After a relatively stable exit, this student slowly goes into a spin (side note: we're pretty sure this was a coach jump because at no point do we see the coach attempt to touch the student. For those who aren't aware, coaches aren't supposed to touch students) . While it's hard to see the coaches hands, it doesn't appear that they gave any hand signals. The student's spin gradually builds up speed until, by the time they deploy, the student is spinning like a newly released vinyl of Metallica's "Black" album.
We're going back to Skydiving 101 on this write-up and reviewing stuff that many of you probably haven't talked about since ground school. When you're learning to do your controlled turns during AFF, you do so by intentionally dropping an arm or a leg to deflect the air and turn in one direction or another. This student was, effectively, doing the same thing... but unintentionally. His legs weren't even so he started a turn that just never stopped!
The jumper filming, who we are again assuming is a coach, didn't really give the student much instruction. We see them give a "legs out" signal at one point, but that's pretty much it. While there's a good chance that the student would have missed any hand signals, the lack of feedback brings up questions regarding whether the coach was properly trained on what to do in this situation. (Also, it was pointed out that the "legs out" signal was a bit questionable - this jumper would have probably been better off had they been told to arch and bring their feet in, or been told to tap their feet together.)
This student may have been a super star on all his previous jumps, and this may have just been the jump where he blanked on what do do. However, his apparent inability to counter a turn with input on the opposite side raises eyebrows. One AFF-I who who reviewed this video noted that the student should probably have not been cleared to start doing coached jumps.
This brings up a point regarding the duty of AFF-I's and S&TA's to be honest about whether students are ready to be cleared for the next level of jump. It may be tempting to pass students who are on the border of passable, but folks in positions of authority have a responsibility to make sure jumpers are not allowed to move on to the next level until they're truly ready.
When this jumpers turns and gives us a side profile, there's enough room between his rig and his back to park a Skyvan. This issue comes up almost every time we see a student in a Friday Freakout video (which is rare); "Student gear is usually one-size-fits-none." We know it's difficult to find gear that will fit students perfectly but we felt that it should be pointed out that this gear was not ideal for this jumper.
After a relatively stable exit, this student slowly goes into a spin (side note: we're pretty sure this was a coach jump because at no point do we see the coach attempt to touch the student. For those who aren't aware, coaches aren't supposed to touch students) . While it's hard to see the coaches hands, it doesn't appear that they gave any hand signals. The student's spin gradually builds up speed until, by the time they deploy, the student is spinning like a newly released vinyl of Metallica's "Black" album.
We're going back to Skydiving 101 on this write-up and reviewing stuff that many of you probably haven't talked about since ground school. When you're learning to do your controlled turns during AFF, you do so by intentionally dropping an arm or a leg to deflect the air and turn in one direction or another. This student was, effectively, doing the same thing... but unintentionally. His legs weren't even so he started a turn that just never stopped!
The jumper filming, who we are again assuming is a coach, didn't really give the student much instruction. We see them give a "legs out" signal at one point, but that's pretty much it. While there's a good chance that the student would have missed any hand signals, the lack of feedback brings up questions regarding whether the coach was properly trained on what to do in this situation. (Also, it was pointed out that the "legs out" signal was a bit questionable - this jumper would have probably been better off had they been told to arch and bring their feet in, or been told to tap their feet together.)
This student may have been a super star on all his previous jumps, and this may have just been the jump where he blanked on what do do. However, his apparent inability to counter a turn with input on the opposite side raises eyebrows. One AFF-I who who reviewed this video noted that the student should probably have not been cleared to start doing coached jumps.
This brings up a point regarding the duty of AFF-I's and S&TA's to be honest about whether students are ready to be cleared for the next level of jump. It may be tempting to pass students who are on the border of passable, but folks in positions of authority have a responsibility to make sure jumpers are not allowed to move on to the next level until they're truly ready.
When this jumpers turns and gives us a side profile, there's enough room between his rig and his back to park a Skyvan. This issue comes up almost every time we see a student in a Friday Freakout video (which is rare); "Student gear is usually one-size-fits-none." We know it's difficult to find gear that will fit students perfectly but we felt that it should be pointed out that this gear was not ideal for this jumper.
