dthames

And I would add, it is very hard to do anything "double front" if you are loaded light. Well, chin-ups would be an exception. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Lots of good advice already posted, but may I add..... I was pretty stiff when I started and my arch was not enough for me to be stable. After some amount of aggravation I switched to Static Line training so I could better learn at my own pace. I reasoned I could repeat $75 jumps with a lot less stress than $180 (AFF) jump. Don't lets a handicap keep you out of the sport. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Welcome to the sport and DZ.com. What type of skydiving to you plan to do, once licensed? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

There are a LOT of people get hurt (think broken leg or worse) with simple mistakes on landing. Two things that should help.... 1. Learn/understand how the canopy works. If you understand how it works, your chances of doing something dumb go down, even when you are not specifically told, "Don't do such and such". 2. Understand what you must do to correctly fly the canopy. This sounds like a simple no brainer, that you will be taught as part of your instruction. While it is true that you will normally be correctly taught, there is a difference in how your study as a student. Will you be a spoon feed student or someone that desires to own the process? I always expected the instructors to help me prepare for the task at hand. I never expected the instructors to prepare me. Work hard to be a good student. (I think you are starting the process with your questions) The book "The Parachute And Its Pilot" is a good place to start learning more about canopy flight. The book should help you to be better equipped to talk to your instructors about any concerns along the way. There are other books as well, which I am less familiar with. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Flying straight throughout deployment....up to the point that you can no longer fly has a LOT to do with a clean deployment. Flaring is a fun challenge. If you have a Flysight and can monitor your vertical speed, you can quickly learn how close you are getting to zero vertical and if you gain some altitude, how far you are going up. In a medium sized suit, a person can get to less then 10 MPH vertical for a few seconds. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

54. Why, So I could fly wingsuits. Trigger, if I waited too much longer, learning would become harder due to age. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Welcome to the sport. Someday someone will say...."....you will want to downsize your canopy." Some of the best advice I ever received was regarding downsizing. If the desire to continue jumping is at the top of your priority list, make sure downsizing is not competing for top place. You should be here... I can land this thing safely even when things go bad (not as planned) You should not be here..... I can land this thing safely as long as things go as planned. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

While not recommended to use as an altimeter, I use my Flysight alarms to voice the altitude at 10,000, 9,000, etc all the way down to breakoff. Recently I was a breakoff leader in a bigway event. I could keep my eyes 100% fixed on my formation references and still know where I was in the altitude. 7,000, 6,000, and then just waiting for the audible altimeter to beep at 5,000. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

If you wait long enough, you will be too old to be a good student. If you really want to skydive, you need to seriously pursue it before you get too old. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

This plane climbs almost too fast. Super ride!

I've seen people try to collapse all the wings entirely and fall like a rock. That was taught to me prior to my FFC (which was then corrected in my FFC). In fact, the SIM even still says to collapse everything even though Squirrel says otherwise and most people know that's not very feasible on large suits. The SIM also says to click your heals together to signal deployment and that the signal is mandatory. However, I have never once seen anyone do that. Like any other form of skydiving, you are better off with a large bag of tricks, rather than few tricks. While you might be able to full collapse everything, being able to stop most forward motion and go straight down until a better deployment altitude can be the best choice in some traffic/wind situations. If you are part of a group with a specific breakoff plan and the leader takes you to a less than ideal spot, you might find yourself needing to stay put and just deploy right there, but lower than your are flying. Regardless of how someone waves off, everyone should wave off before deployment. Yes, putting your feet together doesn't help your stability. I have seen some very entertaining wave offs. We did a formation record attempt the weekend before Thanksgiving. The largest formation jumps had 85 people in the formation. Everyone was expected to wave off before deployment. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I've seen people try to collapse all the wings entirely and fall like a rock. That was taught to me prior to my FFC (which was then corrected in my FFC). In fact, the SIM even still says to collapse everything even though Squirrel says otherwise and most people know that's not very feasible on large suits. The SIM also says to click your heals together to signal deployment and that the signal is mandatory. However, I have never once seen anyone do that. Regardless of how someone waves off, everyone should wave off before deployment. Yes, putting your feet together doesn't help your stability. I have seen some very entertaining wave offs. This is interesting because wave-offs are something that I've asked several WS LOs and WS coaches (like legit ones who actually coach on a regular basis at a major DZ). The answer that I've universally received is that outside of your FFC, there is no waving off in WS. You just never fly behind someone around deployment altitude. I'm still new myself, but I've never seen someone wave off in a WS, ever. I've always done it myself by rolling my wrists back and fourth and shaking my hands, but I've repeatedly been told it's unnecessary outside of an FFC, and I am the only person I've know that does it. Suppose you have 4 WS going up together. Joe has 600 WS jumps and always pulls about 3000. Larry and Jim have 200-300 WS jumps and Bob only has 54. So they put Bob in the lead as base. Someone says, Bob, where do you normally deploy. About 4,500 is the answer. So, we will form up on you, maybe takes some docks, and about 5,000 you give a signal and we will give you some room, you deploy, and we will go on for a bit. Joe falls behind a bit after trying to do something fun and is catching up to the group at 5500. Bob remembers he had some bad line twists last time and at the last minute decides he might pull a little higher. Bob don't normally signal a wave off and deploys at 4900 just as Joe is getting close to him. Stuff like that does happen. I was taught, First you are a skydiver....check of 3s, low man has right of way, always wave off, watch for traffic in the pattern, all of basics. Put on the wingsuit, what has changed? You are still a skydiver. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I've seen people try to collapse all the wings entirely and fall like a rock. That was taught to me prior to my FFC (which was then corrected in my FFC). In fact, the SIM even still says to collapse everything even though Squirrel says otherwise and most people know that's not very feasible on large suits. The SIM also says to click your heals together to signal deployment and that the signal is mandatory. However, I have never once seen anyone do that. Like any other form of skydiving, you are better off with a large bag of tricks, rather than few tricks. While you might be able to full collapse everything, being able to stop most forward motion and go straight down until a better deployment altitude can be the best choice in some traffic/wind situations. If you are part of a group with a specific breakoff plan and the leader takes you to a less than ideal spot, you might find yourself needing to stay put and just deploy right there, but lower than your are flying. Regardless of how someone waves off, everyone should wave off before deployment. Yes, putting your feet together doesn't help your stability. I have seen some very entertaining wave offs. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Bad weather is just part of the sport. Welcome to the sky. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Exactly! I often wonder why so many people try to make it harder than just that. Well I've seen several rather experienced WSers bring their arms in after deploying. Some of the people in the Squirrel instructional video on deployments do it if I recall right as well. The argument I got was that it reduces the size of your burble if you bring the arms in after pitching vs putting them back out into full flight. I deploy all sorts of ways depending on the situation. But I always keep straight until I am in the saddle. Even a poor form deployment can be helped a lot of then you get straight and stay straight. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”