Flyerer

I had a difficult time translating the arch you practice while in ground-school, and the actual arch you employ in freefall. During ground-school, I found myself arching far too much in my upper back and shoulders. The arch you're looking for in freefall is in your lower back with a more relaxed feeling in your upper torso. With two or three jumps under your belt I think you're being a little tough on yourself. Good luck and blue skies!

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm going to attempt to remove the post until she edits the survey.

Hello everyone. Most of you don't know me personally, as I jump out of one DZ here in Michigan. I'm hoping you'll consider helping out anyway. My daughter is a freshman at Western Michigan University and is working on a project that requires folks to respond to a survey that's she's created. The topic is related to public transportation versus personal transportation. I'll attempt to include the link here. Thank you for your consideration. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JQBN3YP

Done.

My wife sent my daughter and me for "Father's Day" three years ago. My daughter checked it off her "bucket list" and I signed up for AFF. Actual we both did AFF to begin with because we're both "hard-heads" and did not want to do a tandem.

Possibly a skydiving analogy would be helpful here. In order to fly, as skydivers we must learn to surrender to the wind, which is a force far greater than ourselves that we cannot control. That does not mean we discontinue using our minds and bodies to manage what we can. When we do, we begin to fly. A person who believes in God, or Mohammed, or a higher power, or (you fill in the blank) simply recognizes this same reality in their life.

Good job handling the malfunction. Why were you completing your freefall and deploying at 1500 ft??

Thank you for your service; and welcome back.

Wow, quite a colorful story. If you're ever in Michigan, stop by Skydive Tecumseh and say hello.

"Bizz-Buzz" would have to be my all time favorite.

Hello and Welcome. That's a great story about "generations" skydiving together. I did my first jump with my oldest daughter for Father's Day two years ago. It's been an amazing ride since.

Welcome. No worries. It's just like a tandem without the monkey on your back...

Hi. For me(also a type A personality) the whole learning to arch on the floor in ground school thing really caused me problems. When you're on the ground, you really have to arch your entire back and shoulders to attempt to simulate what will happen in the air. When I began to jump, I was still trying to arch my entire back and shoulders. I could feel myself gritting my teeth trying to fight through and "will" myself to learn this new skill (not going to work). The key for me was learning to arch my lower back only, leaving my shoulders, arms and upper back loose and relaxed. For a type A personality, the other key is to let go, and learn to go with the flow. For me, learning to get stable in free fall has taught me lessons about life I've struggled with for years. You'll eventually have that "aha" moment where it will all "click" for you. Just have fun with it and fly safe.

Every jump. No exceptions.

Congratulations!