Trafficdiver

I'd rather shoot myself then fire my packer. She is awesome, fast and her openings are infinitely better than mine.

That's a messed up philosophy and anyone who does this likely doesn't have many real friends. Be friendly to anyone, 0 jumps or 10000 jumps. No reason anyone is better or worse than anyone else. We're all just there to smile and have fun, right? It's sad to know that this stereotype exists I think you didn't understand my point. I agree completely with "be friendly to anyone" regardless of jump numbers. But if you are new in a group of well integrated people, and put yourself in a corner facing the wall, well, not many people will go and push you into being part of the group. That is not skydivers behavior, is standard behavior in many situations. If you move to a new city, and don't look to make new friends, almost nobody is going to go to your apartment and ask you to hang around with them. It has nothing to do with jump numbers, it has to do with being unknown to a well established group. Very DZ dependent. At my DZ we have no corners to stand in. You will be forced to explain yourself, drink with us and tell your life story and then possibly get naked.

Yep. Your first jump course will teach you all the good stuff, information that will stick with you through out your skydiving career. Just go in, relax and listen, it's interesting as heck, to be honest with, and it will fill in all the gaps you have in your mind about your first jump. As for the fear...it is totally normal. This may sound strange but enjoy it as best you can, even the drive to the DZ when you're brain is saying..."what the hell at you doing!" Feeling that and overcoming it is the most powerful thing I've ever don't. You've already done it 4 times now so I know you get it. One day, it goes away too, and you will miss it. Good luck on your first jump, it's a blast!

Best of luck in your journey. Sounds like you've come along way already. Hope to see you in the sky soon!

The fatality at Pepperell had nothing to do with an AAD. Dan had a functioning AAD that was turned on during that jump.

For you it's a must have. Wait til you get a license to even think about why its optional.

It hurts typing your name into the subject box, brother. Can't believe you're gone.. So damn glad we got to jump into the ghetto, I just can't imagine a better way to land our last jump together. Blue Skies Dreadlock Dan. See you in Valhalla.

I've been told that Boston Center can tell approx. many skydiver are in the air at Pepperell. It could be total BS but it is only about 5 miles away.

I'm about 240 out the door ish. Jumps 1-40 Navigator 260 @ .92 Jumps 41-410. Sabre II 210 @ 1.14 Jumps 411-656 Sabre II 170 @ 1.41 I'm sure I can handle a Sabre II 150 at this point, but I'm in no rush. I do some front riser 90's to final, but to be honest, I'm pretty fucking awesome and if I start swooping most people will melt under my gnarlyness. Also I want to be a good example to the up and comers that it's ok not to race down as some are already doing so. I will probably end up swooping at some point in the future, because I love canopy flight so godamn much, but I'll start after I do the flight 1 200 series courses and probably wait til I'm no longer a triple digit midget.

http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf

When he happens to come across a freshly killed animal that he then eats, I don't see how it's survival. I prefer Survivorman and recently have started watching Naked & Afraid as well. Shane from the first season of N&A jumps at Pepperell. Nice guy.

The dude did a helicopter jump. Regardless of the discrepancies that we may be able to see....it's pretty fucking awesome in my book!

Excellent. Go sign up for AFF ASAP. Each jump gets more awesome. As the sign at the entrance of Skydive New England says "Welcome to your new addiction." Blue Skies.

Welcome to the sport. Be sure to kick your packer for that hard opening. You will relax the more you jump...it comes naturally after a while. Do you have time to hit the tunnel? That can help out with your body position a lot too, it helped to stop the in I had. Relaxing is tough when you're screaming towards the earth, but I try to, after arching, act like a dishrag flopping around and not fighting the wing. Hope you heal up fast.

I think everyone remembers the excitement they had as a newbie. I love watching tandems go out for the first time because it brings back my memories of the first time. I still get really excited about jumping, although, except for night jumps, I don't get that rush anymore. The first few AFF jumps are just as awesome so get after it as soon as you can, which sounds like that's your plan anyway. Blue skies.

Yep. I had the same feelings after my tandem. I suggest you go right to AFF. Yeah, it will be scary, but overcoming that fear is the best part of skydiving and it's what binds us all together. Heck you already overcame it once with your tandem. Now do it again. All of your other questions will be answered during your FJC (first jump course) . All of them. Go for it!

Yeah, I totally agree with you on this. I can belly fly and back fly til hell freezes over...well maybe not quite

I heard the old Marine Force Recon guys did some pretty crazy stuff out of jets. http://www.combatreform.org/goodbyeforcerecon.htm

I've put a shitload of time in the tunnel learning FF and it has opened up a lot of doors for me. I guess it's all what you're willing/able to do/spend which colors your perspective. For me FF is just starting and has so much coming on the horizon. I love the challenge it's presented to me. I still do a lot of belly jumps but my ambitions now are to get good on all parts of my body, and the angles and transitions between them, not just one.

Occasionally my digital alti goes from 4.4 to 4.6 then back to 4.3. I use my eyes, my audible and my wrist mount to decide when to pull. Sometimes I have a 1000' snivel on my sabre 2 as well. Sounds like what your experiencing is pretty normal.

Damn...sounds like you've done some cool things. It's a totally ridiculous dream you have of getting your A license...ridiculously awesome. I'd say head over to Skydive City at Zhills and talk to them. It's about an hour from Siesta Keys And they have excellent instructors and top notch gear. I did several AFF jumps there and made some awesome friends as well. Good luck!

Onions Soccer Shitty beer

I do 15 min every other week on average. Every so often ill do 20 minutes but I'm dying at the end of it. I'm a fat slob.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2014/07/12/ifly-indoor-skydiving-yonkers-ridge-hill-open-early-2015/12565073/

Sweet. Go hit the Ranch and get jumping.