jumpdr

I think cost would be the main thing. You'd have to have a fairly well sealed aircraft to be able to maintain sea level pressures. Not sure it'd be worth the extra ticket cost the airline would have to charge, compared with a day of not diving before you left. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

I've just had my Mamba XXL arrive! Tried the Z1 but found my chin kept hitting on the front bit (all their helmets are the same shell, just different padding). Haven't got to jump my mamba yet, but it seems to fit well. I quite like their closure method which you need to adjust so that when you clip in the chin strap, it tightens the soft skirt around your neck at the same time. It feels really secure. The visor opening is easy once you've got the hang of it (needs 2 hands) and there's no way it'll come undone in freefall. Peripheral vision doesn't seem to be restricted either. I can't wait to try it out...

Stratostar, am I the only one who counted 9 people on your '8-way'?! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Mine's still on order - should be getting it in January now, I think. That'll be about 16 weeks since ordering! I went for something quite sedate. Didn't want to look too much like I knew what I was doing around the DZ... As for options - went for the chest rings, narrow strap, spacer foam backpad, hackey handle, soft reserve handle, RSL. It's an I6 to fit a Pilot 188 and Smart 190 - I'm a heavy b**ger and still relatively inexperienced but wanted something to keep me entertained for the next few hundred jumps (or more...) Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

My guess is you can think you're relaxed and I think "I'm not stressed about this jump", but you'll still get a spike of adrenalin purely from the anticipation. I'd be worried if you didn't. It's still an un-natural thing to do and you're just evoking the fight or flight response. To some extent, the tachycardia (fast heart rate) at altitude will be the body compensating for hypoxia, especially at 16,000 feet! At that altitude, your blood is only 77% saturated with oxygen (you could theoretically lose consciousness) so your heart has to work much harder to pump sufficient blood round your body. The spike at deployment time is probably because this is a vital point in your staying alive - so it's bound to be stressful! I'm sure there will also be some effect of the G-forces experienced on the baroreceptors (pressure sensors) in the blood vessels which have an effect on heart rate and blood pressure. This would continue to occur under canopy if you were performing radical turns. There will continue to be some adrenalin circulating for a while too, and some residual hypoxia, possibly explaining the continually high HR until on the ground. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Just interested to know why you went for a green cutaway pad and then a red reserve handle? My logic would have them the other way round - red for 'emergency' and green for 'go reserve'. On my rig (still waiting for it to arrive) I've gone for both red - theory being my reserve drills are so ingrained I would automatically pull the right hand first. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Do you really need someone to motivate you to go jumping? I find the act of jump itself is motivation enough! Admittedly, once you've got FS1 jumping solo can seem a little pointless and it's much better to jump with other people, but after only 11 jumps, you can't be bored already?! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

With regards to Florida, the one place I'd recommend is FreeFallAdventures. I attempted my AFF there in 2003 (although didn't get my A licence until this year) and two good friends of mine have graduated AFF there with no problems returning to the UK. It's owned and run by a British guy called Mick Hall, so he knows all about UK AFF and BPA operations. Gill at the other end of the email address is very helpful too! You can find them here http://www.ffadventures.com Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Will do. I'll be going up this afternoon to get some jumps in so I'll pass on the message. There've been a few more lifts this morning from what I can see so I think things are picking up. I'm sure it'll get busier at the weekend.

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Our 4 day Cyprus boogie started this morning with lots of jumping dusk til dawn. They've even got a Caravan to take the strain off the ageing BNI. However, there don't seem to be enough people to fill loads! I'm sitting in my office about 2 miles from the DZ and I haven't seen it go up once! How about you guys nipping over to help get it in the air! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

The figure quoted in books for the 'standard atmosphere' is a 1.98 °C drop for every 1000ft, which I think we can safely round to 2. So if it's 20°C on the ground, you're looking at being about at freezing point at 10k. To be honest, if the door's closed and the sun's coming in through the windows, you don't notice it. It's when the door's open for spotting or other people climbing out that it gets a bit chilly, especially if you've just been packing and are slightly sweaty. Once out the door, I can honestly say I've never once noticed the cold, but this is sunny Cyprus and things start to warm up again nearer the ground. It may be a bit different once I get back to the UK!

We had 4 vehicles, two each side with full beams making a cross into the wind. We also had a T-shape of cyalumes (as laid down in the BPA manual) pointing the direction into the wind. However, as anyone who has ever jumped in Cyprus knows, the winds can change in an instant. That night they did and literally switched 180 degrees after the first pass had got out. Hence the confusion and downwind landings. It was scary - as the doc on the DZ, I cringed everytime someone piled in... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

We just had a night jump on the Advanced Freefall Course here in Cyprus. I hadn't quite achieved all the requirements for my B licence so was prevented from jumping. However, when the wind changed 180 degrees as the pass I would have been on exited resulting in a number of downwind landings, I was somewhat relieved! Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, although one guy knocked himself out, we think, and spent a night under observation for a concussion! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Well, it's past the date for the jump, so I'd be interested to know whether you did or not. Whiplash as someone pointed out, is a catch-all phrase for neck pain due to stretching or tearing of cervical muscles and ligaments due to sudden extension/flexion of neck - be that an RTA, or a hard opening. The damaged parts get inflamed over a period of hours/days (hence why it doesn't necessarily hurt at the time, but does the next day) and stiffen up. The painkillers you're on probably include some sort of anti-inflammatory too. Early mobilisation is essential, or else your neck will become stiff and you can get into lasting problems. A few words of advice and some exercises from a physio wouldn't hurt. If it was a minor case, such as the one you seem to describe, I'd imagine things would settle down after a week or two and you wouldn't suffer any lasting damage. Further injuries caused by a potential hard opening would probably be the same whether you'd injured it previously or not and I'd be inclined to say yes, you were OK to jump. A more severe case which might have partially or completely torn ligaments might leave your neck weaker and less able to cope with the forces involved in a normal opening, let alone a hard one, in which case avoiding such forces would be advised. Clearly, I don't know your particular case, nor have I examined you so my advice should not be taken directly. It's something you need to discuss with your own doctor and a decision to be made on the severity of the initial injury, degree of recovery and remaining disability and the 'likelihood' of a hard opening. I'll have a rummage around and see if I can find any data on the forces placed on the neck during a 'typical' and 'hard' opening - it might be interesting... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

I had exactly the same malfunction on my AFF level 2. I tried pumping and flaring no end of times to clear it with no luck. However, I did my control checks and decided that despite the very slow turn on full drive, it was steerable and would have been landable as a small amount of opposite toggle corrected it. I passed my decision altitude and was stuck with it. Then, as I made my turn onto my final leg about 500ft it completely cleared and the slider came down and everything was fine - quite a relief.

I had what I can only assume were tension knots on my AFF level 2. I had a really nasty deployment with multiple line twists, which, after clearing them, left my slider stuck halfway up with the lines twisted around the grommets on one side only. No amount of brake pumping cleared it and I spent a long while wondering if I should cutaway. In the end, I decided that I could turn left, I could turn right and I could flare OK, and the very slight spin was easily compensated for by a small amount of toggle input on the opposite side, so I thought I could land it. Much to my relief, as I turned onto my baseleg at about 800ft, it cleared and the slider came down and I landed fine. Nevertheless, it was slightly worrying for someone so inexperienced and I think I have a good understanding of the way it all works. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Well, I've managed to complete levels 1-8 in 8 jumps, graduating AFF today! Beers on me! Consols next... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

How about something along the lines of: 'Because I know that if I can muster the self-control to overcome the fear of doing something as un-natural and terrifying as that, I can overcome just about anything.' Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Yes, the tunnel was a big boost to my confidence, the fact that I could keep in one position without dearching and going unstable, which was the main thing that had been worrying me. Banged out levels 2 and 3 this weekend, onto single instructor and no contact freefall next. Had a scary moment on my level 2 though - after about 4-5 line twists, my slider got stuck about halfway up the lines on one side only and no amount of pumping released it. I was VERY close to cutting away, but after trying turns and flares decided I could land it, despite the very slow spin at full drive. In the event, it cleared spontaneously about 800ft as I was coming in to land - I can't tell you how relieved I was!! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Hi there, I've already posted on a couple of threads but thought I should drop by here and say hello. The title of my thread refers to the fact that I'm currently on my fourth attempt to get into this sport, second attempt at AFF! I can't remember why, but skydiving is something I've always wanted to do - I think it's just the whole 'flying' concept. Anyway, the first attempt was back in 1997 when I spent a weekend doing groundschool but the weather precluded jumping. As I was at Uni and the dropzone was 2 hrs away, I never even got to jump. Second time was in 2001 when I got to go on a military basic static line course. I managed 4 jumps in 2 weeks (again because of the weather) and managed to sprain BOTH ankles on a no-wind rough landing! Third time was in Florida in 2003 at Skydive Sebastian attempting AFF. I repeated level 4, then had to repeat level 5 (crap body position) and was just getting more and more frustrated, so decided I'd go back another day. I would have gone to play in the wind tunnel at Orlando, but it was the one week they were replacing the engines!! It's now 2006 and I'm working in Cyprus (as a military doc). The weather's perfect for jumping and the dropzone is 5 minutes away. I did my AFF level 1 a few weeks ago and am hoping to get another couple in this weekend. I managed to get 10 minutes in the Airkix wind tunnel in Milton Keynes (I'm a shareholder too!) in March which really helped my confidence as I was flying straight and level and managing turns, slides and controlling fall rate. Once I graduate AFF, the plan is to do some RW for skill progression then I want to get into camera flying and I'd love to play with wingsuits one day. In a few years, once I'm a trained GP, I'll be specialising in Aviation Medicine so I can start combining work and play! Blue skies! Grant Forgot to add the URL of the movie of my first jump!

The shoulder joint is fairly unstable at the best of time. It's not really a ball in socket joint (like the hip) as such, more the ball rests against a flat surface and is held in place by a joint capsule and 4 muscles called the 'rotator cuff'. Once the shoulder has been dislocated, these muscles and capsule are often torn and can remain so for a long time and sometimes never heal fully. This leaves the shoulder prone to recurrent dislocations - something I wouldn't want to happen when I'm travelling at 120mph towards the earth. There is surgery that can be performed to correct these tears/stretches and to tighten things up, but I couldn't tell you whether this would be for you. From your apprehension about it popping out again, it sounds fairly unstable. You need a proper assessment by an orthopaedic surgeon and/or sports physiotherapist. They may decide that strengthening exercises are all you need to strengthen up the remaining muscles of that rotator cuff to help it remain in joint. If there's any doubt, then an MRI is probably warranted to look for these tears and if found you could then maybe progress to the surgery. However, even if that was the case, you'd need a long period of rehabilitation prior to jumping again. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Hey. You've probably got some inflammation of the tissues around your Eustachian tube which is the tube that links your middle ear with your throat and keeps the pressure equalised on both sides of the ear drum. You probably have a negative pressure in your inner ear (going up on your hop and pop air would have escaped, but now you can't get it back in) and atmospheric pressure is working to keep that tube closed. Also now, you've probably got some fluid in there which the body will have secreted in response to the inflammation and it can't drain. It will clear on its own eventually, but you can try speeding it up using systemic decongestants such as Sudafed, or local nasal sprays. Also, keep occasionally trying Valsalva manoeuvres (when you pop your ears by pinching your nose and blowing - like when diving) because you may get some air up the tube and start equalising the pressure. A ride up to altitude probably wouldn't do much harm, because you'll be getting closer to the actual pressure in your ear (in fact, if you keep trying to clear it as you get higher, it may help...) but I certainly wouldn't go Scuba diving or you may cause some damage. Hope this helps...