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Any of you gents Sky Dive----Solo, Not tandam
Back in my younger days. Trained at the Campbell sport club. All solo, tandem hadn't been invented yet.
How long (many jumps) did it take you to get comfortable going solo
One.
What is it costing you per jump?
It WAS costing $55 for training and jump 1, $15 for static line (Jumps 2 thru 6 if you did well) then $5 + $1 per thousand AGL for hop an pops and up. Probably a little more these days.
Do you have your own rig?
Had. Para Plane Cloud modified to Stratocloud trim in a Pioneer Piggyback. 24' reserve.
Hard landings
Two, Downwinded with a collapsed left cell and hooked to high at a demo in Paducah. The ground said ouch both times.
When to flair
Before you land. You learn quickly with practice. Later, when I instructed, we would put radios on the low jump guys harnesses to help.
Packing your shute
Always packed my own chute. From first jump (under watchful eyes) to last.
Jumped once at one of those places that offers an experience to "thrill seekers", usually a tandem jump.
I paid extra for the long ass class that allows you to jump "solo" your first time.
Most important thing was getting into your initial stable position once you leave the plane.
Once I did that I had an instructor on each arm asking me questions to see if I was using the altimeter and had my wits about me. They kept asking my altitude and having me identify things on the ground below.
We jumped at 13,000 feet or more if I remember right. Seemed like they asked me a lot of questions and had me do various things and than they said to take some free time enjoy the ride and than pull at a designated altitude - I think its was about 5-6500 feet I pulled the rip. The instructors were at my side until they were sure I pulled the cord and the chute blossomed.
The most amazing thing is the change of environment.
Everything before you pull is violence and noise. Once you pull you immediately enter relative peace and quiet.
I flew some sort of square wing and was surprised how controllable it was. An instructor on the ground took over and started guiding me via radio - pull right, pull left, try this, try that.
I could clearly see the LZ and was able to steer toward it, watch the wind sock, land into the wind.
I hit the brakes before the deck and stayed on two feet.
My friend that went through class with me never attained the neutral position on leaving the plane and he plummeted in a panic, like a beetle on its back, until one of the instructors flipped him over and pulled his rip for him.
Good experience for me, not so much my friend. I enjoyed the experience but it didn't capture my soul.
The people in the school smelled strongly of patchoulli oil and the wardrobes were heavy in tie dye. I had my fingers crossed the chute packing was done at the most lucent time of day.
I did not realize so many people got hurt on bad landings
I did AFF 15 years ago and my landing was like stepping off a chair.
That plane clip is unreal. I'd be pissed. And how does a chute stop a Cessna in 20 feet??
I did not realize so many people got hurt on bad landings
I did AFF 15 years ago and my landing was like stepping off a chair.
That plane clip is unreal. I'd be pissed. And how does a chute stop a Cessna in 20 feet??
OK OK Would you pweaeeeeeeeeese tell me the one about the time you saw a plane go splat an skwish two aviators
Nope. Too late, and I don't think your please is sincere enough.![]()
I am an Army Senior Parachutist and Special Operations Jumpmaster. I have jumped out of Fixed Wing Prop and Jet, Rotary Wing, Balloons, and Base Jumped. I broke my back and crushed my spine on my last jump (you always fucking get hurt on your last jump) which left me paralyzed below the waist. I recovered, though not totally, but enough to make it to retirement. It is one thing to put up with my paralysis and pain which I experience every day knowing it was in service to my country. If I had got hurt seeking thrills or trying to do something cool, I would be much more pissed off. Parachuting is just like war...you can do everything right and still get killed.
I am an Army Senior Parachutist and Special Operations Jumpmaster. I have jumped out of Fixed Wing Prop and Jet, Rotary Wing, Balloons, and Base Jumped. I broke my back and crushed my spine on my last jump (you always fucking get hurt on your last jump) which left me paralyzed below the waist. I recovered, though not totally, but enough to make it to retirement. It is one thing to put up with my paralysis and pain which I experience every day knowing it was in service to my country. If I had got hurt seeking thrills or trying to do something cool, I would be much more pissed off. Parachuting is just like war...you can do everything right and still get killed.
Yeah, seafood, riiiiiight ...
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Any of you guys have to pull a reserve??
Any of you guys have to pull a reserve??
my jumping was in the military. it's not fun.
from the shit i am reading here, it confirms my general belief that civilians doing it are mostly shitheads and begging to die.
i've had fucksticks yap about this, yap about that, trying to compare their bullshit to what we did, which is laughable. to me, unless you are an infantryman/medic/18 series jumping a full combat load in complete darkness at 800'AGL, you are still a dirty, NASTY leg. fuck civilian wannabes and fuck 5 jump chumps. so DIRTY. so NASTY.
rant over.
Joined a sky-diving club at 18 yoa (40 yrs ago) in college with my 'educated' friends. Trained for two weeks prior to 1st jump; out on the strut, hard arch, no canopy, streamer, 2-3 seconds of self-loathing then cut away and the line to the reserve snapped. One of the clevis retaining pins had a subtle kink that prevented it from releasing through the slot. Beat the snot out of it and opened with about 4 seconds under reserve chute before landing. Black heel marks on the back of my white jump helmet. College logic; "If I can manage a double malfunction on my 1st jump then should be good to go." Jumped 4 more times and was done. The jump masters had this extreme fatalist life view seasoned with the occasional line of coke. One bounced a month later. I still recall the violence interrupted by solitude as if it were this morning.
Any of you guys have to pull a reserve??
.... that sounds like some scary stuff right there, especially for an 18 year old kid. While I was reading your post, I was thinking about about my first jump.
That plane clip is unreal. I'd be pissed. And how does a chute stop a Cessna in 20 feet??
-D licence holder jumpmaster static line, old school tandem pilot ALMOST,......senior parachute rigger with a sharp pencil.....and all around nice guy
You guys are f'n studs. Problem solving in the air, jumping into hostile locations. Soft cock you and the other flying animals......big respect for you guys!
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Are you saying you 'pencil packed' your Reserve a lot ??? ....LOL . and A Good skill to know .
I think the longest I ever pencil packed my Reserve was 7 or 8 years .
.