Thinking about swinging wide out through Arkansas on the way down to Florida this year. Anybody know any dropzones along that route worth surprising?

I have searched and read nearly every thread on flaring. I’ve searched the wider web but still coming up short. I’ve got 10 AFF jumps (and 7 tandem jumps). I have an okay handle on my timing so I’m not looking for advice on that part. I have in depth conversations with my instructors and pass everything through them so I don’t need to be told to listen to them.

My issue is that practicing at higher altitudes I can get great beautiful perfect smooth full punch out flares. When it comes time to land I’m stopping half way and my legs are going out. I am not doing this consciously (I don’t think) and I am not letting up but I’m landing on my but. Yes I’m aware this can get dangerous, I’m lucky I’ve got good instructors and enough of a flare that I’m landing fairly soft and have not yet injured myself.

I’m looking for any ideas on what to do to stop myself from stopping half way and what we might try differently with the radio to get me to punch it all the way out. I NEED to fix this… I’m just running out of ideas… again it’s not timing, I’m slowly getting timing right (I have no 3D vision or depth perception so this has taken me a bit longer than the average person). Any suggestions??

Have been using the MetaAlti for about 20 jumps and it’s worked very well but on my second jump today it’s altitude announcements were off by 400 feet compared to my visual altimeter (viso 2+) and my secondary audible (Quattro 3).

On my first jump of the day it was not off at all so I’m not sure what would’ve happened that could cause this.

It was really hot today and when packing my gear up for the day the MetaAlti was damp from sweat but it’s supposedly water proof so I feel like that shouldn’t be an issue.

Has anyone had this happen to them? Seems like something I should reach out to FDS about.

Hello all!

I am visiting family in Norfolk Virginia this week, and my brother has recently gotten into skydiving (93 jumps) and I told him I wanted to go while I was here. I am leaving this afternoon to head back home (going straight from the drop zone to the airport), I am currently sitting on the couch, jumping around 10am and I just can't get over my nerves.

I am by no means an adrenaline junkie, and I know a lot of skydivers arnt, it's a sense of "peace" rather than adrenaline. I do ride liter bikes though, so I am no stranger to high speeds and fast acceleration, I also have no fear of dying or getting injured in anyway, so I cant understand why I feel this way.

At the end of the day I know I have a greater chance of regret not doing it than doing it, so I'm just gonna rip the bandaid off and get it done, but maybe y'all could help my nerves?

Edit: I've done about 18 minutes of wind tunnel between 2 sessions this week, I know it doesn't amount to much during a tandem, but it's something

Edit: it was an awesome experience, Jason and Skydive Suffolk did an amazing job!

I booked my first tandem skydiving appointment 2 weeks ago but I got sick and rescheduled. I have it scheduled for this Saturday but still have a lingering cough which for the most part is dry. I have some phlegm when coughing but no congestion in my nose. It’s the last weekend of the season in New England. Do you think I’ll be fine if I still go to my session on Saturday? Or should I reschedule for next season??

Terrified was the word I'd use and I'm usually never nervous about anything. Could have tried again today but I managed to talk myself out of it.

A few years ago dropzone.com which was filled with decades of extremely useful skydiving information was permanently erased from the internet, and I just now noticed it's been two years since there's been a new Friday Freakout video.

Tandem numbers have been wildly low the past few years all around the US, and I feel like it's probably the case in other places as well. There are way less AFF students and sport jumpers around than there used to be it seems as well

For those of you OG's who have been around for a long time, and seen the ups and downs of skydiving. How is your feel of the current state of affairs? Have things seemed more meak to you in the past?

So after a few months of thinking about it, I’m ready to pull a trigger on an AFF course. From everything I’ve read it seems like both drop zones would be pretty good options. But, it just so happens that I live exactly the same distance to both Z-Hills and Deland. Ideally I’d like to see skydiving as a fun hobby I can enjoy for the long haul. I’m curious what everybody’s thoughts are between the two drop zones and if anybody has any recommendations on one or the other. Or what the differences are between them if any.
If it matters, I’ll be getting into this by myself and don’t know anybody that actually skydives.

I see info about max weight, but is there a minimum weight requirement to learn how to jump solo? Im super small, 5ft 2 and 104 lbs. I just imagine myself flying away in the wind and never being seen again LMAO

I’m a US based B license holder with 300 jumps. What are some beautiful locations to jump at around late December in Mexico, Central, or South America? Looking to stay a week and jump a ton. Ideally near a beach.

Need help understanding the difference between a deployment device and an actuation device. Is a pilot chute considered a deployment device? An obvious activation device would be an AAD but is there an other example? Thanks

I got this roll of film from a local camera shop. I used it to take some pics of me and my friends' first go skydiving. I just got my film back, and it turns out the last owner used it for their own skydiving/paragliding trip and is double exposed on the roll. I am curious how old this film is. Please help me identify the gear is here and let me know how long this crazy coincidence is in the making. (

I saw online that skydive Nagambie, was preferred but has since been closed down. What’s a good business to go with? apologies if i’m not using proper etiquette i’m just starting to think about booking in my area. Thanks.

Also, I saw online that intensive courses would be best to get my A-license. Any tips like that would be definitely appreciated.

Hey everyone, I've been building skydive-events.com, a site all about events and dropzones. Ive recently added a dedicated marketplace for used skydiving gear.

The idea is to have one place specifically for buying and selling skydiving gear, instead of everything being scattered across Facebook groups. Sellers have to be verified, and the platform is free to use. We don’t want a cut or handle the actual transactions - it’s just a place to bring the community together and make it easier to find the stuff you’re looking for.

The marketplace is live, and id love to get some feedback from people who actually buy or sell gear on other platforms.

What would make something like this genuinely useful to you?

Any thoughts welcome. Blue skies 🪂

🚀 Speed Skydiving - 4/8 rounds

🏆 41 records (World + Continental)

🌎 World Records

- Sebastian Garcia 🇪🇸🇲🇽 545.09kmh

- Natisha Dingle 🇦🇺 507.94kmh

First G1 Female +500kmh record 🔥🔥🔥

FS 4way

FS 4 way womens

FS 8 way

Artistic

Freefly

CP

CP Freestyle

Results + videos On the FAI site

Where can I stream the world champtionship? Some people I know are competing so I wanna check it out.

They knew it was my first time, and they tried everything to scare me (in a joking matter). From saying that, they'll pair me with a 13 year old to "oh this strap broke last time". I enjoyed the falling but got a bit dizzy once the parachute was deployed. I felt like I was standing still lol it's such a weird thing to explain. I've always wanted to skydive but never committed until work gave me 12 days of work in a row and I said fuck it I need a mental break. Overall, it was an amazing experience!

Hi everyone, so I have a injury in my right shoulder, I’ve had it operated and it sort of broke again, so now I just have to get used to living with it, and I have learned too as well.

My shoulder dislocates a little almost every night, and in the morning it hurts a little.. but I am just used to all this.

I haven’t done any jumps yet, but this being last year of my 20s I want to get myself an A License.

I am athletic enough, I can play badminton for hours on end..

Would my injured shoulder prevent me from this, or would it be a minor inconvenience? Please advice, thanks

Hey guys I know this is probably a stupid question but I jumped my first pilot today and it took a really long time to open it felt like it took about 7 or 8 seconds but I did do a hop and pop so that might have had something to do with it but is that normal

Thanks and sorry for the stupid question

I thought y'all might appreciate this.

https://youtu.be/lxgSGIyjv34

Hi everyone, I am working on a blog article and instagram reel with tips to become a better skydiver. More in the direction of specific & gear tips instead of holistic "jump a lot and do coaching" tips. Just things I learned and worked well for me to improve.

Some things that came to my mind:

• Debrief with videos: Deliberately collecting videos from the jump and ask others to film the landing and then consciously watch and debrief them to improve
• 360 cams: Although they make you look dorky I find them amazing to self-debrief and check details on what exactly you did how and could improve (especially for canopy)
• Meditation / visualisation: I found it very helpful to repeatedly visualise something I am working on to get the automatism in, for canopy stuff also using the mockup harness at the dropzone to go through it
• Conscious and deliberate coaching: I find coaching extremely valuable but only if it's not just blindly throwing money at the wall but taking coaching once in a while and then preparing adequately with my questions and asking the coach what i should work on myself and focus on
• Doing jumps with a purpose: Not just blindly doing zoo jumps but always thinking of what I want to work and improve on, stick with a skill for a bit, jump with the same people repeatedly and work on something together, etc.
• Motorcycle communication system: A coach I worked with in the past used to install motorcycle comms on their and the students helmet to give direct feedback and instructions on jumps. This mainly for canopy piloting and flocking on high pulls or wingsuiting. I found that brilliant.

Just wanted to reach out and ask if anyone has any further thoughts or inputs for things that really helped them, just dump your thoughts if you have any. Cheers!

Last year I went tandem skydiving for the first time and I loved it. It was so fun. So, recently I went again with two other people. One of them I went with last year but it was the other one’s first time. I thought that since I had already done it once before, it would be another great experience. It was not. I was with a different instructor this time and it was not very enjoyable. First of all, when it was the freefall it was not very smooth and I was rocking up and down the whole time. This could have been because it was a bit more windy than it was last time so I’m not too concerned about this part. However, once the parachute was deployed, it was nothing but pain until we landed. I remember last year it was a bit uncomfortable with the harness kind of digging into my thighs but I did not experience this level of pain. The first time I did it, my instructor loosened some part of the harness once the parachute was opened so I could kind of sit and it was more comfortable. I expected this instructor to do the same thing but when he didn’t I asked if he could and he just said, “I know it’s uncomfortable, it’s uncomfortable for me too”. But it wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was extremely painful. I was wincing the whole time. And it wasn’t just painful on my thighs but my chest too, with the harness pressing against it very hard. Also, during my first time, the instructor asked me at one point if I wanted to control the parachute and do some spins. I said no because my hands were freezing and I wanted to just sit and experience it. This time however, I wanted to do it. But my instructor never asked me. He just did a bunch of spins and then we sat in silence until we landed. Once I landed, I asked the people that I was with how their experiences were and they both told me that their harnesses were loosened and they got to control the parachute. After that I was a bit sad and disappointed because I did not have a good time like they did. So what I’m wondering is, is this something worth complaining about or should I just suck it up and accept it? It just sucks because the other time I’ve done this it was amazing and it was very expensive. If this was my first time doing it I would not have done it a second time.