georgerussia

Basically AN-2 is King Air with the single Cessna engine. Had about 30 jumps from AN-2 10 years ago, we jumped from 800 meters, and it took about 15 minutes to reach it. For higher altitudes it is much slower. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

See you this Sat in Hollister :) * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I am 1.6 too, and actually it is much easier for us smaller people to climb out (I was watching one of my skydiving friends climbing out of this 206, it sucks to be so big). Did you get your right hand on the wing? Did you wear gloves, and aren't they slippery? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

How did you climb out? I was shown to move my right leg out first, put it on the side (closer to plane wing) of the ledge, then move my right hand out, hang the wind, move body out, hang the wing with left hand, move left leg out. During climb-out, try not to look down - look at the prop. If I were you, I'd ask the instructor to show how to climb out, and do some ground practice. Had two of my AFF jumps from C-206, and one solo jump. Generally it is not easy to climb out, but the reward is that "exit" is much easier, just release your hands. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Depending on the weather and your skills, you may complete AFF in two weeks jumping both Sat and Sun. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Welcome back! No need for excuses; I was out of sport too, but for about 9 years :) * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Try to jump from C-206 if possible. It is harder to climb out, but easier to exit. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I do this too (two-stage flare), but it is what my instructor suggests me NOT to do. The reason is simple - by doing half-flare I decrease the forward speed of canopy, and I need this forward speed to get a good flare. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Some extra statictic for anyone interested: - it took 8 jumps to complete AFF (had problems with arch, had to do C2 again); - started on 03-26-06, completed on 04-30-06. Wasted two weekends because of cloudy weather, so it seems to be possible to complete AFF in two weekends if you're persistent. - the scariest levels were A and E (still chilling rememberng how I got completely unstable after backloop, and spent a second thinking about what to do with it) - had exit problem (solved with ground practice on 3rd jump), arch problem (same on 5th), problem locating the drop zone (solved on 5th with looking on satellite pics on Google), and flaring (still not completely solved). The AFF program was really a challenge for me, even though I was not new to skydiving. However the instructors were very helpful, and it helped a lot. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I opened similar topic in Safety and Training forum http://dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2202636 - you may want to check it too. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Three :) I suspect it is somehow related to my previous experience with jumping on rounds (33 jumps), when you didn't have to flare. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I don't think they'd tell DZO to hold it, because this would create liability on them. And I don't think DZO can do this itself. My limited knowledge is that you can do something like 'citizen arrest' only if you actually _see_ the person committing a crime. You cannot arrest someone who just went from a shop with a bag just because you suspect (or even someone told you) this person didn't pay for the goods. You must have actually seen it to be able to do the arrest, and you have to tell the appropriate authorities (the police and security) ASAP. Please correct me if I'm wrong. And it does not mean that the person who owns this rig is really guilty. Maybe he bought it two months ago, and in this case he may not know who repacked the reserve, and where the card is. Also note that even a guilty person can legally refuse to talk because of possible self-discrimination. Another interesting question is what if DZO calls FAA, and they give him a suggestion to hold the rig? I'm not sure whether FAA is a law enforcement agency, and has such power (therefore taking the liability on them), or not. And what if they are not? It would be the same as DZO asked his buddy, or even his own boss. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Yeah, I am :) Hope to see you and monkycndo there this Sat - I owe you some beer :) * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I did something like this on my 5th jump, and went into the ground on full speed, demonstrating everyone around a nice double PLF, and scaring my instructors :) Probably I also need to practice saying "oh shit" too.. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Hi all, Still have some problems with flaring. For my last 3 jumps (8 total on square canopy) I've got stand-up landing, however every time it was 2-stage flare. I.e. I started flaring too high, foudn it, fixed the toggles at ears level, then did a full flare near the ground. Is there any way to improve height perception on ground training? Did you have flare problems on your 10-20 jumps? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Just want to inform that completed my AFF yesterday :) * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Yeah, they are. The funniest thing I had with D-5 was 30-sec "freefall" (under stabilization chute, of course). Which was actually very boring thing - but all you have to do was to count seconds anyway. However, as with all rounds, D-5 landing accuracy really sucks. On our DZ someone landed on trees almost every two weeks. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

This is D-5, and Z-5 reserve. Our DZ did not have D-6. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

This is exactly how I feel now on my AFF jumps. Had 33 jumps on round 10 years ago in Russia, all with belly-mounted reserve. Provided tough fixation in harness, and useful extra space for anything, from a hook knife to altimeter:) And now when I'm in harness, every time when I look down and see my knees, my brain still tells me that something is wrong. Hope this will wear off in next 10-20 jumps. Also another major enchancement I can notice is the decreased total weight of gear. The total weight of my gear was about 54 lbs, which was about 1/2 of my own weight. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I have exactly the same fear. The moment the plane starts climbing I start asking myself about what I'm doing here, and something like "I'd better be at home now". The fear increases, and gets the maximum at the moment the door is opened, and people start spotting. However it ends immediately as soon as my JMs ask me to the door. However my AFF5 was much better than AFF1 anyway :) * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Yes, they do. But what's a reason to pay extra 500 for it? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Your suspection is correct. The reason is in the legal system itself in Russia. A chance for an ordinary citizen (not a CEO of oil company, or a big politician) to successfully sue a dropzone, and to win any reasonable amount of money (something greater than $200) is equal to a chance for him/her to win a $10M in a lottery. This way DZs do not really NEED waivers. Note that you're not allowed to have a jury in Russia in such cases. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Well, everything seems to be good, even though I was nervous a bit in the airplane. And I was completely unable to locate the DZ in my first jump. The only thing that actually made me tremble was speed of the main canopy. It was SO FAST! I thought I've probably got by mistake the fastest canopy, and wanted to ask for a slower one, and then I was told this was actually a slowest one. This really impressed me, if this is the slowest one, how the fastest one looks like??? Hope this will go away as I got used to round canopies :) And big thanks to Adam and Friday, my instructors. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Thank you people, will postpone buying a suit :) Yet another question: if I have a logbook from Russia (of course it is in Russian), is there a reason to 'move' the jumps from this book to my U.S. logbook? Would it provide any benefit, or it is better just to throw it away? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

at 5PM Hollister is MUCH easier to drive to from Sunnyvale. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *