krissy23

When a friend of ours was taken from us in Afghanistan, all skydivers attending the funeral were asked by his family to wear their jumpsuits in the cathederal for the service; those who were military but not skydivers were asked to wear appropriate uniform; and all others were asked to wear suits. Was a very touching and personal way to pay tribute to him given the huge amount of attendees.

I was 21 when I did my first jump (tandem). It was my birthday present from my Mum and Dad and they came with me to watch. Dad actually apologised when I landed because he saw the look in my eyes that meant that their gift was going to go on to cost me a lot of time and money over the years!

Dad was a pilot, brother's a pilot so when they offered to buy me a flying lesson for my 21st birthday present I gratefully accepted on the proviso that I got to 'fly' not drive a plane . Completely hooked after that, the rest is history and we've now all taken off and landed at the same airfield in the UK albeit at different times!

My parents bought me my tandem and my Dad even managed to get out of hospital to watch me jump for the first time. I remember him apologising when I landed - "sorry but I know that look too well - I've just contributed to the fact that you'll never have a free weekend or any spare money ever again". Luckily because he was a pilot and Mum used to fly with him, they understood and were always very supportive and proud of my hobby

I’ve watched this thread with interest and just wanted to add my 2c. I’m a step-Mum and don’t have any kids of my own so can see both sides of this. I believe that if we take the little man to the DZ he should not get in anyone’s way or impact their experience, thus we have taught him that if he steps on anyone’s lines he will be in serious trouble, if he touches anyone’s equipment he will be in serious trouble, and if he goes anywhere near a plane he will be in serious trouble. I have however, also explained why so he knows not to step on lines/touch equipment because he could cause a malfunction for that person and he understands it’s not just me being difficult so it gives him some ownership. We have explained rules like no drinks in the packing area as well and he leaves his drink outside without fail. As for cursing, I’ve just explained that it’s for people who aren’t clever enough to think of descriptive words for how they are feeling and he hears them all the time at the DZ but I haven’t heard him use one himself yet. I have heard him comment that a particular person must have done really badly at school though because of the amount of curse words he uses…… The way I see it is that we are responsible for him and how he views the world. He will hear ‘inappropriate’ language and witness inappropriate behaviour on or away from the DZ but it’s up to us to ensure that he understands it all in the right context. He is not allowed in the bar when ‘grown-up time’ starts, i.e. after 8pm so we make sure that we take him home before then unless it’s a special occasion. That said, we are lucky(?) enough that we only have him every couple of weeks so do have the option of only going to the DZ when he’s not with us.

You keep saying you're incredibly committed to the sport and how much you want to skydive but can I ask why you want to skydive? I haven't seen any mention of your reasons and wonder whether your motives are part of your problems? I wanted to skydive because I fell in love with falling through the air and playing under a parachute the very first time I experienced it on a tandem so I wanted to repeat that great experience. Are you wanting to achieve a certain status because it's on your ticklist in life or because you fell in love with the sport? This is in no way an attack on your motives but it may help you to understand why you are so frustrated with your progression.

At New Year from Stansted to Girona and back with Ryanair we had 2 rigs, 2 jumpsuits and some lead in one bag as sports allowance - didn't get questioned but if we did I would have had a couple of very heavy pairs of ski boots in there Paying for the allowance is well worth it in my opinion. As for carrying a rig not in a bag (and not forced to do so by the airline), I presume handles were tied, the hackey was tucked in and there was no concern about any perfumes, water etc bought in duty free that were in the overhead locker with the rig, breaking and spilling over it. I know I would rather have mine in the protective cover of a bag rather than trying to show people that I'm a skydiver and risking damage to my kit.

This has been said before but the official policy from Ryanair if you fly with them from any UK destination is that rigs are not allowed as carry-on luggage. You may be lucky and get your rigs past security (which is proving nearly impossible given current carry-on restrictions) but be prepared to check them in. If security are unsure and decide to call the airline you will then have to check them. Coming back from Spain however is usually a totally different story as the security guys at Girona see nothing unusual about a rig as carry-on due to the high numbers they see every day.

The official RyanAir line is that you must check in your rig as hold luggage and under no circumstances are you allowed it as carry-on. You can possibly get around this if you manage to get through security without them questioning it but I have flown from both Luton and Stansted with RyanAir in the last few months and the security guys sent me back to check-in to put my rig in the hold. They may also charge you extra for this since you have already checked your allowance Be aware that if you ask to 'speak to the boss', this is their official policy now.