linus2270

No, I'm still trying to learn. I've been blessed with good instructors and I greatly respect each one of them. I do understand some of your concerns and I will keep them in mind.

>just questioning the total control some seem to exert over students under canopy without letting them learn The instructor on the other end of the radio is not attempting to have total control. Please give a little more credit to instructors who were given these radios as TOOLS. They use a radio only to tell the student if they are doing something wrong that can potentially cause injury to herself/himself or others. >dictating every move of a student under canopy If one day you get the chance to stand next to these instructors, you'll learn that they don't dictate every move. That would make them unqualified AFF instructors. >What happens when they are taken off the radio? They don't know how to fly their canopy without instructions I was in my AFF class for 7 straight hours going through a very well regulated level 1 curriculum that educates every student how to fly a canopy. A radio is not a necessity but it's a good tool. It would be nice to see a thread about "How radios are supposed to be used" because obviously, some people, and yes, probably some instructors, are not fully aware of how they are being used and why.

No, I didn't know that radios were going to be used until we started talking about landing procedures. The class was practically a safety & "troubleshoot" class and I was pretty confident that I was prepared to act properly on any type of scenario up there. When I found out that we were going to have radios, I admit being happy about it because it did boost my confidence. It was more like a bonus:) Would I have taken the class without the radio? Absolutely! And BTW, I learned how to knit, use a sewing machine, change my toilet, replace a broken sprinkler head, change the filter of my pool and all sorts of stuff, without anybody's help

That's great! A lot of people these days get: nothing pay-cut laid off.

I just finished my AFF level 1 and yes, I chose to accept the risk, jumped, shit could have happened and I could have died, BUT I could very well maybe killed another student too. Theoretical and practical knowledge will need to connect somehow during the learning process and when it comes to doing something that involves any risk of life, I will need an expert next to me to make sure that those two connected VERY WELL so that I don't goof up and kill myself or someone. And since AFF level 1 is not a tandem dive with somebody behind me to say 'yes' or a 'no' when my mind is saying 'maybe', radio-coaching is the only way. If I'm learning how to knit, I don't need anybody next to me to tell me that I did something wrong. I can screw up, twist and tangle, but I can always undo anything however long it takes. If I'm learning how to skydive and have never come across unpredictable winds at high altitudes, with powerlines and other students nearby, I know I need an expert to tell me that the move I'm making is a risky one. There are just way too many possible mistakes that can't be undone, and only few seconds to undo anything I possibly can. My AFF instructor (Pat of PVSS) has been teaching for years and he used our first names when he gave instructions over the radio. I was glad he was there. Eventually, that radio will be silent and when that happens, I'll be very happy.

Thank you, Bill!

I'm thinking of doing 5 flights at the wind tunnel tomorrow to prepare myself for Saturday's next AFF levels. They offer an AFF Wind Tunnel Pkg for $100 that comes with 5 flights, coaching & DVD, which I think is a good deal. They gave us two WT flights on our AFF1 class last week and watching myself on the video afterwards was an eye-opener for me. Watching my instructor float like a steady asteroid gave me a close-up visual of how it should be done and it clicked in my head. I wish there was a newbie club at my DZ. It would be nice to hang-out and brain-storm with others before & after dives. Everybody seems to belong to an intimidating group of licensed & experienced divers and I feel like a dork wandering on my own. I wouldn't mind if my buddy Budlight kept me company but I was told I could only have airbeer before I dive...sigh.

I don't do roller-coasters and I don't dive into a swimming pool head first because the sensation of dropping for both is very uncomfortable for me. For whatever reason, I can't breath on the way down! I tried a few more times to see if I can enjoy them like most people do...Failed. Won't do either one without a at least a 6-pk of liquid courage... About a month ago, I did my first tandem skydive. I amazed myself for not getting nervous for one moment. I only told my friends that like roller-coasters, I might not be able to breath, and oh-well with that! They told me to just make sure that I had my chin up when I left the plane. I did just that and the whole experience was just incredible. Having an addictive personality (Thank God I don't do drugs), I could not get over the adrenaline rush and high that I got from the dive. For two weeks, I tried to google and youtube about skydiving to get a fix and they were not cutting it. So I went online and enrolled my first AFF class. During the class, I started getting nervous for the first time when we started talking about problems and malfunctions. Then to make it worse, when the class went out on the field to observe landings, we actually saw somebody do a cutaway! I asked my instructor about the odds of that happening and he said 1 out of 1,000. Okaaaaay then...... I wasn't nervous about getting into the plane and jumping out of it. I was nervous when I pulled my ripcord and looked up if my canopy opened perfectly. Those were the longest 6 seconds of my life. I said "open....open...common.....YEAAAAAHHH!" I forgot to do my left & right 180 canopy check. Bad! I just remember looking and trying to recognize the landing area. I didn't want to land on somebody's backyard. I landed two feet away from the marked spot, landed on my a** but at least I did it smoothly! My instructor didn't tell us how to pick up the chute, so I just bunched it up like I would do when I washed a big blanket. With short arms that go with my 5'1" frame, it was a challenge because I didn't have the 4 corners as a guide to fold properly, and it felt like I was trying to hug and lift a tree. Then some guy started yelling at me, and that's when I realized that I was dragging the pilot chute and it was collecting weeds...oops. Two of my classmates did the AFF2 right after but I wanted to go home and just internalize what I did right and more importantly, what I did wrong so I can fix it next time. I just scheduled my AFF2 yesterday (a week after my AFF1) and if all goes well, I'll do 3 & 4 right after. Here's a video edit (also a first) that I did from the video & pics that I got from my tandem package. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CpdO68rw3I&sns=em] Like they all say... Blue Skies!!!