant on the operation, I've spoken to people who having done a tandem and enjoyed it, didn't even realise they could learn to do it on their own! There is a new breed of jumper as well, repeat tandem jumpers, I've got a friend who recently got her A, but she would rather do tandems than jump herself - the biggest reason for going solo was cost not the desire to be in control. I would say as a percentage modern skydivers stick around less. Tandems and the changes to the sport are a big part of that. Old school jumping took a different mindset and for the most part if people got to their B license they stuck around. But it was the days when no AAD and 50 jumps a year was a reasonably high number. The higher exposure now brings higher throughput. I also think the.absolute terror of your first freefall alone with no backup (other than your reserve) deterred many people. It wasn't better or worse than now, just different. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

You're short term till its fucked up your marriage I think many skydivers jump to prove they've got 'balls' - evidenced by the many t shirts to that effect. People who do it to validate themselves often realise that they don't get the validation/respect that they thought they would so they move on, (otherwise they become tandem masters ) Ultimately what we do is risky, probably stupid and certainly selfish. However it brings an enormous amount of personal satisfaction. But just remember at the end of the day, the long term skydivers are probably the screwed up people - so when you're at the dz and see the 70 year old with dreadlocks who lives on baked beans and coke, spending his time talking to himself and swooping his trusty old triathlon 230 THAT is what you're aspiring.towards Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

It might be an african thing only. As part of my progression we had to pass a spin test (pre-aff). You were told to grab your ankle. It was the equivalent of modern backflip/front flip intended to disorient you and make you unstable. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Something that Michael Vaughan taught us on the canopy course - if you can see metal on someone's chest-strap it is most likely properly connected

I'm going on a hunch that it is a packing problem. Purely based on the fact that it is tandems. If TI's are bitching about it, then it is because his packs are different to other packers. *Disclaimer, TI's are often whiny bitches anyway Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.