After graduation question

[Scottyb 0]

I will be (hopefully) making my graduation jump on Tuesday 6/3 and I am unsure how it works when you are off student status. Do you need a coach or are you on your own (not that I think I can't handle it alone, I'm sure I can) but what are the rules. I plan on going on to skydive U and also monkey claw school but are the jumps from now on "solo ". Please forgive my ignorance in how it is after I complete my level 7 jump but thats what all of you experienced skydivers are here for.

Thanks,

Scottyb

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Listen: No matter what they tell you at your home dropzone., you are technically a student (assuming USA here) until you have an A-license. Do NOT leave your home dropzone unless you have a properly filled out A-card in your possession and a properly fillled out logbook. I will promise you that you will find that pretty much every dropzone has different standards. Keep yoursielf inline with the highest national standards and you will have no problems. Leave your dropzone without that documentation and you will find out exactly how bad your system sucks.

Chuck

[masher 1]

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Listen: No matter what they tell you at your home dropzone., you are technically a student (assuming USA here) until you have an A-license.

Same in Australia. Student until A, novice until B.

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[Scottyb 0]

Thanks for the replies. I do not intend to leave my "HOME" dz because it does feel like home to me & my wife, We feel everyone there is a friend and very supportive and I will continue at Cross Keys until i get my "A" and beyond, but my question is do I need to jump with an instructor or are my jumps $17.00 each Plus gear rental! (yea ha!)

Scott

[CrazyIvan 0]

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I need to jump with an instructor or are my jumps $17.00 each Plus gear rental! (yea ha!)

Yes, but those jumps would be 'fun jumps', remember, you have to do coach jumps in order to fill your card and get your license.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[Scottyb 0]

Fun jumps would be great but how many coached jumps are needed for my "A"

Scott

[lewmonst 0]

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I need to jump with an instructor or are my jumps $17.00 each Plus gear rental! (yea ha!)

Yes, but those jumps would be 'fun jumps', remember, you have to do coach jumps in order to fill your card and get your license.

And you should do coach jumps all the way until you get your A license. Most dz's have a program set up for coach dives between AFF graduation and A license qualification. It's all part of the ISP. Do not go solo just because it's cheaper. You will learn a lot with coach dives, survival skills most importantly, and you need to to get your A. Check with your dz, you can probably save by buying the entire coach program in full or in clumps of 5 jumps at a time, at least you can at my dz.

Once you have your A, you're home free, cheaper jumps, do whatever you want. Having followed the ISP, you should be safe to yourself and those around you.

then you'll just have to worry about the price of gear... BASE Gear....

peace

http://www.exitshot.com

[lawrocket 3]

You should have your Proficiency card beign fulled out. Actually, the first thing you should check is to ensure that it IS being filled out.

Look at the requirements. You do have three jumps on there that are RW. Other than that, there are solos that you should do, as well.

Follow the card and it should explain all...

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Good one Lew ... what you speak of is the total truth for those of us who have been bitten by this addiction. God, would you believe that between my tandem and AFF Level one last summer I thought that I'd be happy making one jump a month? How naive was I?

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[skyeyeskydiving 0]

*** Fun jumps would be great but how many coached jumps are needed for my "A"

[pilotdave 0]

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At our dropzone we require you only to make the jumps you need to complete the proficiency card and we charge considerably less per coach jump than most operations, below cost in fact!

Do you have any data to back this up? Your coach jumps, including gear rental and packing, are $90. Gear is $23, packing is $6, and jump tickets are $20 (or less, I know). That means the coaching costs $21, right? Do you pay the coach more than $21? What do coach jumps at most operations cost?

I guess I got lucky. I got my A just before coaching was required. I did a few coached jumps anyway. Price varied from a jump ticket to a jump ticket plus $10. Did another at a different dropzone and just had to pay for the second jump ticket.

So what do the rest of you pay for coach jumps? Has it gone up since they became a requirement?

Dave

[Luna 0]

We pay $80, which I find very reasonable after adding up gear rental, slot, coach's slot, coaches pay, and a little profit, I hope, for the school.

I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

[billvon 2,990]

>And you should do coach jumps all the way until you get your A license.

I agree with most of that, but wanted to add that you should do a few solos, just to get experience with deciding exit separation, checking your own gear, planning your own dive and opening altitude, etc. Yes, you can do all this stuff with a coach, but proving to yourself that you can do all the above on your own is, I think, also important.

[Scottyb 0]

Thanks for all the advice, I do plan on doing coached jumps and meeting all the requirements that are needed to get my "A" lets face it there is soooo much to learn. I guess the simple question is can a person that has completed the student program but does not have their "A" license do a non coached solo jump? I'm sure it may also depend on the dz and I will get all of the information from them but I was just curious.

Thanks

[skyeyeskydiving 0]

*** Do you have any data to back this up? Your coach jumps, including gear rental and packing, are $90. Gear is $23, packing is $6, and jump tickets are $20 (or less, I know). That means the coaching costs $21, right? Do you pay the coach more than $21? What do coach jumps at most operations cost?

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Yes I do have data. Almost all of our coached jumps are done with AFF Instructors who, I feel, will provide a much more comprehensive coaching experience than a newly rated 100/200 jump USPA coach. I would never have the gall to ask a professional instructor to give up a higher paying tandem, AFF or video jump to make a coach jump for a $10/15/20 coach fee, which seems to be the payrate standard for a coach jump at most operations, with the emphasis on the lower side! Additionally, when comparing our rates against others it should be noted that we fly a Twin Otter to around 14,000 feet for these jumps and not a cessna to 9,000 feet, as do many operations that may have a cheaper rate displayed. As far as comparing apples to apples in regards to our fees against other operations you can be sure that I spent the winter season doing extensive research on this subject and I wouldn't make claims that I'm not pretty damn sure I can back up with fact. If you do your own research you'll see that I'm right! Check out all our very preferential rates at www.skydivedelmarva.com and compare to other operations, you'll see that overall, our FJC to A license and beyond skydiving rates are better than comparable to our competition and other operations further afield!

Now, I have a point or an issue to raise with you Dave, regarding your constant sniping at pretty much every post I make and rarely are your comments correct or justified. Under normal circumstances this would be fine with me as no one likes a good debate more than I. However, there are a couple of points I'd like to point out regarding these snipes so that those looking in are privy to some information that otherwise they wouldn't be! I'd like them to know that, as the recently resigned president of the UMD, College Park Skydiving Club you and I have a professional relationship of sorts, one that you, I feel, cannot deny has been nothing but cordial on my part. Not only that but I have done all I can to allow your club to benefit and prosper by using the Skydive Delmarva DZ as your clubs home base at very favorable rates and that since I have been the manager things have improved for your club in it's relationship with the DZ, financially and otherwise. Furthermore, when I raised our general student rates here this season I allowed your club, with no requests or input on the matter, to retain the same (or a better than) profit arrangement that you have had for the past few years. No other organization was allowed the same deal. Not only that, even though you are no longer the clubs president and have moved out of state, when you returned to the DZ with a honey in tow a few weeks ago, one that wasn't a UMD club member, I allowed her to make a Tandem jump at not only well below standard client rates but considerably cheaper than she would have been able to make a jump as one of your club members! As you may have now guessed, I take umbrage at your attempts to discredit our operation when all I've ever done for you and your club members is not only treat them very well, financially and otherwise but also on a personal level I have gone beyond that and given you yourself personal preferential rates, so where's the beef Dave?

By all means if anyone feels I am being deceitful or making claims I cannot justify, or that I'm just plain wrong about something then please feel free to take issue with it. However, if you are someone that I've always gone out of my way to help or provide benefits for, perhaps if you think things don't add up it would be preferable for your first step to be to approach me privately, prior to coming into a public forum with the intent to cause me anguish with no justified reason. Doing the latter only puts a bad taste in my mouth against you or your organization and certainly doesn't make me feel as if I should take the extra steps to help you out in the future! Those who owe me or our operation nothing are perfectly at liberty to come straight in for the attack if they think it's called for (or not, whatever flips your switch)!

If the point hasn't sunk in yet Dave, it's not necessarily this post that I'm taking umbrage at, it's your constant responses, mostly (just those) with no justification that have made this one the one to break the camels back!

Hope the DZ your at now has better luck!

Blue ones,
Stay Safe.

Martin Evans.

For further information about Sky-Eye Skydiving Services & Skydive Delmarva please visit our websites:

http://www.skyeyeskydiving.com/

http://www.sk

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[katiebear21 0]

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Thanks for all the advice, I do plan on doing coached jumps and meeting all the requirements that are needed to get my "A" lets face it there is soooo much to learn. I guess the simple question is can a person that has completed the student program but does not have their "A" license do a non coached solo jump? I'm sure it may also depend on the dz and I will get all of the information from them but I was just curious.

Thanks

This is straight out of the Skydiver Information Manual (SIM):

An appropriately-rated USPA Instructor must directly supervise each student jump until the student is cleared to self supervise in freefall during Category E. A USPA Coach or the USPA-approved equivalent may conduct freefall training and supervise jumps for those students in Categories E through H. Until the USPA A license, all student training remains the responsibility of the USPA Instructor.

Once meeting all the requirements listed on the USPA A-License Application, the student may then make a check jump with a USPA Instructor to be issued the USPA A license. The check jump consists of an overall review of the training and includes an oral quiz taken from the quizzes at the end of each category.

Bottom line: You fall under the responsibility of the instructor until you get your A license so while it doesn't state that you can't do a solo before you get your A most instructors will ensure that you have a coach or somebody looking out for you until you do your check jump and get your license.

Hope that helps.

Katie
Get your PMS glass necklace here

[sducoach 0]

Luna!
How you doing lady? Did Jim buy you that beer????
If not ask him if you can borrow his borrowed pig!!!
Hope to see your "A" number up there soon! Be safe, have fun, and Blues!

J.E.

James 4:8

[Luna 0]

Hey J.E.! ). Maybe next weekend. I'll let you know when it happens! Thanks for your support!

I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

[jumpgod 0]

it's all "you" from here on guy.

do a bunch of jumps with a coach and learn fall rate, RW, and tracking. then do a few solos when you are ready and practice PRCPs and tracking and stability.

then, when you get your license, start doing 2 and 3 ways with an "experienced jumper". not 30 jumps, not 100 jumps... try like 200 jumps. learn the ropes and then try a few 3 ways and 4 ways with D licensed "veteran" jumpers.

my opinions are austere when it comes to skydiving. if your one of those dudes who is insistant on going headdown at 25 jumps, it's your call but it's your @$$.

jump safe and blue ones.

jg

"dude, where's my main?"

[Scottyb 0]

Thanks,
I plan on taking my time and learning to be as safe as possible. I don't think I'll be doing a head down for quite a while, I'll stay belly to earth untill i get that perfect. Thanks for all the info

Blue skies

[basiaaa 0]

Shoot. I passed AFF, but then afterwards, have fulfilled most of my A license requirements on the yellow card with my husband, who has about 2400 jumps, but is NOT an instructor.
He signed off on a lot of the stuff.

Does this mean that it won't count, and I'm going to have to do everything all over again with an instructor, whom of course I'll have to pay?

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

The A-license proficiency card has to either be signed by a method-specific Instructor or Coach, depending on what catagory you are in. Coach dives begin at Cat F. If your husband does not at least possess a coach rating (assuming USA here), then no, he can't be signing your card, no matter how many jumps he has.

Chuck