Exit and Freefall
Tracking is the most important skill to learn to be able to jump safely with other people. At the end of a skydive, jumpers must turn and track away from each other in order to achieve sufficient horizontal separation before deploying their canopy. Therefore, heading control (being able to track in a straight line) is of utmost concern when tracking.
Canopy
Braked turns:
can provide a heading change while losing the least amount of altitude
may be your best option if you need to:
avoid a canopy collision at a low altitude
avoid a person in the landing area
avoid an obstacle
turn whenever you may be too low to recover from a normal toggle (full-flight) turn
performed by getting into about half brakes and smoothly let up on the opposite toggle, of the direction you intend to turn, while keeping the parachute above you
Emergency Review
Power lines must be anticipated, since they can be difficult to see. Generally, they are found running alongside roads, going to houses/buildings, and are in the clear-cut portions of a forest.
If you are landing in power lines:
Try to land parallel to the lines and drop anything metal from your hands.
Touch no more than one wire at a time.
If suspended in the wires: the parachute can conduct electricity, so the power needs to be off before making contact with anyone or anything on the ground.
Equipment
You should be performing a full gear check prior to putting on your rig: top to bottom, back first, and then the front. Remember to include all of your personal accessories, using the acronym SHAGG: S (shoes), H (helmet), A (altimeter), G (goggles), G (gloves).
The “check of threes” (3-rings, 3 points of harness attachment, 3 operation handles) is a great tool to use when you are in the plane for your pre-jump check and you can always ask another jumper for a pin check (reserve pin, main pin, correct bridle routing, pilot chute indicator panel, deployment handle) for a more in-depth inspection of the back of your rig.
Spotting and Aircraft
Jumpers must always maintain correct weight distribution in the aircraft. Please do not crowd the door on jump run.
The winds aloft forecast can be used to help plan the ideal exit point. You should already be able to calculate the expected freefall drift during a jump, but keep in mind that after exiting the aircraft jumpers first get thrown forward on exit from residual aircraft speed (roughly 0.2 miles in calm winds and less with headwind) and then fall straight down or drift downwind.
In order to maintain a horizontal ground separation of approximately 1000 feet between groups you must know how long of a delay to give in between exiting groups. Slower-falling groups should exit before faster-falling groups if jump run is into the wind (and it usually is). Once your parachute has opened you should delay flying up or down the line of flight until the groups, before and after you, have opened their parachutes.