Fear of free fall

[static 0]

Since my cut away, i have a great fear of free falling.
any help on how to deal with this?
I have done 15 jumps so far and 3 since my cut.

[Bri_W 0]

Try and take comfort in the fact you know the gear works! I know it must be scary but focus on the positive.

Brian.

[jono 0]

Try to think of it this way. 200 plus jumps and I have not had to cutaway...yet. I have a small lurking fear that when the time comes (hopefully never) that I will fuck it up some how. At least you know what a cutaway feels like and you KNOW you have and will perform as required. Trust your self and your gear as you have proven that you have what it takes.

Remember you don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop laughing.

[static 0]

Thanx for the pep talk, any advice tips on my first 15 sec delay free fall?

[ibx 2]

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Thanx for the pep talk, any advice tips on my first 15 sec delay free fall?

If you can do 10 sec. you can do 15 without any issues. Just make sure you maintain altitude awareness.

[johnmatrix 21]

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Try to think of it this way. 200 plus jumps and I have not had to cutaway...yet. I have a small lurking fear that when the time comes (hopefully never) that I will fuck it up some how. At least you know what a cutaway feels like and you KNOW you have and will perform as required. Trust your self and your gear as you have proven that you have what it takes.

+1

Sometimes I find myself hoping for a decent excuse to cut away just to get it off my mind.
I'd rather not have something full on like a horseshoe though - I'd prefer some nice line twists or a loose toggle or something.

But yeah, back at 15 jumps the thought of cutting away was a lot scarier.

[Rugby82 0]

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Try to think of it this way. 200 plus jumps and I have not had to cutaway...yet. I have a small lurking fear that when the time comes (hopefully never) that I will fuck it up some how. At least you know what a cutaway feels like and you KNOW you have and will perform as required. Trust your self and your gear as you have proven that you have what it takes.

+1

Sometimes I find myself hoping for a decent excuse to cut away just to get it off my mind.
I'd rather not have something full on like a horseshoe though - I'd prefer some nice line twists or a loose toggle or something.

But yeah, back at 15 jumps the thought of cutting away was a lot scarier.

I got my first cutaway at about 750 jumps. I was also very curious how it would be to cutaway. When I finally had to, I found out it was fun for me and not scary. My team thought I would be a bit scared after I landed but they where surprised to see me laugh very hard about it. I borrowed a rig at the local rigger and went on with teamtraining that day.

I think it's good to have had a cutaway because you known how you will do. You will then be prepared for what can happen. Especially while I'm an instructor and had to teach student everything about cutaways but I didn't have one while some students with 150 jumps already had 3.

I now know a crossfire2 can spin very hard and build up a lot of G-forces in a small amount of time.

So for me it was a fun experience from which I learned a lot. I never got scared after my cutaway, maybe even the opposite. I know now how it feels to cutaway and that gives me a safer feeling.

Blue skies!

[wmw999 2,538]

15 seconds gives you enough time to relax a little and actually feel freefall. That's a good thing, because it means that you get to really feel the effect of strengthening your arch, and you get to start turns.

A column of moving air (which is what you're effectively in) is a tool; you deflect air around you in different ways to move yourself. So first, learn what the column really feels like, and relax a little.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Andy9o8 2]

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i have a great fear of free falling. any help on how to deal with this?

Yeh. Change your screen name to something other than "static".

[Para5-0 0]

ibx,

I concur with taking the positive out of the cutaway. My first cutaway was at 4800 jumps. Leading up to that I was frieghtened that I would freeze or not act correctly, or whatever. The fear came from a reocurring dream that I had over and over where I just couldnt reach my handles when needed. After I finally had a cutaway and it went exactly how I practiced for many years, I was relieved. In fact I havent had that dream in some time. So if I have it tonight I will be calling you. lol

people say relax, relax, relax... the only problem is your jumping out of a plane it is hard to relax, this is scary shit sometimes. The only analogy that might help is if you stick your hand out of the car window while driving; it is easy to go up and down and play with the wind if you use the wind to steer your hand. If you put your hand out there and hold a fist and dont move it, you really wont have much steerable control, and it takes more strength. So, let your body use the relative wind to keep stable, be that loose hand out the window.

Good luck, and congrats on handling your first emergency correctly.

[Ron 10]

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Since my cut away, i have a great fear of free falling.
any help on how to deal with this?
I have done 15 jumps so far and 3 since my cut.

That's awesome!!!!!

Hell, till I had my first malfunction there was always that little voice in the back of my head wondering if I would react correctly.... I mean I was pretty sure I would and trained and drilled etc... But so many people bounced from simple mals that I had a smiggen of wonder.

You don't have that. You have already had one.

I say good on you... Relax and have some fun. If it is not fun, don't force yourself to continue.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[mrubin 0]

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Try to think of it this way. 200 plus jumps and I have not had to cutaway...yet. I have a small lurking fear that when the time comes (hopefully never) that I will fuck it up some how. At least you know what a cutaway feels like and you KNOW you have and will perform as required. Trust your self and your gear as you have proven that you have what it takes.

I had a cutaway on my 16th jump. It didn't scare me that much, but it did help me trust my training and myself.

You've had your first cutaway. You know that you can handle it. Don't let the fear take control. Use it as a reminder to always check your gear. Just relax, be smart, and have fun.

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[PiLFy 3]

I don't understand what you're afraid of. Is it stability in free fall, or the possibility of having to cut away again?

[liftedtitan 0]

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Since my cut away, i have a great fear of free falling.
any help on how to deal with this?
I have done 15 jumps so far and 3 since my cut.

what was the malfunction? Just curious.

Moriuntur omnes, sed non omnes vixerunt.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Since my cut away, i have a great fear of free falling.
any help on how to deal with this?
I have done 15 jumps so far and 3 since my cut.

Make a lot more than 15 jumps. 100-200 in a year is a nice number for many recreational skydivers.

[tbrown 26]

As a lot of these people have said, you're lucky to have got your first cutaway behind you so soon. I know one or two people who have gone over 2000 jumps without a cutaway, one is even close to 5000. Luck them. But they still don't know what you know - that it's quick, it's easy, and IT WORKS !

However, with only 15 jumps, I also recognize that you're at that early stage of the game where the ride up on every jump probably still scares you. Having had a malfunction SO early in the game doesn't help, as your survival instincts are screaming at you, "Look you've only done this 15 times and already had a malfunction !" That and I'm sure some of your friends and family have told you you're crazy and going to die.

Best thing for you to do is to keep jumping. You didn't mention whether you do your own packing or not. I'm not talking trash on packers, but would urge you to do your own packing as a confidence building excercise. You will develop an intimacy with your gear, even if you're renting. You'll be more involved in the process, you'll LEARN more than you would if you leave it to a packer, and feel more in control.

Good job with your first cutaway ! Now get out there, do your own packing, and jump as much as you can !

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[ufk22 33]

had my first chop a little under 50 jumps. Made another that day, no problem.
A few weeks and a few jumps later, I noticed about 1/2 hour into my drive to the DZ, I was going slower and slower, just thinking about whether I needed to make another jump. This happened the next couple of times I went to jump. Finally decided that what happened and the fact that I dealt with it properly meant I was ready to keep on jumping, and it never happened again.
Hang in there. Those short delays are the toughest. Once you get up to full altitude you'll find out how much fun freefall really is.

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

[darrenspooner 0]

Take a look at Brian Germain's book "transcending fear"

[nigel99 569]

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Since my cut away, i have a great fear of free falling.
any help on how to deal with this?
I have done 15 jumps so far and 3 since my cut.

If money allows I strongly suggest doing a couple of AFF jumps. I did SL progression and I absolutely hated freefall. I was never comfortable with it and I would often do hop and pops just to minimise freefall time.

I have been lucky enough to do an AFF jump for my recurrency and there is something terribly reassuring about having good people near by. On SL progression I struggled without any reference point - having someone 2 or 3 feet away really helped me.

Depending on your nature and character it might be nice to just progress at your own pace. Stick at a certain level until you are happy in yourself even if you are cleared to move forward.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[mddriver 0]

I agree that you have been given a gift. Unlike many other skydivers with lots of jumps, you KNOW you are not going to wig out if you have a problem. Basically, the same thing happened to me in 1984 with only 15 jumps. I had a total malfunction (hard pull) while demo jumping a used rig that a rigger had packed for me. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed in him. But, took it back, repacked everything with some modifications to the deployment system and jumped it again. Ended up buying it. Point is: Get back on the horse!

[AllTheWay 0]

I agree with all the above-- I have many jumps (military static line) and a few jumps (skydiving)--I always go through in my mind what to do, and "touch every handle" before every exit-and visualize malfunction actions. You have one up on me, and know you CAN handle it--like Joe Dirt said, "keep on keepin on"