miss3sixty

Tonto, I know you are a moderator on here, and have tons and tons of knowledge etc, but to be honest, I found your post quite surprising and rather negative for a direct reply. Yes, you are right, skdiving is addictive, it often gets you in debt and alienates your friends and yes, it can kill you, just like drugs. It seems that you think that Mike is living in cuckoo land and needs a wake up call. However, I dont think that Mike is totally oblivious to this. he is simply expressing the positive things he has taken from skydiving. You have put me on a bit of a downer to be honest Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Thats it!! I am going to write to Larsen & Brusgaard and insist that they incorporate heart rate monitors into all their gear! It would be great to look back on! Sweeeeet Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Its funny how you felt you had to explain your first post in a later post! "did you fall?" Its a f**king classic. Its not even that funny, but so simple its almost poetic! It put a smile on my face when I started work at 6.30 this morning I got asked THIS the other day when chatting to a tandem passenger "Oh, so you can jump out on your own- do you have to keep your eyes open all through the freefall? err..it does help one get ones moneys worth! Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Hi Ms.A, Im in a very similar position to you. I cannot afford gear hire any more!!! I origionally did AFF on a 260, then our DZ got a 210 which I enjoyed for a while. My sister has just bought a spectre 150 and has given me her spinnaker 175. At about 45 jumps, I went from the 210 to the DZ's 170, which was a sabre 1. I got approval from the folks at the DZ because my landings had been sensible and consistent. They trained me on the two-handle system, and made me wait for suitable weather conditions. They advised me to pull high and get to know the canopy, and set myself up with a nice long landing area and warned me about low turns etc. I found it absoloutley fine. The quicker rate of descent actually made it easier to judge the altitude and time the turns etc BUT BE WARNED-- The buggar does spank!! However, careful packing, a good deployment bodyposition etc can all help It would probably be ideal to do 210-190-170-150 But whats in important is that you do jump SOMETHING inbetween the 210 and the 150 for a while Hope this helps x PS, since downsizing, I have made my first unintentional down-wind landing, have landed in sheep shit and I owe the DZ beer from doing my first fence landing! (none of which anythig to do with the canopy!) HA HA Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Hey danger!! I agree, the XLRB programme worked for me!! It was great to get that intro into free-flying and RW that nomal AFF courses dont usually offer. I will be at the DZ tomorrow so hopefully see you and meet your son before you go. Ive not jumped for a month but now have full thermal underwear and a balaclava so no excuses! bet you cannot wait for the gig one!! Rach x x Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

N/A

Way to go Steve!! You made the right decision! Im also relieved you didnt go for my idea of the blindfolded /radio landing jump! x x Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

We are obviously not alone! YOURS 'I used to tie my Dad's big hankies to my Sindies and throw them out of the upstairs window...! " MINE "Most little girls had barbie dolls, I had an action man and I made him a parachute out of a napkin and threw him out my bedroom window" He he Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Thanks for doing that, I know for a fact there will be a few confused people thinking ' he sounds like he knows what hes doing, I'll stick with his advice' Phew! Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

When me and my sister were kids, we used to tie umbrellas, buckets and empty cartons to our belts thinking it would help us fly. Most little girls had barbie dolls, I had an action man and I made him a parachute out of a napkin and threw him out my bedroom window. When I eventually did get a barbie doll, she was made to bungy jump (before I even knew what it was)using belts from mums dressing gowns. I used to jump off our garden wall holding four corners of a blanket as a canopy above my head but never knew why. I decided I wanted to skydive when I was about 11. I must have seen something on TV but cannot remember I booked a tandem for my 18th birthday, but cancelled when someone died there the week before I was due to go I then did a tandem for my 21st birthday. Amazing experience in freefall but canopy hell. Chest strap was so tight i could not breathe Iinstuctor resused to loosen it I started seeing stars and felt dizzy I landed with no vision and no hearing sight and hearing came back after a minute hmmmm It was still the best day of my life Asked about AFF, and knew I could no way afford it! played the tandem video to death for years decided to fly a plane for my 22nd birthday. totally loved it, but knew something was missing My sister went to live in NZ last year. She took up skydiving and a year later, I joined her. we now both jump in one of the most scenic places in the world. I have always been scared of heights. If I stand on a chair my ankles go funny, and I could never ever do a bungy, weird eh! xxxx Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

This is Richard's qote, bless him "About 15 or 20 years ago I pulled the wrong string when I went skydiving for the first time. I got rid of the parachute rather than opening it. It was not very clever, and I was declared "wally of the decade" by the skydiving federation." I love the word 'string' !!!!! If you go on www.skydivingmovies.com, you can see his AFF, priceless! ANYWAY.. Keep me up to date with your fun and games bananagirl. (yesterday, I went to pull and found my pilot chute had come right out, so I just grabbed the bag and threw it as far out to the side as I could. the opening was fine but my chest strap was accross my neck and there was a massive gap above each shoulder (must have had the leg straps too loose) I have downsized to a 210 and hope to jump the 170 soon x Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

i would be very interested to know if anyone else has weird reoccuring skydive dreams or at least hear about other people's. About 3 times now I have dreamt I am sat in the aircraft door, I check the spot, all ok to go, reach down for that last minute gear check, realise something is wrong, only to find I am wearing My rucksack OR even worse, the 'ghostbuster pack' backpack vacuum cleaner thingy I use at work! By which time I figure its too late to worry about it and go anyway! (I never remember dreaming about the freefall or the landing-thank God) PS, has anyone died in a dream?, apparently you die in real life you know!!!! Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Err... Jump naked with a blow-up doll hanging off your chest stap? tandem a dog? jump blindfolded with radio assisted landing? (God, I love that one, might do it myself one day) Enjoy x Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Banana girl, I have not forgot you!! You relplied to my ' oh my god, Im addicted to skydiving' post a few weeks back !!! Congrats on your A license, Ive got mine too!! All that waiting around seems so worth it now. I am not sorry to hear about your chop, like you say, you now have even more respect for skydiving and you know that the reserve canopy actually does work !! I too have done amazing ' i rock the sky' jumps and plenty of 'muppet' jumps!, I have done some free flying and some 2- ways and the fun justs gets better!! Keep in touch, it will be nice to compare notes, Lots of love Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

God, I know what you mean! Im under canopy, thinking 'fat end, thin end?' to myself over and over, and sometimes just have this big fat mental block! The 'eat the carrot' thing is fantastic ! To make it worse we have two windsocks (one at each side of the landing field) and they ALWAYS contradict each other. We also have wind blades near to one of the windsocks, which must have fell out with the windsock because they never agree either! To make things worse, I cannot see the bloody socks till I am at about 500 ft (think I need my eyes testing!) and the wind blades can be very deceiving (a bit like looking at art work by M C Escher, they look like they could go two differnet ways!) My drop zone is next to a lake surrounded by mountains and it has a 'thang', especially in summer, with turbulance and changing wind directions Its no good planning a landing pattern and expecting the wind to be doing the same thing when I land, it often changes by 90 degrees in this time and has turned 180 a fair few times too. Its also no good following other pilots, a lot of them land downwind anyway, I used to follow the tandems but I land before them these days. Plus, the wind direction at 2000ft is often different to on the ground. AND its no good hanging above the landing area till I can see because Ill get in the way! We get told off for making low turns too, so i always begin my landing sqaure till I can work it out, and make last minute adjustments whilst looking out for carrots and thinking about thin and fat ends!! ha ha Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Hi, I have had tears in my eyes reading this post.. I did my first tandem as a surprise for MY 21st birthday because like your son, I ALWAYS wanted to skydive, and just knew that it was for me. I honestly played my tandem video to death because of how it made me feel to relive the best experience of my life.(words cannot describe it) Ten years later I moved to New Zealand and learnt to skydive solo- the feeling never left me. I now have a license, and jump every week. I have met so many wonderful people and have so many amazing times, but will NEVER forget my first jump. I think you should go with him!! (what an amazing thing to share!) get all the facts and info you need to ensure you have the peace of mind you deserve and that your son has the safest experience with regards his health. People dont just say that children and 95 year-old people do tandems to make people feel better...they really do! The only downside I can think of is the addiction of this amazing sport, but hey, you already know that! x x x x x Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Im a newbie too, and have started doing 2-ways. Welcome to the next dimension of your skydiving fun! You have had good advice: . When you jump with more experienced people, they will make it seem nice and easy and will match your fall rate and stay relative to you and generally give you a pleasant experience which will boost your confidence. They should also help you iron out bad habits, and will ensure you create a safe distance between each other ready for deployment. I have just started jumping with my boyfriend who also has lower jump numbers, and we have to work REALLY hard to stay together in the sky. and match each others fall rates as we were both over-compensating for his faster fall and my slower fall. Jumping with other newbies can be good in the sense that you both really have to think and work harder. There are things that can help you and your friend fall at similar rates: The type of jump suit will affect fall speed There are obvioulsy the slow and fast fall body positions, its important to practise these It might also be good to have a plan. You might decided to use the fast faller as a base and you increse your fall rate to meet them, or they might decide to 'starfish it' and slow fall allowing you to keep your standard arch position. Safety is an important issue when jumping with other newbies.. Get clearance from a senior person, make sure you know the direction of the jump run, and how high/which direction you will both turn and track away from each other, and know in your mind what you will do if you lose each other. Even better, get an experienced person to jump with you and help you practise fall rates! Have fun! Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

ok, bad attempt at a joke! It is an NZPIA requirement that you are able to pack to get an A license, its just that I have met so many A license holders that cant !! With regards getting on loads, it also has a lot to do with what sort of dropzone you are based at. A fun-jumper friendly training DZ will be very different to having a tourist area tandem factory for your home DZ! With tandem DZ's, as much as they welcome sports jumpers and students, the tandem business will always come first, thats what Ive found anyway! My home DZ is the most stunning place on earth, but it has its draw-backs! It put a hold on all students and fun-jumpers for over a week not so long ago which drove us all mad, and now we all have an issue of not being able to jump at 15k becasue of fuel costs and slowing thet plane down! The funny thing is, I was on a load yesterday that let some tandems out at 9k, circled round to let us out at 12, then went up to 15!! Surely this costs just as much in fuel! And we are often getting bumped off loads for tandem passengers that decided they want camera at the last miinute! Happy days!! Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Oh my God, try jumping in New Zealand! Talk about laid back!! You don’t even have to be able to pack to get an A license! Is that common? When I eventually return to Pommy-land I think I will have a rude awakening! Im not IN ANY WAY implying they are negligent or even complacent, but Kiwis certainly dont appear to be anal! Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

replying to everyone really... thanks for sharing your expertise on this matter. Its good that some instructors make students read and understand the cypress manual, especially if these individuals are going to continue to jump student gear till they get their own rig. There is also a wing-loading issue. For example when hiring gear at our DZ, we have nothing in between a 170 and the student 210, and bigger heavier guys, unless really experienced, are going to be given the student 210. As newbies, we are of course, encouraged to spiral higher, but if there’s no traffic around, providing we have finished spinning and are in place at our 1000ft point to begin our landing square, we believed that was considered ok There are also times when we do it to lose height faster to avoid being too close in the sky to the person jumping after us, although this of course should be considered and executed earlier. Spiralling when approaching 1000ft is obviously not considered a good idea. However, I think the ‘severity’ of spiralling also needs to be considered. A couple of turns with the toggle held at chest level is a different ball game to 5 + spirals with the toggle held at hip level. But what do I know- Im only on 41 jumps Tombuch, can I buy a copy of your book ! Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Back again, Yesterday my best friend gave himself a cypres fire under canopy. (210 student canopy/student cypres2 70 jumps ) He did a few spirals whilst checking height, came out of the spirals at what he thought was just above 1000ft and began his square landing pattern His cypres then fired giving him a bi-plane, which then became a down plane which he managed to land safely (details are available) WHATS MY POINT? When a graduated student is still jumping student gear, they need to be fully informed about the differences between the student and expert cypres, especially if they are starting to experiment with the limits and performance of the canopy. Its simply not just a case of telling them that its set at 1000ft rather than 750ft. Most of us know the student cypress will activate when the rate of descent exceeds faster than 29mph rather than 78mph BUT The activation altitude is split. IF rate of descent is equal to that of freefall, the opening altitude is at 750ft like the usual Cypres. However, if the rate of descent is lower than that of freefall but still above the limit of 29 mph (e.g. with partially opened canopy), then Student Cypres activates when the altitude decreases below 1000 ft. My friend could have done with knowing this, as he would have stopped spiralling much higher. I think people sometimes try not to 'baffle' students and newbies with too much info, but some things must not be overlooked. Miss3sixty Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Thanks for the rig-specific advice! I have been talking to my sister, and she has started pushing the flap in really tight and for the last few jumps, it has nearly always stayed in place,which is great news. (she did mention that one time it came open on a belly jump but stayed in place for the sit jumps so it sounds like it has a mind of its own! ) I will discuss you advice with my sister, as is sounds like you have good knowledge of this type of rig, Thank you for taking the time to help me, Rachel Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

Bloody good point! there are many basic rel-work belly skills that I really want to and need to work on. Trouble is, everyone at our dropzone wants to freefly when they jump with other people. Plus, I nearly always sit fly when i make a solo jump as we were introduced to it as students on about jump 9 and its a natural exit and freefall position for me. I think I will start to down-size, carry on what Im doing with the sit-flying, then jump her rig and be sensible for a bit and practise all the skills you mentioned and hire the DZ's 170 if I feel I need to freefly, Cheers hun, Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

I am a newbie still jumping the HUGE student 260 and 210 canopies. I aim to move to a 190 for a bit and eventually jump my sisters 170 when she gets her new gear. Although she has had no trouble with this rig , it is not considered freefly safe by some people due to the old style and velcro bits I believe! She had jumped this rig over 100 times and without fail, the reserve flap always comes open whether belly or free flying, but does not cause any problems. Its a naro container with a spinaker main i am really into freeflying and really want to jump the rig but dont want to tempt fate and risk an unwanted opening etc. I need to take this seriously I feel, and advice from experienced freefylers would be greatly appreciated. Loving every second of my new hobby!! Miss3sixty Skydiving- it has its ups and downs

N/A