Originally posted by B@tfinkV
...we both hope to get into freefalling as a hobby, if you had any hints for rookies looking to become part of this lifestyle..?
My best advice if you really want to skydive is: don't wait. It can be hard for the body and certainly at the beginning (rough landings, spanking openings,...) so it's better to start reasonably young, and fuel prices aren't likely to go down so jump tickets won't neither. Go for it NOW.
If you want to base jump, most agree that 500 skydives are needed. I can't help you much as I don't BASE but my guesstimate is that for even thinking about doing the kind of jumps that you've seen in the vids, 100-200 'regular' BASE jumps, 500 wingsuit skydives and 500 wingsuit BASE jumps are a bare minimum.
That being said, you'll see that BASE will look much less cool and much more serious than it seems when you've got a couple dozens skydives behind you.
If you're sure that you want to go through the training, skip the tandem and spare the money. Go directly to the AFF formation (although some AFF courses have 'working' tandem jumps for level 1 and 2).
Anyway, sign up (free) on
http://www.dropzone.com and you'll find a lot of info about freefall and canopy piloting... some of it pretty sobering. Try not to over-educate yourself before actually skydiving though, or your first jump will look much more complicated and frightening than it really is.
Finally, skydiving is not cheap (understatement of the year...) but even with limited funds, if you're dedicated about it, there are numerous ways to earn money/jump tickets at a DZ: packing for others, working at the manifest, cleaning the hall, washing the planes... Be ready to be frowned upon by every bank and to lose all your non-skydiving friends...
Blue Skies to your brother and you, and I'm looking forward to reading your first 'No **** there I was...' story here
