chaosreins 0 #26 March 13, 2008 Quote I jump out and arch as hard as I can but still end up facing down and it takes a few seconds to get the arch down, which then throws off the jump cause I barely have time to do what I need to do. i'm no expert but i do remember during my training, my aff instructor telling me (repeatedly Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SPAWNmaster 0 #27 March 14, 2008 Quote I often tell students who are a little too tense that a requirement for advancement is to smile at least once every jump. I make sure I am smiling from the door to opening and it really does help you relax so you can fly. Blue skies and enjoy the ride. Robin Kellam AFF-I 08 great advice! i recently did my recurrency jump (end of winter in the northeast is nearly around!) and forgot how great it felt when your coach/instructor is all smiles. its a subtle reminder to yourself that the sport is about being safe and having the time of your life on each and every jump. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbrown 26 #28 March 15, 2008 First of all, don't worry about it. Very few people nail their AFF without repeating at least some of the levels. Exiting an airplane is a very new and strange thing your body's doing and your mind hasn't got comfortable with it yet. It will eventually happen, but you have to stick with it. this is only the first of a number of "ugly ducking" phases you'll have to pass through, along with others like your landings, flying to and docking with other jumpers, sitflying, etc, etc. If anyone at all could do this the first time, what would be the point of it anyway ? One question though is whether or not you have a static line alternative. In the old days static line was the only way to learn, with five S/L jumps, including three "dummy" ripcord pulls (a ripcord handle with a bright orange ribbon tied on), before the student was turned loose to make a hop & pop on their sixth (or so) jump. From there, students gradually moved up to higher altitudes for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 second delays, learning their turns and backloops as they progressed. Students were turned loose after demonstrating full turns and backloops to an instructor on a 30 second delay (this was at a small Cessna dropzone, where 7500 ft was the norm and 10,500 ft was a special treat). I do know a friend who had a lot of trouble with AFF and then progressed marvelously after she switched over to a static line program, she now has a few hundred jumps and is "one of the gang". About the only shortcoming I see to static line is that you don't get immediate exposure to long terminal velocity freefalls. AFF is by far the norm for training students these days, but in a lot of people's opinions it has definite shortcomings compared to the old S/L approach. AFF can make a student "instructor dependent", whereas even an actual static line jump leaves the instructor in the plane and puts you out on your own. Also, the origianl 5000 ft deployment altitude of AFF makes too many new jumpers absolutely paranoid about going any lower in freefall, when you're really perfectly fine down to the legal 3 grand. S/L also teaches you to feel comfy with hop & pops, as that's what you start off with (you have NO idea how many students confess to feeling terrified about their first hop & pop after having made half a dozen or so AFF jumps). Static line may not be the answer for you, or sadly, even available. But it's worth considering and asking around about. And it's usually CHEAPER as well, meaning more jumps for your precious dollars. You may not get as much freefall time to start, but every jump you make is more learning and more practice, and better skills, even if the freefall is only 5 or 10 seconds. Check it out. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
georgerussia 0 #29 March 17, 2008 Quote I fly 6 days a week as a flight instructor and am a full time student so Sundays are my only free day, so the jumps have sadly been few and far between. Imagine a flight student telling you that he will probably never be a good pilot, because after three hours of flying he still cannot do 360 keeping altitude at +/-100ft and speed at +/-10knots. You'd probably tell him to: - take your time. Those skills are completely new for you, and you have to learn them. Sometime the plane reaction to the control input might not even seem reasonable to you - it's the same for everyone. - not worry about it. Nobody was ever able to do it after three hours anyway, and you're not expected to. What you do it practicing, so practice it. Your FAA exam is far ahead, and even when you pass it, you'll still suck in gusty winds crosswind landings for a while. It's all the same for skydiving. And everyone I know had to repeat the AFF level at least once (me included).* Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. * Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrismgtis 0 #30 March 19, 2008 Quote Any words of inspiration for a struggling student? Well, don't quit. If you're instructors thought you couldn't do it, they would tell you. I'm no instructor so I can't tell you how to adjust your plans technically on your skydive, but I'll tell you one thing that seemed to help me a lot. I really didn't want to think about the fact that I was going to be falling through the sky. So, I tried to trick my brain into believing that what I was doing was nothing out of the ordinary as if I was just stepping off the edge of a pool into the water. It's really hard to explain, but I really tricked my mind into thinking of it in a completely different way. By doing that, I took my mind off the things that really didn't matter like the fact that I was falling through the sky. Those things have no effect on the success and outcome of your skydive. If that is a concern to you, personally I always looked at it like, I'm here to do this and if I'm going to do it theres no point in worrying about the bad things. Then you can really concentrate on the important things like arching and relaxing so that you don't fight the air. To be honest when I first started I think I closed my eyes for the first two or three seconds once we stepped out of the plane and what I did was just breath in and picture myself arching and relaxing. Trying not to think about the scary part of what I was doing. The point is, if you want to do this, you can and there is nothing wrong with having trouble "getting it", and my suggestion is to find that "peace" that brings about a sort of relaxation and calm that allows you to really focus on what you were taught. We all learn at different speeds. Hell, I didn't even pull on my first AFF jump.Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033 Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #31 March 19, 2008 Quote...To be honest when I first started I think I closed my eyes for the first two or three seconds once we stepped out of the plane and what I did was just breath in and picture myself arching and relaxing. Trying not to think about the scary part of what I was doing. Not an AFFI. I might have a hard time telling an AFF student to close his eyes, I dunno, BUT...as a youngster, I was having trouble with diving exits and it was suggested to me that I do solos and concentrate on flying the relative wind by closing my eyes on exit and focusing on feeling the wind. Scary at first but it definitely got me over the hump almost immediately. Three jumps and I was solid.My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrismgtis 0 #32 March 19, 2008 Quote I might have a hard time telling an AFF student to close his eyes, I dunno, BUT...as a youngster, I was having trouble with diving exits and it was suggested to me that I do solos and concentrate on flying the relative wind by closing my eyes on exit and focusing on feeling the wind. Scary at first but it definitely got me over the hump almost immediately. Three jumps and I was solid. Yea, I definitely wasn't recommending it, just admitting that I did it. Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033 Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GLIDEANGLE 1 #33 March 20, 2008 I hope that you have had better jumps since you first posted this. In any case, there is a expert jumper (instructor and world record participant) who has posted her student logbook on line. Her name is Wendy Faulkner. To quote her: "I was a VERY bad student..." Many of us have taken hope from her funny student misadventures! If she can do it... any of us can! See her student logbook here: http://crwdog.servebeer.com/CRWdog/HowCRW.html Blue Skies!The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darrenspooner 0 #34 March 20, 2008 Go the tunnel Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
