P A R A C H U T I N G ' S N E W S M A G A Z I N E.
Ask the Editor
Batch 1
Where Can I Find a Place to
Jump?
Females & Skydiving
Life Insurance for
Skydivers
USPA Licenses and Foreign Visitors
Modern Training Methods
Overview of the Accelerated
Freefall Training Method
AFF vs AFP Training Methods
What About Helmets?
Where Can I Find Dealers
& Wholesalers?
Builder of Vertical Wind Tunnels
Source of "AFF Clock"
Sources of Soft Links
Source of "Car
Diving" Photos
The following questions were submitted by visitors to our Web site and answered by the editor of Skydiving magazine.
To ask a question of your own, click here.
Where Can I Find a Place to Jump?
Q. Where can I find a list of places that provide first-time instruction, as well as services (i.e., plane, chute rental etc.), in northern New Jersey?
A. There are several parachute centers in your part of the world. Check the Yellow Pages of your phone book, under Skydiving or Parachuting, or check our links of display advertisers at our Web site: www.skydivingmagazine.com/advertis.htm.
Q. How do females fare at this sport? And does age--say in the 50s range--have a say in grasping the techniques?
A. Basic skydiving isn't particularly rigorous or demanding, either mentally or physically. Like any sport, however, it helps to be young, physically fit, and alert. If you have a real interest in jumping, then do it. You'll feel better if you try it and don't like it than if you don't try at all.
Q. I'm thinking of diving for the first time next month. This would be a tandem jump, I understand, with an experienced instructor. I have one concern. While I know the chances of anything going dreadfully wrong are slim indeed, I still have a daughter in college. And, well, that weighs on me. My life insurance does not cover such a problem. Is insurance available?
A. Yes, insurance is available. Check with several good agents, or contact Blue Skies Association, telephone (888) 999-5449. The organization has a variety of insurance options to cover risky sports like skydiving.
USPA Licenses and Foreign Visitors
Q. I am a foreign skydiver from Mexico City. I have 139 skydives. How can I get a USPA license to skydive in the USA? I'll be there for two years, and I'd like to keep skydiving. I also need to buy a rig. It has to be used, so the cost is not too much.
A. Getting a USPA license is easy. One has to be a member of USPA and meet basic proficiency requirements. Membership costs about $40 a year, and a new license costs $25. Application forms are available at most U.S. drop zones.
But you don't need a USPA license to jump in the US. You will need a logbook that shows your training and experience; DZs almost always review a visiting jumper's logbook before allowing him to jump. Once you get to the US, visit a nearby DZ and take your logbook. Most DZs also rent equipment.
Buying used gear is pretty easy; check with local DZs, gear dealers or our classified ads. They're posted on-line at www.skydivingmagazine.com/classfds.htm
Q. My wife and I are thinking about taking a tandem course to enter the world of skydiving. Do you think this is a good way to learn the sport? I am athletic and an expert snow skier. Being 51 years old, am I too old to begin skydiving at this point in my life? I did one static line jump when I was 21. My instructor, Harry Rooks at Nashville Skydiving, says I will be amazed at how much the sport has changed in 30 years. Would you agree?
A. Yes, the sport's equipment has changed considerably since the late 1960s. Today's gear is safer and more comfortable, and the sport isn't as hard on one's body as it once was.
Tandem jumps are a good way to experience modern skydiving. The prejump training is often minimal--sometimes just a quick briefing--because the student is essentially just along for the ride.
After that first jump, students at some DZs continue to make a series of tandem jumps. But these jumps include more training, and the student is given tasks to perform in freefall (actually, drogue-fall) and under canopy. At some point, the student is cleared to make solo jumps or jumps with a freefall jumpmaster.
Unfortunately, tandem jumps is that can be overwhelming to first- timers. An analogy would be taking a student pilot on his first airplane ride and subjecting him to aerobatics or complex navigation. He's likely to walk away from the flight thinking flying is too complicated and too fast for him. It's better to spoon-feed students, taking them along slowly at their own pace. Also, students usually do better if their first jump is preceded by several hours of training. The training not only teaches them what to do, it allows them to get mentally prepared for stepping out of and aircraft in flight.
The actual training method--tandem, static line, accelerated freefall, or something else--is probably less important than the teaching skills of the instructors and jumpmasters. It also helps to have a mentor of some sort, a jumper who remembers what it was like to be a student.
Overview of the Accelerated Freefall Training Method
Q. I'll be making my first jump in a month or so. In the AFF program there are seven levels. Could you describe each to me? I assume that with each level more technique and instruction is involved. I also assume this is related to student graduation, but I'm just not able to find any information on it yet.
A. As you mentioned, AFF has seven levels. Each requires a bit more of the student than the last as far as aerial skills go. The idea is that the student progresses to the next level when he/she has mastered those of the previous one. It takes the average student about 10 jumps to graduate from AFF; repeating a level or two is common.
The book "Skydiving in 8 Days" by Miles Clark does an excellent job of explaining AFF from the student's viewpoint. It was written by a journalist who enrolled in and graduated from an AFF course. It's good because it's detailed while taking the time to explain terms and procedures. It's available from many gear dealers as well as mass-market outlets, including amazon.com.
Q. Is there a big difference between AFP and AFF forms of learning to skydive? Which do you recommend?
A. AFF was developed about 15 years ago and eventually adopted by the U.S. Parachute Association as one of several teaching methods it recognizes. The syllabus is standard worldwide, and thousands of jumpmasters know how to teach it.
AFP was developed by Roger Nelson and his staff at Skydive Chicago. The syllabus (the last we saw it, anyway) is more detailed and more flexible than AFF. It has many more defined levels of competence than AFF, and it takes more jumps to graduate. AFP also accommodates jumpers who have made tandem and static-line jumps, while AFF is a rigid syllabus that doesn't dovetail very well with other training methods.
What would we recommend? We like AFP because it allows the student to learn at his own pace; the AFF levels are more demanding and thus easier to fail. The fact that AFP has more levels and requires more jumps is good; the more jumps a new skydiver spends under an instructor's supervision, the better. A DZ isn't doing him any good to kick him out of the nest as soon as possible.
The actual training method--AFF, AFP, static-line, or whatever--is less important than the teaching ability of the instructor/jumpmaster and the attitude of DZ management. The quality of a student program is determined by the personnel who run it, not by the teaching method it uses.
Q. As a new skydiver, I'm trying to figure out what gear works best for me. Do you have any recommendations on helmets? What is the benefit of a frap hat over a hard helmet?
A. Full-face hard helmets have several benefits. They help protect the face from the feet, elbows and knees that skydivers occasionally encounter on exit or in freefall. They're warmer than a leather hat, and shield one's face from rain. Hard hats almost certainly provide some impact protection from a hard landing, although helmets don't meet any safety standards, nor do their manufacturers claim any sort of protection. (Leather "frap hats" -- a descendant of French bicycling hats -- essentially provide no impact protection.) Helmets provide hearing protection, but so does a frap hat and so do ear plugs. They're also easier than goggles and a hat to slip on right before exit. Some people think they look cool. Those are the benefits of hard hats.
Here are other considerations: Helmets are expensive. The price ranges from $160-$320, depending on the make, model and options. To replace a face shield, you'll pay around $20. That's double the price of many goggles, but jumpers report they last longer than goggles. Many of the designs need work. Face shields have unexpectedly popped open and blown out in freefall--but goggles sometimes blow off, too. Different models and brands fit different people differently. Like shoes, you need to try a hat before buying it. Although vision is good from most of them, they still take some getting use to. It's not a tunnel-vision thing, but at first you'll notice the edges of the face shield opening at the edges of your field of view, and that's distracting. Your hearing is a bit muffled, too, which could create problems under canopy. A helmet takes more room in a gear bag than a soft hat and goggles. It makes sense to have a separate case for the helmet, to protect its finish and the face shield. The face shields require extra care to prevent scratches and other damage. Goggles, perhaps because they sit closer to the eye, are less distracting when they're dirty than the face shield. (You can, of course, wear a hard hat with goggles and no face shield.)
Having said all that, what would I do if I were going to buy skydiving head gear? Buy a hard hat, but try plenty of them before plunking down the credit card.
Where Can I Find Dealers & Wholesalers?
Q. I own a military surplus business in North Carolina. Though we sell primarily new and used military items, I have recently branched out into mountain climbing gear and am contemplating doing the same with skydiving. Would you be able to provide me with some sort of list of wholesalers in this field?
A. We don't have a comprehensive list of wholesalers. But the skydiving equipment industry is small enough that it hasn't stratified into distinct manufacturer-wholesaler-dealer-consumer levels. Many manufacturers deal direct with anyone and everyone. and many dealers have "sub dealers." In other words, contact anyone and everyone to see how they'll accommodate you. You might check the list of advertisers at our magazine's Web site. It includes many manufactures and dealers. The URL is www.skydivingmagazine.com/advertis.htm
Builder of Vertical Wind Tunnels
Q.I am looking for details of a recent advertiser who is looking to set up freefall simulators (vertical wind tunnels) around the world. It was in an issue earlier this year. Any ideas?
A. Contact: Sky Fun 1, 1833 Sunset Place, Longmont, CO 80501. The company recently opened a big wind tunnel in Orlando; it is the one that advertised in issue #202, May 1998. For a world-wide list of wind tunnels, go to http://www.skydivingmagazine.com/windtunl.htm
Q. Do you know where to get an "AFF clock"? It's the kind that goes backwards in the tempo of normal freefall and is used for training freefall students.
A. Try Al Grammando for this AFF clock. His address is Para-Training Enterprises, P.O. Box 568, Parlin, NJ 08859. The email address we have for him is aguspa@aol.com.
Q. A previous issue of Skydiving magazine described a new type of soft link that connects the main parachute to the risers. These particular soft links were reusable, rather than having to be destroyed each time they were removed. When did the article appear and who manufactures the soft links?
A.The soft links are made by Parachutes de France. The report on these links is in Issue #180, July 1996. Unfortunately, because of product-liability concerns, the company declines to sell them in the U.S. But they're available from many overseas dealers.
Parachutes de France address is 2 Rue Denis Papin, Jouy le Moutier, 95031 Cergy Pointoise Cedex, France. The company's Web site is www.Parachutes-de-France.com
Q. I'm a skydiver and journalist in Norway, desperately seeking material on "car diving" or similar trash-events that take place in Arizona. I saw an article on it in your magazine, with a really nice photo of a Honda being launched out of a Hercules. Unfortunately, I'm no longer in possession of the magazine. Do you know the source?
A.The "trash-dives" happened in Eloy, Ariz. Contact Skydive Arizona manager Tim Wagner at 4900 N. Taylor Road, Eloy, AZ 85231. Telephone number is 520-466-3753, email jump@skydiveaz.com. Photographer Joe Jennings probably took the photographs you saw.
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Copyright 1998. 04/02/99.