Parachute Rigging

[Snakum]

So, I would just ask for a freefall with a jumpmaster? Or is there a specific 'product name' associated with this type of jump? I'm just concerned that I'd freeze again. Would they be close enough to pull my chute if I froze up, or would they rely on the auto-opening thingee?

Anyone know of skydiving schools near Lexington, NC that would do this, as opposed to requiring me to make a tandem jump?

Anyone know how much Depends adult undergarments cost?

Minh
(I really should be too old to keep doing the 'face your fears' thing at 41. )

 

[FN FAL]

So, I would just ask for a freefall with a jumpmaster? Or is there a specific 'product name' associated with this type of jump? I'm just concerned that I'd freeze again. Would they be close enough to pull my chute if I froze up, or would they rely on the auto-opening thingee?

Anyone know of skydiving schools near Lexington, NC that would do this, as opposed to requiring me to make a tandem jump?

Anyone know how much Depends adult undergarments cost?

Minh
(I really should be too old to keep doing the 'face your fears' thing at 41. )

Hahaha...don't feel too bad about it. One, the guy that called you names when you rode your flight back down is an idiot. Two, even a first time static line is some scary SH!T. I remember mine and that was better than a decade ago. Don't let it get to you. This sport isn't for everyone and you don't have to prove anything by doing this jump. If you eventually choose to go, that's cool...just pick a place that is run professionaly and safe.

The jump you are asking about is an AFF or Accelerated Free Fall training program. I am not an AFF jumpmaster, nor do I portend to be an expert on AFF, but I do jump and fly at a professional place that does that type of training. It's more expensive and the training is more intense than a tandem.

In this AFF jump, you will be trained on how your parachute rig works, how to deploy the main. How to release the main in the event of an emergency and how to deploy the reserve. They will train you on all the possible emergencies. They will teach you how to fly the canopy, how to land it, how to exit the aircraft and how to interpret and act on signals given to you by the jumpmasters.

In the AFF jump, you are going to go up with two instructors. All of you will have your own gear on. The three of you will exit the aircraft as a group with the instructors guiding you by taking hand grips on you, because the instructors are highly trained they will not let go of you. You will then exit the aircraft and experience free fall with your instructors, you will be performing practice pulls and hopefully demonstrating altitude awareness. Your jumpmasters may try to communicate with you through hand signals for whatever reason...maybe to get you to correct your body position or to remind you of assigned tasks.

You will eventually get to AFF pull altitude (which is probably twice as high as regular skydiver pull altitude) and when you do, you will either pull your own main or the instructors will pull for you...in the event you forget or in the event that that is how they trained you.

Safety wise, your rig should be equiped with a Cypress AAD and I would think an RSL (reserve static line).

So if you don't pull and you manage to lose your instructors after exiting the plane, your reserve should fire at the AAD altitude...possibly saving your life, even if you are out cold.

The RSL comes in handy in case you have to cut away the main, it will deploy the reserve when pull the cut away handle. So if you get disoriented during the cut away...not to worry, the RSL will deploy the reserve for you before you can get your sweaty mitts on the reserve handle.

Your local DZ can give you specifics on what is entailed in their training, what is expected of you on the dive and what type of gear your will be using. The only thing I can recommend is that you avoid any dropzone that doesn't use a cypress AAD on their AFF jumps. You do not want to be doing an AFF jump on an FXC brand AAD or any analog AAD.

I started at a club and they still do static line jumps. Jumping at a club is a lot of fun and it is cheaper than jumping at business.

I now jump at a business and the gear and the aircraft are top notch. In fact, I rent their gear, because I know it's well cared for.

We don't do static line. We offer it, but if you actually call and ask for it, they will talk you out of it. It's a great way to train paratroopers, but they really want to sell the idea of experiencing free fall to the public, so the owners talk people out of doing static line all the time.

It's Tandem or AFF by us.

www.uspa.org

Here is the Dropzone Directory as published by the USPA...they also have more information about jumping and what type of jumps there are.

 

[FN FAL]

Also, you are not the first person to have gone up, only to come back down in the plane.

Twice I saw the same jumpmaster on different occasions, cuss at a student and close the door after the student refused to go out on a static line. This happened at the club I used to go to. This is bad and it leaves a permanent mark on this persons ego for the rest of their life and leaves a bad mark on the sport. These persons will tell their horrible story to people for the rest of their lives and that can mean loss of business revenue.

I think the owner of my drop zone would probably punch any jumpmaster for doing this type of thing...and my DZO is not the kind of guy to go around punching people, but this type of behaviour is not tolerated by us.

I did see an AFF student get told they were not going to get to exit the plane by their jumpmasters once.

I was riding up to make a solo jump and the Drop Zone Owner was AFF jumpmastering an AFF student. The DZO asked for a practice sequence of the training and the girl was really not should I say "ON IT!". Then the jumpmaster asked if the girl could see the airport. We were at about 2,500 feet and the pilot turned the plane so the girl could see it out the window. This is done as landing area familiarization. The girl couldn't see the freaking airport!!!

So up we went to 12,500 me and my buddy get out and do a two way and they ride the plane down at the owners call. She winds up going up on the next load as tandem baggage.

Good call by the owner of our dropzone. they could have pulled it off, but they chose to do the right thing.

 

[FracCapt]

So, I would just ask for a freefall with a jumpmaster? Or is there a specific 'product name' associated with this type of jump? I'm just concerned that I'd freeze again. Would they be close enough to pull my chute if I froze up, or would they rely on the auto-opening thingee?

Unfortunately, many dropzones are going to what they call IAF - Instructor Assisted Freefall. This is where the first several jumps are tandem, then you go with your own rig and one jumpmaster for the next 5-8 levels. Carolina Sky Sports uses IAF - though, I think if you really push them, they will do an AFF(Accelerated FreeFall, where you go with your own rig and 2 jumpmasters, as FN FAL described).

During the first AFF jump, the instructors never leg go of you until your canopy is deploying. They are right there to keep you stable in freefall and to deploy your canopy if you don't. If all else fails, the Cypres(the auto-opening thingee) will deploy your reserve at about 750ft. Not high enough for a long canopy ride, but plenty high enough to slow you down to a normal canopy descent rate, then give you 20-30 seconds of canopy flight before landing(assuming large, student canopies, that is).

Static line is going by the wayside. There's a place up near Roanoke(I don't remember the name - it's a small C182 dropzone just south of ROA that I jumped at many years ago) that I hear still does Static Line if you're dead set on that.

 

[FN FAL]

From what it sounds like, IAF is also being done at our dropzone. I know they run some through with doing the tandem first, then they transition you to one jump master. I don't know the whole syllabus...but this sounds pretty familiar. They can also put you out with two tandem masters on the first AFF free fall as well at our dropzone.

I like it. It gets you skydiving fast, without wasting a lot of time learning how to be a paratrooper.

Here is a trend I'm noticing. What burns fast, burns out fast.

It used to be you would get someone into skydiving and you saw a 5 year trend. Now you are seeing a 3 year trend.

Frac Capt might be able to correlate. There's a certain segment that gets in, buys new gear or hot used gear right away. They hit the cliques as number one with a bullet and then...and then they get political and then...you don't see em no more.

I'm not seeing the old timers that work their way up and wind up in the sport for life. Used to be out of 100 static-liners, you'd recycle a couple of regular skydivers. Out of that couple, they all made it to about the three year mark. Then you had one that would eventually get JM ratings and on and on.

Now, it's as if you get them in for about three years. First year student. Second year they learn RW and get JM ratings that winter. Third year they are SH!T hot and you can't get on load with them. Fourth year they are history...totally gone from the sport.

I have seen this pattern so many times it's predictable...like a profile.