Soo..while everyone else was out playing at the Bash...
- Thread starter skydivr
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RedBusarider
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skydivr can correct me if I'm wrong - but I don't think you would need a kick out of the plane.
If you got in the plane of your own accord you would get out without help.
I have a few jumps and I have talked to instructors and they said that they NEVER had a first time jumper
refuse to leave the plane. Don't know if it was a bet with someone on the ground or a personal thing they
had to do or what. But they never had someone fail to leave on the first jump.
NOW with that said they did have people chicken out on a second or third attempt but not on the first.
On my first jump I was the first person in the plane which meant I would be the last (student) out.
I had only been in a plane one or two times before this in my life and that was a while ago.
I remember as the plane was running down the runway for take off I thought to myself "What in the hell am I doing here"
We climbed to 3000 AGL and when they opened the door something came over me and at that moment I wanted to be the first one
to jump and could hardly wait until it was my turn. When my turn came and I stepped out on the step and got ready
as soon as the instructor said "GO" - I was gone. There is nothing else like it.
The next year I became a pilot.....
Great posting skydivr. You are a lucky man that your family is involved like they are.
Hope nothing but the best for you and you crew.
Congrats on the records
MelodicMetalGod
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Congrats and well done!
IG.
Registered
Holly Cow! No kidding about your screen name. Great pictures/videos, and what's more important great looking family, and the best part... "Love is in the air". Very cool!
Those things that one day I think I will do... I want to fly an airplane, I want to jump with a parachute, and I want to fly in a wing suit, and then I want to fly in a wing suit close to the ground. One day. ...When I convince my wife, who says she has enough to worry about when I am out riding, and who doesn't even want to know how fast.
Now, come to think about it, IIRC flying in the air one reaches only 120 mph or so... You guys are pretty slow, eh?
One day...
I got a few questions.
What's the speed of the airplane?
How hard is to stand on the side of it?
How do you guys synchronize the dive, by helmet radio?
How high are you when jumping?
How difficult is it to move around in the horizontal plane?
How fast is the fall when one is flat on their stomach, and how fast when one's head is down and legs are up?
And, I've never seen anyone diving with their feet down - why?
How close to the ground you have to open the parachute?
At what speed are you hitting the ground, and how bad is it for your feet which must be full of blood without any pressure on them during flight?
Have you ever tried wind suit flying?
Sorry, more than a few questions.
Those things that one day I think I will do... I want to fly an airplane, I want to jump with a parachute, and I want to fly in a wing suit, and then I want to fly in a wing suit close to the ground. One day. ...When I convince my wife, who says she has enough to worry about when I am out riding, and who doesn't even want to know how fast.
Now, come to think about it, IIRC flying in the air one reaches only 120 mph or so... You guys are pretty slow, eh?
One day...
I got a few questions.
What's the speed of the airplane?
How hard is to stand on the side of it?
How do you guys synchronize the dive, by helmet radio?
How high are you when jumping?
How difficult is it to move around in the horizontal plane?
How fast is the fall when one is flat on their stomach, and how fast when one's head is down and legs are up?
And, I've never seen anyone diving with their feet down - why?
How close to the ground you have to open the parachute?
At what speed are you hitting the ground, and how bad is it for your feet which must be full of blood without any pressure on them during flight?
Have you ever tried wind suit flying?
Sorry, more than a few questions.
Holly Cow! No kidding about your screen name. Great pictures/videos, and what's more important great looking family, and the best part... "Love is in the air". Very cool!
Those things that one day I think I will do... I want to fly an airplane, I want to jump with a parachute, and I want to fly in a wing suit, and then I want to fly in a wing suit close to the ground. One day. ...When I convince my wife, who says she has enough to worry about when I am out riding, and who doesn't even want to know how fast.
Now, come to think about it, IIRC flying in the air one reaches only 120 mph or so... You guys are pretty slow, eh?
One day...
I got a few questions.
What's the speed of the airplane?
How hard is to stand on the side of it?
How do you guys synchronize the dive, by helmet radio?
How high are you when jumping?
How difficult is it to move around in the horizontal plane?
How fast is the fall when one is flat on their stomach, and how fast when one's head is down and legs are up?
And, I've never seen anyone diving with their feet down - why?
How close to the ground you have to open the parachute?
At what speed are you hitting the ground, and how bad is it for your feet which must be full of blood without any pressure on them during flight?
Have you ever tried wind suit flying?
Sorry, more than a few questions.
Whoa cowboy, one step at a time! Your lofty goals include some serious time, money and training!
To answer your questions:
What's the speed of the airplane?
Depends on the Aircraft, it's weight/balance/load and STALL SPEED. Typically, the pilot slows way down, throws out his flaps and tries to keep the nose down as we are all effecting weight/balance as we move to the tail, float and exit.
How hard is to stand on the side of it?
The front floater is taking most all the wind. If the pilot slows down, it's not too bad, but if he stays powered up it's nearly impossible. Having something upwind for the front floater to hold onto (rail, etc. makes a big difference).
How do you guys synchronize the dive, by helmet radio?
No radios (although some of the world record attempts have tried to include air-air among the plane Captains). We practice on the ground, called a 'dirt dive', were everyone stands on the ground and walks thru the entire dive, looking at traffic, jumpsuit/gear colors, and visualizing/talking thru the plan.
How high are you when jumping?
Aviation regulations require oxygen over 15K above SEA LEVEL (subtract and you get your AGL - ground level - max). Having said that, around here our normal exit altitude is about 14.5K. I have, on occassions, been higher without oxygen (once went to 18K without it, and started to hyperventilate). Been to 21k with oxygen (breath thru a cannuleur until about 30 seconds before exit).
How difficult is it to move around in the horizontal plane?
The tricky part is fall rate. To move horizontally, you are trading vertical movement for horizontal, by spilling air changing your body position. As long as you can maintain the fall rate comfortably, you've got something to work with, and it's not too bad. When I first started skydiving though, I had a hard time just staying on my stomach, and they first guy that flew up to me and grabbed me 20 years ago totally impressed me (still know the guy). Now, like a cat, I don't really think about it (muscle memory). Flying thru the air is NOT in the human DNA; it's totally a LEARNED behavior.
How fast is the fall when one is flat on their stomach, and how fast when one's head is down and legs are up?
Normal fall rate on your belly is about 110mph; head down is more like 160. Remember, you've got to SLOW BACK DOWN at deployment altitude or it's really gonna HURT when that parachute comes out. EVERYBODY gets back on their belly to deploy, unless they are just fools
And, I've never seen anyone diving with their feet down - why?
Because it's nearly impossible to hold that position long. At skydiving speeds, think of air as a fluid (fluid dynamics); your body and it's position is the 'rudder' in that fluid...people can stand up, but not usually for long, because anything they stick out is going to effect their position.
How close to the ground you have to open the parachute?
The smartazz answer is "until you hit it"; i.e., never give up. Having said that, recommended minimum container opening altitude for experienced skydivers is now 2500 ft AGL (used to be 2000 but they moved it up); I normally pull around 2500 so that my parachute is open by 2000 or so. Some parachutes open faster (by design and how you pack it) than others (for comfort); Reserves are made to open FAST (painful) - Emergency automatic Reserve openers (called an AAD) function around 750ft. Under that, it starts to get unlikely the parachute can deploy before impact.
At what speed are you hitting the ground, and how bad is it for your feet which must be full of blood without any pressure on them during flight?
Once a parachute opens, it's a WING, like an airplane. It has forward movement which slows down the vertical descent rate, and you "flare' them at landing kinda like an autorotation for a helicopter, it's basically a one shot deal. If you "flare' it correctly, facing into the wind, I can land soft as a feather. If there is no wind, or a hot day (less lift), it can be more 'exciting', usually involving a runoff. Or you can slide in if you want. Lastly, all skydivers are trained to perform a PLF (parachute landing fall) just like the military, but the last PLF I did was at Airborne school. Military round parachutes fall DOWN; square parachutes LAND like an airplane. Feet don't hurt, I'm sitting in that harness...
Have you ever tried wind suit flying?
I've done it a few times, didn't like it. Unless you have some reference to fly near (clouds, mountainsides, etc.) I was just boreing a big hold in the sky. And, at opening those wingsuits carry additonal danger (you can't really move around to grab your deployment system very easily, and if you have a malfunction, you've got to work your way out of the suit enough to move around to take action). Those guys doing that close-proximity flying have THOUSANDS of jumps in a wingsuit before they EVER got on a mountaintop. What they dont' show you is the guys that misjudge their 'outs' and get caught too low and hit something (endgame).
Having said all this: If I can learn to do it, ANYBODY can. When I started, I could hardly stay stable on my stomach. Then, I had a spin issue that took me a while to correct. Persistence is what got me past that. I'd recommend you make a tandem, and if you like it, sign up for further training. I love my motorcycles, but I'd sell them all in a heartbeat if I had to make a choice between riding and skydiving.
IG.
Registered
Wow! Thanks so much for the very detailed answers! Better than riding, ha? I hope there is a point in my life when I will be able to try this...
Let me ask you a completely silly question. If a person jumps from an airplane with a large umbrella, and assuming the umbrella would not fold/break, and assuming a person has enough composure/strength to hold on to the umbrella, how fast the descent would be, and what possible injuries such person may sustain on ground landing or water landing? And no, I am not planning to do that, but have always been curious if let's say an airplane is going down and your only choices are to sit and wait till it hits the ground, or to take a chance with an umbrella.
Let me ask you a completely silly question. If a person jumps from an airplane with a large umbrella, and assuming the umbrella would not fold/break, and assuming a person has enough composure/strength to hold on to the umbrella, how fast the descent would be, and what possible injuries such person may sustain on ground landing or water landing? And no, I am not planning to do that, but have always been curious if let's say an airplane is going down and your only choices are to sit and wait till it hits the ground, or to take a chance with an umbrella.
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