Hi from new Xkeys student

[kamih 0]

Hi everyone!
Ive been reading these forums for a while now.. lots of great info and friendly people. You people have given some great tips for stability problems and that's helped me alot during my AFF jumps, as I seem to have an in-built left turn (relaxing and looking up at the sky usually helps me arch better though).

I started jumping in May at Cross-Keys in NJ, and after 2 tandems I was completely hooked.. couldn't stop thinking about skydiving.. I have to say my work productivity has gone down a little .
All the staff at XKeys are awesome, and I thank the instructors who have always been patient with me and eager to help me out.

I did 3 AFF jumps yesterday, it was awesome I think I'm finally starting to lose the nervousness I used to have in the plane on my earlier jumps.
I did some barrel rolls, back loops, front loops, tracking across the sky with my instructor, and 2 solo exits, including 1 dive out exit which was really fun Was all in all a great skydiving day for me, and I got to see the bigway attempts which were very impressive.

Only problem is on my last jump I lost altitude awareness .
After coming out of one of my first good tracks, I started turning to the left again. Since this was my graduation jump I wanted it to be as close to perfect
as I could make it, so I tried correcting the turn.
After about 3 or 4 seconds my JM redocked. He had been telling me to pull but I was concentrating on that turn so badly that I just didnt notice him .
As soon as he redocked, that made me look at my alti and when I saw 4k I was really surprised (was supposed to pull before 4k on this jump).
I think I hesitated for a second on if I should even bother waving off since I was so low (plus we were the last ones to exit), but I did so anyways and by the time I was under canopy I was at 3k .

I did a good soft landing (for once), and on my long walk back to the hangar was furious at myself for having forgotten something so important, and was also expecting my instructor to be mad at me.

As I walked I noticed that a group of people were standing way apart from the bigway rehearsing group, and I found out that someone had had a malfunction, and had stalled his reserve close to the ground .
(I don't know the exact details, but apparently he broke his wrist and ankle)
Boy did that calm me down... for the rest of the day I kept telling myself that that could have happened to me, if I had had a malfunction so low and didnt have time to test-flare my reserve before landing (which would also have been an off landing, as we were quite a ways from the dropzone at opening)...

My instructor didn't yell at me (he's a great guy), but we did have a serious talk about what I did wrong and that I should watch that altimeter alot more.
I'm going to have to re-do my graduation jump because of this, plus he thought that my left-turn problem should be fixed before I'm off student status, which I totally agree with, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed in myself..
I think I'm just not the type of person that can do many jumps with so many objectives in one day.. it just overloads me after a while and then I start forgetting important things.. I sure learned a valuable lesson, and I'm gonna take it alot easier now...

So that's my introduction/story. I hope future AFF students who read this avoid my mistake. Remember the priorities!! Pull at pull-time even if unstable!!
Ive pulled a couple times with my left turn and didnt even have any linetwist, so don't be afraid of pulling even if you're spinning a little. Line twist on student canopies is usually easy to correct, but you have to have time, and for that you need altitude!

PS:
Here are some videos my buddy took of the sunset load swoopers:
http://people.happycoders.org/kamih/swoopers/

cya later!

[damion75 0]

Hi dude!

Sounds like you have already learned one of the most important lessons: Know your limits!

If you keep that amount of patience and common sense then I have no doubt that you will go far! And I'll always be happy to jump with you.

Welcome and Blue Skies!!

Frank.

***************

Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

[skymama 37]

Welcome to the forums!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[D22369 0]

Only problem is on my last jump I lost altitude awareness .
***

It happens.... it aint good.......just keep it from happening again, and dont beat yourself up about repeating a level, lots of people have done it....keep at it !!!!

kick some ass
Roy

They say I suffer from insanity.... But I actually enjoy it.

[philly51 0]

Kamih... Welcome to our world! Like the other replies have stated, don't sweat repeating a level. Try to learn something from EVERY jump. Keep going and get that A. When you do, look me up, I'll jump with you.

Steve Love

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, Shouting "...holy shit...what a ride!"

[plowdirt 0]

Your a fortunate person my friend, you are surounded by some incredible people. And!!! they have all the cool toys. I been in your shoes, but I spaced out on my 20th signoff jump chasing around my coach after all manuvers were done. So, he looks at me and points to his altimeter, with that hey assholle pull look. It's easy at first to lose track of time, it's like you want to up there forever. listen when you get signed off, have cory and jen take you up in the chopper, see you in pr.

[kamih 0]

Yeah it sure is easy to lose track of time, especially when everything is going great Thanks for the support, I dont mind redoing some jumps, it's getting kinda tight regarding money, but it's so much worth it Can't wait to jump the chopper

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[kamih 0]

Woohoo!
Graduated from AFF today Also got to do my first solo jump .
It's nice to jump out and not have to do a predetermined dive for a change So thanks for all the encouragements from everyone and see you in the sky!

[plowdirt 0]

ALRIGHT!!!! YOU OWE BEER. i BELIEVE THE FLAVOR IS YING LING. HAVE ONE FOR ME I'LL CATCH UP. YOU SHOULD TALK TO HEATH AND GET SOME CANOPY COACHING. BE SAFE, AND BLUEUEUEU SKIES.