New England Area Skydiving

[Blassiter 0]

I am new to the sport and about to start work towards my "A" and I live in new england(connecticut actually). I was wondering if there is anyone up near that area that skydives? and what do you guys do during the winter? Every DZ I looked up is closed after october and its gonna suck to have to wait till may to start again especially since Im just now getting started

[pilotdave 0]

Yup. Connecticut Parachutists is the only New England DZ to be open year round. Generally we don't do AFF or tandems when it's really cold out though. But we're jumping every weekend.

http://www.skydivect.com

Here's a tandem master keeping current last winter with an experienced jumper... and landing right in a deep puddle: http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/snow-tandem#133446263-L-LB

Dave

[Blassiter 0]

they are open all year? that is awesome and just made my day! I am going to be getting my "A" sometime in october/november down in va(im gonna be there for a month for work) and I was really worried about not being able to jump after that until next year. thanks so much for the info I didnt even know that they were around. The only one I knew of was the DZ up in danielson

[Blassiter 0]

i do have a question, one of the things I noticed from their website is to become a "Member", which I plan on doing and they will prob become my home DZ since they are open year round, is to have 1 sport jump. What exactly is a sport jump?

[pilotdave 0]

Any jump. You're all set.
You don't have to join, but members get $1 off each jump and it supports the club. We have no owner... completely run by volunteers.

Dave

[Andy_Copland 0]

Thats looks brutaly cold

1338

People aint made of nothin' but water and shit.

Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.

[Blassiter 0]

ok sounds awesome, I was looking at the website but I couldnt really find any information on pricing for the jumps I need to get my a. I am going to be starting my aff stuff at skydive suffolk(ill have the money when I get down there and I really dont want to wait another month until i get back to ct) but if i cant finish there i was gonna try to finish at CPI. Do you happen to know any of the info for their pricing?

[pilotdave 0]

I don't know our prices for each level. CPI follows the USPA's Integrated Student Program (ISP), which has Categories A through H. Some DZ's use the older AFF program with levels 1 to 7. Dunno what Suffolk uses. But basically there are a bunch of skills you'll need to get signed off by instructors in order to get your A-license. The more that you get done in VA, the less you'll need to do to finish up.

Once it gets cold, we don't usually go above about 9000 feet and most skydivers go into hibernation. So it becomes a lot harder to do student jumps. So try to get done ASAP.
Dave

[Blassiter 0]

suffolk uses AFF im pretty sure, ive never heard of isp before, how different is it from aff?

[pilotdave 0]

It's really not different. AFF is part of the ISP. But after finishing AFF, you'll continue on to coach jumps and learn more advanced skills for jumping with other people.

AFF teaches the survival skills you'll need to jump on your own. The coach jumps teach you the survival skills you'll need to jump in small groups.

You can read about the ISP at http://www.uspa.org/publications/SIM/2007SIM/section4.htm.

Dave

[Broke 0]

Doesn't CPI also still do static line?

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[pilotdave 0]

Nope... they haven't done static line in probably 20 years.
CPI switched to IAD a long time ago, and we do have a couple current IAD instructors. Not something we usually offer, but we can do it on request. Really good program for students that want to jump over the winter. But won't help someone that's gone through all or most of AFF.

I usually do a couple IAD jumps over the winter to get the instructors current again. There's something really scary about climbing out of the cessna when someone else is holding your pilot chute. But it's a lot less scary than helping the tandem instructors get current!
Dave