skydiving

[Registered Nutcase]

Hey fellow Farkiners

Who has gone skydiving, im looking at doing the AFF course and my GF is looking at doing the tandom.

Id love to hear your stories and any advice you have

 

[Toff]

Did it last time I was in NZ.

Tandem jump from 12,000 ft, think it cost about $300 (from memory, this was a while back). Hopped in the plane and took off, took a while to get up to altitude. We get to 12k, then they opened the door and my instructor explained that we were going to go over to the door and sit down so that we were just on the edge of the planes floor. He said that we'd sit there for about half a minute so I could get used to the height, so we went over and sat down. 5 seconds later the bastard does a front flip out of the plane.

My main problem was breathing, falling at that kind of speed the air was rushing into my face so fast I was having trouble breathing properly. After that, was the decompression. I've got a problem with adjusting to different pressure quickly, it made scuba diving pretty hard and it made skydiving pretty painful, by the time I touched down my ears were hurting and I couldn't hear properly.

But even with those problems, I'd do it again in an instant. It's such a unique experience, can't be explained with words over an internet forum. Just do it, it'll be something you remember for a long time to come.

 

[downhillar]

definitely agree it is something you have to do at least once in your lifetime. amazing experience.
i've done it at picton and over the beach at wollongong and both times it was an amazing experience.
everyone i've done it with always tells me they couldn't breath but i've never had that problem, i think it's more of a mental thing than anything

 

[Tristan23]

I took my girlfriend last year for her birthday. We went to Skydive The Beach which jumps over Wollongong. Was one of the best things i've ever done. Highly recommended, wherever you want to go. Absolutely amazing.

 

[Joy]

My advice is go the maximum height possible! Apparently I had about 60sec freefall and it felt like nothing. Awesome fun! I wasn't expecting it to be so cold. I can't imagine how people do it naked. I'm pretty scared of heights but for some reason I didn't get scared at all and the only time I had an "Oh shit" moment was when I was upside down straight out of the plane. Ask your instructor to have a go driving the parachute too! That felt cool.

 

[tc2233]

Hey fellow Farkiners

Who has gone skydiving, im looking at doing the AFF course and my GF is looking at doing the tandom.

Id love to hear your stories and any advice you have

Are they allowing allowing you to do the AFF course without having done a tandem jump? I was wanting to do the AFF course but they wouldnt let me until i had done a tandom jump.

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

Are they allowing allowing you to do the AFF course without having done a tandem jump? I was wanting to do the AFF course but they wouldnt let me until i had done a tandom jump.

Sounds like you were dealing with a bit of a rip-off artist. A tandem jump will do nothing toward your progression as a skydiver other than give you a small taste and lighten your wallet by a couple hundred bucks

I grew up hanging around DZ's back in Scotland (my old man was a parachute instructor) and did my first jump on my 16th birthday. AFF was a bit beyond my budget back then so did it the long way - starting with static line (on round canopies) progressing onto 3 , 5, 10 second delays, converting onto square canopies then starting maneuvers from 10,000 ft before qualifying to jump unsupervised after about 40 jumps or so. I ended up packing it all in when I was 21 partly because work meant I'd only get one free weekend a month, the scottish weather meant that that weekend would invariably be unjumpable and my mates were all f***ing off around the world backpacking and that sounded like a bit of a lark. Before then though, I got to spend many a weekend hanging out with some really sound people, tucked 85 jumps under my belt, got to jump from 16,000ft ASL in the Czech republic and had one spectacular malfunction down in England.

I was going to take it up again when I moved to Oz as the jump rates were cheaper and the weather's a lot better but my nearest decent DZ closed down due to a fatality and everywhere else was too far away for driving.

plus bikes and partying kept eating up my cash.

T'was great fun whilst it lasted though...

 

[0psi]

Sounds like you were dealing with a bit of a rip-off artist. A tandem jump will do nothing toward your progression as a skydiver other than give you a small taste and lighten your wallet by a couple hundred bucks

I disagree. I looked into it a while back and your first 2 jumps were tandem. First one was just so you get an idea of whats happens and second one you get to fly the canopy. Not a bad idea really, I've seen people pass out skydiving, not something you'd want to find out if you're not attached to someone.

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

I disagree. I looked into it a while back and your first 2 jumps were tandem. First one was just so you get an idea of whats happens and second one you get to fly the canopy. Not a bad idea really, I've seen people pass out skydiving, not something you'd want to find out if you're not attached to someone.

Nope.

it's not mandatory to do a tandem skydive before an AFF course. Some centres may recommend it but there is absolutely nothing in law here in Australia, back in the UK, Europe or the US that states you MUST do a tandem before embarking on a first jump course (AFF or otherwise)

As for seeing people pass out in freefall, I've personally never seen it happen in over 15 years of growing up around drop zones. I've heard of people being knocked out whilst performing maneuvers with other jumpers in freefall (hence the mandatory use of helmets in the UK) and seen people throwing up in freefall and the occasional case of hypoxia (usually solved by descending) but I've never seen somebody simply pass out in freefall on their first jump.

Not that that would be an issue as in an AFF jump you are accompanied by two instructors who have a firm grip on you at all times and even if the worst came to the worst and your instructors were nowhere near you, there is still the AAD (automatic activation device) which fires the reserve if you are descending too fast at a pre-set altitude. 12 years ago you would struggle to find a centre that didn't have one on every student kit, I'd imagine it's mandatory now.

 

[dburanen]

If anyone wants to know anything about skydiving, speed gliding, ground soaring,or paragliding I am the expert. I have over 5000 jumps.
I also enjoy ground soaring and speed gliding, better than paragliding. I am a paraglider P-4 pilot, I am a expert at ground soaring, I teach on weekends.
Any questions just ask. By the way if anyone who wants to do AFF it would be 100% worth doing a tandem! This way you have an idea what to expect, and the tandem master could have you do a few things in free fall to judge your awareness when you do AFF. Once you begin your AFF you will be with 2 other jumpers holding onto you and keep you stable in the air and ensure you pull your ripcord or throw out pilot chute. Nowa days skydiving is very safe, the rig you train with in your AFF has a RSL and a AAD. The RSL is a bridle line attached to your reserve, in case you cut away your main parachute during the sequence of this the RSL begins deploying your reserve, very effective and SAFE. The AAD will automatically open your reserve at a given altitude, if you continue to fall at a high rate of speed once you pass the pre-set altitude on the AAD, it will cut the closing loop that keeps your reserve in it's container, deployment begins. Generally, they are set @ 750 ft AGL. Depending upon where the drop zone is and how high the area is above sea level must be taken into account, meaning where I skydive we are 400 ft Above sea level, therefor when you look at your altimeter if it reads 450 ft your actually only 50 feet off the ground, they have a dial to pre-set in relation to sea level, you definetly need this instrument to be accurate!!!!!
Doug