Above: Photo by Alex Swindle.
Everyone remembers the excitement at the beginning of their skydiving journey. And now that you are much further along, there are ways to help new jumpers integrate into the sport. It helps keep that excitement alive and is also a rewarding way to give back to the skydiving community.
When jumping with inexperienced skydivers, there are some things that should be noted. You can’t expect the level of skill and situational awareness that you can from many experienced jumpers. For example, their tracking may not be as efficient as someone with a few hundred jumps. They might not be as aware under canopy or as familiar with the areas surrounding the drop zone.
Here are some extra precautions to take when jumping with newly licensed skydivers. These will help make the experience a great one while also keeping safety the top priority.
Know who you’re jumping with.
The first step to planning a skydive is knowing who is on the jump and what their capabilities are. Ask about experience and which skills they’re working on. You need to know if they can safely get to a group and track away at the end, or if they have a habit of sinking out or floating off and not making it. If there are two new jumpers who are still working on getting to the base, a larger group skydive might not be the answer. With one jumper who can’t get there, everyone else can fly to them, but two or more can get dangerous quickly.
If a linked exit falls apart or a formation breaks up, all participants on a group jump need to be able to get back together. If needed, brand-new jumpers can split up into different smaller groups to work on those skills. Finding a coach, if possible, is a huge help when cultivating the abilities that make larger-group jumps safe.. And explain kindly that this is part of the normal learning progression, and that you can’t wait to get them on bigger jumps once they have it dialed in.
Plan around the least-experienced jumper.
Does your new jumper need to be in the base? Are they working on an approach so that others can set the base and let them practice? Think about pushing their skill set one step at a time without asking something of them that they might not be ready for.
Photo by Mark Kirschenbaum/Hypoxic.
Determine the goal and set expectations.
It’s important to determine the goal of the jump and keep to it. Are we teaching someone a new skill or trying to get as many points as possible? Those two skydives will look very different, so defining a goal beforehand is helpful to the group. If someone is trying something for the first time, the hype is real, but so is the chance of it not working. Expectations keep us all on the same page. It’s a bummer to attempt to teach someone a new skill only to have the rest of the group call it a “s**t show” upon landing, just because a dock was slow or only one point came together. It’s a bad attitude to present to new jumpers and makes them feel guilty for going through the same progression every skydiver goes through. This creates a fear-based mentality, and good decisions are not made out of fear.
Keep the groups small.
When jumping with a new skydiver for the first time, start with two- to four-ways and see how they perform. Smaller groups mean fewer moving parts and fewer things that can go wrong. If a large group wants to jump together, but isn’t quite ready, split into two (or three) smaller ones. One fun way to do this is to have each group do the same skydive and compete against each other. This keeps everyone involved and learning from each other, and is a much safer option. Compare notes and videos at the end and debrief together. This keeps the learning environment constructive—for new and experienced skydivers alike.
Pick a designated spotter.
Lead by example and get everyone home. Or, if you aren’t going to be near the door to spot, choose someone you trust. They should have plenty of experience jumping at that drop zone and an advanced understanding of winds aloft, freefall drift and exit points. If there is nobody particularly qualified, do it yourself or use it as an opportunity to teach someone new. Be sure to give clear directions, such as “The winds are high, so we need to get out past the DZ over the cornfield.” Landmarks make great references. Show them maps on the ground if needed.
Photo by Kristian Caulder.
Keep the camera flyer in the loop.
If you have outside video on your jump, especially if it’s someone working on their camera-flying skills, determine if they will pull in place or break off with the group. Outside video should not just keep falling while others break off—a new jumper in the formation could have a lazy track. A videographer in the wrong place is an easy way to set a baby bird up for a preventable canopy collision. Please, don’t do that.
An experienced camera flyer will have a plan for the exit, freefall and breakoff after being briefed on the dive flow, and will communicate it to you clearly. And if they don’t have that plan, give them one to follow.
Plan a detailed breakoff as needed.
Some jumps have more moving parts than others, but it’s still important to get away from each other before deployment. If we’re in a round, we can simply turn away and go in our respective pie pieces. But what if the shape isn’t as straightforward, or parts are moving around? New jumpers may have a harder time keeping track.
Plan for each point the group might find itself in at breakoff altitude. Tracking away from an open accordion, for example, is different than a round. If you’re doing something dynamic, there may be a buffer needed to get together. It’s important to be together and on-level for a safe breakoff, so that everyone has eyes on everyone and can track off and pull in clean airspace. This is especially important for jumpers who are still dialing in their situational awareness in the sky. If the jump includes burble-hops or fly-arounds, for example, it makes sense to stop that dynamic flight 1,000 feet before breakoff, adding the step of getting back together before everyone turns to track.
Breakoff should occur 1,500 feet higher than the highest-deploying parachute in the group. So, if a new jumper wants to pull at 4,500 feet, break off at 6,000. Don’t take new skydivers to the basement. Nobody should be down there, but especially someone who is still learning to make good decisions under pressure. And if you are that new jumper who needs more time, don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself. Ask to break higher, or jump onto a different skydive that’s planning to break higher. It’s only natural that new jumpers need extra time to find the DZ, analyze their canopies, address malfunctions, look for traffic, fly home after accidentally flying away from home, get a level for landing, plan a new landing pattern if the winds have shifted, and on and on.
Photo by Luciano Bacque.
Remind new jumpers who is responsible.
At the end of the day, each jumper—regardless of experience level—is responsible for their own safety. If they want to exist and grow in the sport, it’s important to learn and pay attention as they see new scenarios in the sky, in the landing pattern and around the drop zone. Remind them they are allowed to ask questions. Encourage them to ask those questions—even if something might seem dumb, dangerous or different.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As long as everyone lands safely back at home, the rest of the skydive—the good and the bad—is positive experience that can be learned from. And when you jump with a new skydiver, you put your experience and skill back into the sport, which benefits everyone. So, thank you for making a huge difference in their lives and in the sport. And thank you for keeping them safe.
About the Author
Julianna Grau, D-40369, has been skydiving for four and a half years and calls Texas Skydiving in Lexington her home. She has over 1,700 jumps and two Texas state records, and holds medals in formation skydiving, accuracy landing and wingsuit performance. She is a seasoned belly coach, load organizer and AFF instructor whose passion is teaching the fundamentals of skydiving to new jumpers and watching them grow over time.