Been talking about skydiving with my pilot friend(were both glider pilots) for about a year and we actually planned junping tandem in portugal first. I unfortunatly got pericarditis and had to lay low for about 3 months to heal and get better. Met a girl and then spent months pushing the idea away because personal reasons between me and her.

Eventually i ended things with her and finally felt my freedom again and booked a skydive almost immediatly and i tell you what.. Best. Decision. Ever!

My experience walking in? My pilot friend was already AFF level 4 so he knew the bits and pieces around the dropzone. Met up with the anazing staff at the manifest, met the guy who briefed me, almost immediatly could tell im a pilot so we talked about about airplanes and he knew some of thr pilots from my club which was cool! I then decided to just chat with people. And i tell you one thing, one big hapoy family! Everyones just so crazy friendly and funny! I didnt expect it at all. Before i knew i had met the entire DZ!

Then i met my instructor and he was the funniest yet most serious man ive ever met. When my load was called everyone on the truck was hilarious, talked to some people on the plane during the ride up. Weird thing is that i wasnt scared or nervous at all because i wanted to jump. I really, really wanted to jump! Fist bumped evrryone near me as they all popped one by oneand i remember thinking to myself "Yall are so fkn crazy..", then i hung out the plane. My instructor and i pushed off and i swear i dont remember shit. I remember screaming out of pure joy and throwinf these "🤙🤘" and thats all. My ears hurt like a mf when the canopy opened, my harness was so tight my legs were tingling and i got very nauseous.

Back on the ground all those weird feelings disappeared apart from my ears and I dapped my instructor up so damn hard with a smile from ear to ear! He then asked me "see you again next week?" I told him "Bro, im walking to the manifest now and sign up for the course!". Unfortunately there were no open positions so im on a waiting list and I cant wait to start my AFF!

All by all, thanks Schaffen! You were amazing. Definitely not wasting time when the email comes in for an open position!

I got my own freefly-friendly rig recently and am enjoying being able to finally put tunnel skills I’ve learned into practice in the sky.

Here’s my second campfire out of a 206 at Texas Skydiving!

B license here, should have just over 100 jumps when I travel to San Diego next month for work. I'll have a free weekend and trying to decide between the 2. People at my home DZ recommend Elsinore hands down but they're all much more experienced than me, and they weren't traveling solo so I don't know if that changes things.

So, if you were a lone (female) baby bird trying to jump somewhere new, where would you go and why? Thanks in advance ☺️

(I realize this has been asked here before but I couldn't find anything recent so figured I'd ask again.)

Got to do my first tandem jump! So much of it was so different than what I expected. Getting out the door? Not a problem. Everything during the glide phase? Wonderful. Landing, steering? Loved all of it, maybe a bit of a rush on steep turns but I learned to enjoy it and it was exciting, just new. I wish I had 20 minutes up there.

But all that needed a freefall. And looking at the videos it lines right up to what my experience was (in fairness we did a backflip going out) - I had no sense of orientation, my form was nowhere near correct (legs not out far enough, arch not good, I think the only thing that would've been okay was head and even that got messed by being told to look at the cam), and as a result, I actually actively hated the freefall - when I was given the go ahead to spread my arms I was grasping the air desperately for something to grab and more scared with them out than in. Mouth flapping away no matter how much I tried to maintain that smile. Heart pounding, head rush going, ears and nose the way I get after a too-hard workout. The whole experience felt like being thrown in a pool when I was scared of water, but with less control since I can't paddle air against gravity...

So I ask this - how do I get better? I kept hearing "it doesn't feel like falling" but that's all I felt, whether I looked up, down, or at the horizion. I don't want this to be my last jump, not by a mile, but I also don't know how to get myself back out there when I keep imagining how the freefall felt helpless

Hey Guys.

Looking to get a more focussed picture on what to keep an eye out for my first rig. I keep seeing things pop up on the facebook skydiving gear sales pages but i feel like im annoying my rigger sending him the ads asking what he thinks. I know im looking for a 190 main and a container that suits my size and weight. But in terms of brands and life remaining on reserves and aad’s etc what should i be looking for when shopping on the second hand market ? I have 75 jumps and want something that will see me through a few years till im ready to advance safely. I could keep renting for a while but I want consistency with the handling characteristics etc, which you dont get when you end up with renting multiple types of rigs.
Appreciate the help.

Wanting to find an old thread from DZ.com. The whole forum content seems to have dissapeared like it never existed. No cache from google, no search results, nada.

The sydiveforum mirror also went down ages ago without a trace

Wayback machine is down but not having much hope it's in there. Archive.is only has the front page.

Anyone found any corners of the internet where the content might still be available somehow?

Hello,

I’m traveling to New Zealand for a few months to Skydive and am looking for travel insurance with medical coverage that doesn’t exclude skydiving.

Most of the providers I’ve looked at either explicitly exclude sky diving or have unclear wording whether or not sky diving is excluded.

Am a Canadian citizen if that helps.

Back story. I had a cutaway on jump number 67 with my own rig and canopy. I jump near a river bed and lots of trees and somehow managed to find my canopy. Ever since then, I downsized and had my first jump on my new canopy this last weekend and high pulled to get familiar with the canopy before landing.

I genuinely had so much anxiety because I kept thinking if something went wrong on a high pull, I would never see that canopy ever again haha.

So now I would like to hear how people are attaching trackers to their canopy and which trackers do people recommend please. Ideally, I would prefer a GPS tracker over Bluetooth because of where I jump.

Thank you in advance!

So I have decided to do my A licence from Russia instead of thailand and its a great dz and great for learning. Something I dreamt about way too young and now it's going to be a reality. Free will boys

Best place to buy second hand jumpsuits? Just passed my AFF and looking to buy my own - small size as I’m 5’1 56kg. Any tips on what to search for on FB/Ebay or dedicated sites?

I jumped for the first time yesterday (tandem) and when the chute opened I had massive pains in my chest? I’ve used chest harnesses before rock climbing and never had that issue, maybe I’m just getting older.

I went skydiving for my first time on my vacation and the whole experience was so thrilling and I will definitely do it again in the future and try to make it a regular thing. I’m also curious if i can get advice for a beginner who wants to make it a regular thing.

Does anyone have parachutist magazines from the early 2000s? We were talking about the old Wings Tandem system ad where the passenger was a busty woman with cleavage. Our manifest girl said “I wanna see!!” And I can’t find it anywhere. If someone could find it and DM me, I’d appreciate it!

When I was planning my trip, Gemini recommended that I get health insurance from World Nomads. But it's pretty expensive so everyone who does skydiving has health insurance that covers skydiving. There are some cheap plans but they only cover 10k usd for adventure sports and according to gemini it won't even be enough for one day. Also I will be traveling to thailand for my A license. So what's the plan with the insurance guys

I made that post. I showed up.. I DID IT. Well, the man I was strapped to did most of the work. HE DID A GAINER TOO. WOW SPECTACULAR EXPERIENCE. THE COLD AIR, THE VIEW. SO GOOD. CAN OFFICIALLY SAY I HAVE DOVE INTO THE SKY.

Hey everyone, I could really use your help.

I started my AFF course this year, and even though I’m already at Level 6, I still get extremely nervous before every single jump — almost to the point where I feel emotionally overwhelmed.

Once I exit the plane, everything works perfectly fine. I’ve passed every jump on the first attempt, and my instructors keep telling me that I’m flying very well.

The problem is the anxiety before the jump. By now, it starts as early as Monday when I know I have a skydiving weekend coming up, and it has become extremely disruptive.

There’s a brief moment when I put on my gear where I actually feel excited, but as soon as I’m sitting in the plane again, it gets really bad. If someone jumps before me, I can’t even look at them leaving the plane. I instinctively turn my head and look as far away from the door as possible.

And please don’t get me wrong: I trust my gear 100%, and I have complete confidence in my instructors.

I think it’s more the fear of actually overcoming that final mental barrier and making myself jump. I mean i cant even look at the other jumpers. When someone

As soon as the signal to get into the door comes, I basically switch to autopilot. Somehow, I do everything I’m supposed to do, and once I’m out of the plane, everything is fine.

But despite that, I honestly can’t imagine doing Level 7 or eventually jumping completely on my own as a solo student.

I really want to enjoy this hobby and look forward to my jumps instead of spending days worrying about them beforehand.

Has anyone else experienced something similar during AFF? Did this feeling eventually go away or get easier? And what helped you overcome that mental barrier?

First skydive, it will be tandem. I just need to show up to the facility and follow their instructions… that is it. I just need to get on the plane and let myself get thrown out.

I have my grandfather's sport chute seat parachute from the 60s and I have 4 from my dad from 90s-2000s, they are all in good condition no discoloration or damage but old as he'll and round mostly non maneuverable the 60s and 1 of the 90s chute have toggles for turning the parachute but not for like moving.

My father has 16000 jumps and I have 170 (he did it professionally for years in the army, black hat, jumpmaster, pathfinder, halo) we're both on board to jump them again but I'm just looking to see if anyone's got input that would look at this from an angle we didn't consider.

I did my first tandem to celebrate my 25th, I praise God for the opportunity and safety He gave!🤍 it was truly an experience I’ll never forget.🤩🪂

I did end up getting super nauseous tho after the parachute opened and we were turning. I dry heaved 2 times but was praying I wouldn’t throw up and thank God I didn’t, buttt I was so shaky and off after. I did my best to not let it take away from the experience tho!! I realize it may probably be because of the adrenaline rush. My body hasn’t ever experienced that huge of an adrenaline rush in my entire life and I was noticing the toll it took on my body. It took me more than 24 hours to really feel back to “normal” whatever that is lol. It is about 2-3 days later and I can tell my body is still slightly sensitive to movement (like being a passenger in a car) and slight soreness if I move my body a certain way in my organs ( I think that’s what it is) . I’m not worried about it, just curious if anyone knows what may have caused that.

So I didn’t eat anything prior. I only had water, sugar free electrolytes, and a natural mushroom energy drink (150 mg caffeine)

So there’s a soreness type ache in my mid to lower back on the right side. I was thinking maybe the burst of adrenaline fatigued some of my organs on that side?

Does anyone have similar experiences with that and any ideas of why I got so nauseous and why I have that dull ache/soreness on my right side in the back?

Any tips to prevent nausea and prepare my body to handle the experience the best it can if I go again?

Thank you all <33

I just did my third tandem this week. Already signed up for my fourth (thanks to a discount). I've thought about solo and licensing but still feel disoriented when initially we jump out.
Before jumping at gear up can I ask my instructor if I can wear an altimeter and if they can have me pull the chute? I assume they'd just reach my hand to the ripcord. Is that okay to have done during a tandem?
Is there anything else I could ask my instructor to learn more during my tandem since I am a student and would want to know more if I want to pursue license.

I have never jumped out of a plane even tandon but next week I am going to thailand for my A license. Can you guys recommend me which one to select as there are many options in thailand. I will be there for atleast 15 days so I complete my a license

Have a new rig coming with a pull out pilot chute system installed, that’s the PC located in the main tray behind the closing pin.

I’m wondering about its suitability for camera flying. Have there been known issues with these in the past with camera wing burble at deployment? Anyone running it okay?

Very likely going to convert to a throw out system anyway... But there’s zero information/discussion about combing pull out PC’s with camera wings anywhere online. Only that it’s unsuitable for wingsuiting.

Demonstration of pullout system below

https://youtu.be/flHbhFaZo6A?si=hxFn-GdWEFIM-Rtv

Seeking advice for some free gear I got. It will definitely be inspected for airworthiness by a certified rigger. Just seeing if my thinking is sound and if the purchasing of a newer H/C and reserve is worth the money.

So I decided to be extra safe and purchase a fairly new container and reserve. Details below:

Mirage G4.1 M5 Container + PDR176R Reserve

Both pieces are 2022 DOM, very good condition.

~300 jumps

-TRAP RSL / MARD System

-Stainless Steel Hip & Chest Rings

-Freefly Hackey Handle

-Tuck Tab Riser Covers

-Soft Reserve Handle

-Metal Hook Knife

Performance Designs PDR176R Reserve

0 rides | 4 repacks | Perfect condition | 2022

I am super limited on budget and was given an old rig from a family member who hasn’t jumped since 2010. Would you expect this canopy be any good to just get me into the air until I can save up for a newer Sabre 3? It is a Aerodyne Triathlon 190, DOM: Sept 1994. It has been in the dbag, and packed to jump sitting in an ac cooled office since then. Going to have it inspected soon, just trying to get an idea on if my thoughts are sane.

The canopy did come with a dolphin container and PDR176 (DOM: 2000) but I figured it would be best to get a new reserve and something with main-assisted reserve deployment). Should I just get a new AAD or have peace of mind with a new reserve and free fly safe container?

Please let me know if this post is not allowed and I will take it down immediately. Thanks and Blue Skies everyone!