The Deaf in AFF

[g3ninfinite 0]

Hi I'm on AFF 5 and i was wondering if any of you have deaf friends that skydive. Reason being is my older brother is deaf and is going to do a tandem. Now I can think of a few reasons why he might not be able to do AFF, the main reason being interpretation. Does anyone know of any dzs that accomodate the deaf for AFF?

[chutem 0]

Plenty of deaf skydivers, I'm sure they'll post when they see this.
James

[mdrejhon 8]

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Hi I'm on AFF 5 and i was wondering if any of you have deaf friends that skydive. Reason being is my older brother is deaf and is going to do a tandem. Now I can think of a few reasons why he might not be able to do AFF, the main reason being interpretation. Does anyone know of any dzs that accomodate the deaf for AFF?

Check out www.deafskydivers.org and ask these people.

I'm a deaf skydiver. As I did not do the same common sign language, I used a laptop for communicating back and fourth between me and the instructor during ground class. A small notepad can be used in the airplane.

For freefall, there's standard "AFF" sign language for things like pull, arch, etc. You're probably already familiar with this.

Instead of radio, a rotating arrow was used on the ground for landing. I was put on a light wingloading at 0.65:1 and I did the flare timing entirely on my own (flare at approximately person height, and resist the temptation to flare too early or you'll get hurt. And if you forget to flare, you get hurt too). Stood up my first landing as a result. I did flare pratice during a tandem, which helped.

At least two tandems before AFF is strongly recommended for a deaf guy -- I had to do four (a Skydive Gananoque requirement). This is excellent for flare timing pratice, and an arrow on the ground can be used during tandem for arrow-following rehearsals. My dropzone used a piece of white plywood with a fluorescent cloth arrow, sitting on a rotating creeper tripod. Was easy to see from over 2000 feet, and discernable from about 3000-4000 feet.

Also, we recently had a Deaf World Record event in Lake Wales. It was sorta my incentive to jump more than 100 times this year. Although I was not part of the biggest all-deaf formation skydive, I was part of several of these attempts and I got my first night jump down there too!

Search my early posts and you'll see my questions in this forum wondering how to train myself as a deaf skydiver. I managed to do it -- and even without an interpretor! (Though one is recommended)

Check the "Skydivers with Disabilities" forum and you will see a lot of deaf related threads too.

A bunch of dropzone.com people are around here including BVASkydive, deaffreeflyer, skycurlycat, mx757 and mdrejhon (myself). Many of us are also listed in the Profiles Section of www.deafskydivers.org as well.

[mx757 4]

mdrejhon - Mark, pretty much summed it up quite well...
nice post Mark.

yes there are lot of us deaf skydivers. and DWR jumps are fun when we are able to get all deaf jumpers together.

Mike

[azureriders 0]

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an arrow on the ground can be used

My DZ uses red and yellow paddles to direct students in incase of failed radios. Red down turn right, yellow down turn left, both down FLARE.

I thought this was standard practice at DZs and don't see why that wouldn't work for deaf students without a radio.

ON my first AFF jump my radio was never turned on and I landed just fine with the paddles. Ofcourse it helped that I flew the pattern with out any help and then spotted the DZO waving the paddles while on my final.

[sid 1]

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mdrejhon - Mark, pretty much summed it up quite well...
nice post Mark.

yes there are lot of us deaf skydivers. and DWR jumps are fun when we are able to get all deaf jumpers together.

Mike

Hey Lucky! You're deaf???? I thought you just talked funny (ps: Kinger says Hi)

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[flyangel2 2]

Do you know sign language? If so, why don't you go into the class with your brother.

It will be a win/win situation.

*You know the vocabulary, so before hand, you guys can work out some signs for the words.

Where are you located? Is there a Center on Deafness you can contact to ask them to send an interpreter for the classes?

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[mx757 4]

hey Sid,

No I don't talk funny... and say hello to Kinger.. I gotta get up to FLSD one these days soon...maybe next spring / early summer. I won't land at airport next door this time either!

[flyangel2 2]

Yes you do talk funny

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[tustinr 1]

No reasons whay paddles and/or an arrow won"t work. In SA thats all we used for SL jumpers as well as AFF. We didn't have money to finance radios back then (and I am sure it hasn't changed now).

Rich

---------------------------------------
Everything that happens to you in life is your teacher. The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your life and be taught.

[Liemberg 0]

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I'm a deaf skydiver

In freefall we're all deaf.
With everybody wearing full face helmets nowadays - we might as well be deaf on exit too!

(Made 2 tandems this year with deaf passengers; found out that the BIG problem was me being BEHIND my passenger - there goes 'lipreading + facial expression'... Other than that all these problems can be solved - though shouting 'STANDUP' when you land isn't recommended - I ended up looking silly... )

"Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci
A thousand words...

[flyangel2 2]

I think the question was in regard to teaching a deaf student the ground school stuff.

Paddles and/or an arrow are always a good idea for any student, hearing or deaf.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[Tyrion 0]

At Picton i'm not sure why we even have radios, they barely get used except for "Jason, follow the yellow (or white) arrow please" if there's more than one AFF on a load.

We use big swiveling arrows on the ground controlled by a target assistant, once you get in close and you see the TA pick up the batons you just mirror the TA's baton movements....

Not sure how a deaf AFF student would get ground schooled here but i'm sure it's been done. Once you're in the air it really doesn't matter too much I should think. (unless i'm missing something)

[Brumby 0]

Eaxcatly true. One of Fellow jumpers is a Deaf skydiver. He went through the raps system like. A few weeks ago we had a group of approx 6 deaf 1st time jumpers. Ground crew directed them from the ground with paddles etc. I have to say, they done 100 times better than student who have radios on.
Respect

[Aiman Ai 0]

On 10/23/2005 at 2:12 AM, flyangel2 said:

Do you know sign language? If so, why don't you go into the class with your brother.

It will be a win/win situation.

*You know the vocabulary, so before hand, you guys can work out some signs for the words.

Where are you located? Is there a Center on Deafness you can contact to ask them to send an interpreter for the classes?

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

Hallo erstmal guten morgen ich bin ayman. ich will auch AFF lernen wie man geht. Irgendwie wollte ich Kurs machen . Ich hatte schon paar mal Fallschirmsprung mit begleitete aber möchte lieber allein springen. Aber ich bin gehörlos ich weiß es nicht ob es klappt oder dürfte nicht sein. Aber ich will unbedingt aff machen. Danke wäre lieb falls es klappt.

[Divalent 135]

11 hours ago, Aiman Ai said:

Hallo erstmal guten morgen ich bin ayman. ich will auch AFF lernen wie man geht. Irgendwie wollte ich Kurs machen . Ich hatte schon paar mal Fallschirmsprung mit begleitete aber möchte lieber allein springen. Aber ich bin gehörlos ich weiß es nicht ob es klappt oder dürfte nicht sein. Aber ich will unbedingt aff machen. Danke wäre lieb falls es klappt.

Google translate (in case anyone can help him, although someone probably should just point him to a German Skydiving site).

Hello first good morning I am ayman. I also want to learn AFF how to go. Somehow I wanted to make course. I had parachuted jumps with me a couple of times but would rather jump alone. But I'm deaf, I do not know if it works or should not be. But I really want to make affic. Thanks would be nice if it works.

[Aiman Ai 0]

7 hours ago, Divalent said:

Google translate (in case anyone can help him, although someone probably should just point him to a German Skydiving site).

Hello first good morning I am ayman. I also want to learn AFF how to go. Somehow I wanted to make course. I had parachuted jumps with me a couple of times but would rather jump alone. But I'm deaf, I do not know if it works or should not be. But I really want to make affic. Thanks would be nice if it works.

Hello first good morning I am ayman. I also want to learn AFF how to go. Somehow I wanted to make course. I had parachuted jumps with me a couple of times but would rather jump alone. But I'm deaf, I do not know if it works or should not be. But I really want to make affic. Thanks would be nice if it works.