How long does AFF take (aggressive)?

[corpkid 0]

My best bud from Mass wants to come down when I do my AFF and do it together (which is awesome, IMHO). I've got a lot of tunnel time (will have over 1 1/2 hours by then) and I'm going to put him in there for 30 mins before we start, so stability shouldn't be an issue.

That said, what's the schedule like for AFF in terms of days? We will be doing AFF at Deland, FL, and both of us has several tandems under our belt. We were hoping for a schedule like:

FRI: Tunnel
SAT: Ground School and jump 1
SUN: Jump 2, 3 and 4
MON or TUE: Jump 5 and 6
WED or THU: Jump Seven/repeats padding

FRIDAY: Head to the Florida Keys
SAT: First Student solo license jump in skydive key west / sugarloaf

Are we being too agressive here?

[-Joey- 0]

I did all AFF's in two days and got my A in another 3.

The ground school and jump 1 will take most of the day but you could get jump 2 in too. If you insist on the tunnel I would propose the following alternative:

FRI: Tunnel
SAT: Ground school, jumps 1 & 2
Sun: Jumps 3-7, repeats
Mon: Jumps 8-14
Tue: Jumps 15-20
Wed: Jumps 21-25, written test
Thu: Whatever else you didn't do for your A

Fri: Head to Florida Keys
Sat: First jump with A license in hand!

Skydiving is serious business

[unkulunkulu 0]

A friend of mine once did it at the following pace:

SAT: FJC + jump 0 (Tandem AFF)

next THU: Jump 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

But he had some parachuting with a bit of freefall behind his belt before that.

[jceman 1]

Forget the last part - to jump in Sugarloaf Key at Skydive key West requires a D License at the least; the landing area is tiny and bordered by trees on two sides, wires on the third and water on the fourth.

Outs? There are none.

Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money.

Why do they call it "Tourist Season" if we can't shoot them?

[PhreeZone 20]

Last I was hearing was SugarLoaf was turning away all sport jumpers but that might have changed so you would need to call to verify.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Skydivesg 7]

This is how my son did it at Skydive Deland.

Thursday night = 15 minutes tunnel
Fri = 1st jump course - level 1 and 2 jumps
Sat = 4 more jumps and graduated - then 2 drill dives with me (6 jumps total)
The following week = 28 more jumps - Scott Miller canopy flight course - A license and 1 hour of coached tunnel with me.
During the next 6 months he made 200 more jumps and got his D license.

During the winter prior to going to Deland he bought the AFF Instructor Manual and all but memorized it. He was motivated.

If you have the money - let them know you want to power through - get plenty of rest and don't drink too much at night and don't leave the DZ during weather holds you should be able to do something similar.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.
.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[Southern_Man 0]

corpkid

That said, what's the schedule like for AFF in terms of days? We will be doing AFF at Deland, FL, and both of us has several tandems under our belt. We were hoping for a schedule like:

FRI: Tunnel
SAT: Ground School and jump 1
SUN: Jump 2, 3 and 4
MON or TUE: Jump 5 and 6
WED or THU: Jump Seven/repeats padding

FRIDAY: Head to the Florida Keys
SAT: First Student solo license jump in skydive key west / sugarloaf

Are we being too agressive here?

There is no accounting for weather. You may get lucky, you may spend a lot of time looking up at the sky.

After AFF you are not a licensed jumper, it is unclear if you know that from your statements. You would be much better off continuing to work with your initial instructors and coaches towards completing that A license/25 skydives then running off somewhere.

Good luck.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[Remster 30]

Skydivesg

This is how my son did it at Skydive Deland.

Thursday night = 15 minutes tunnel
Fri = 1st jump course - level 1 and 2 jumps
Sat = 4 more jumps and graduated - then 2 drill dives with me (6 jumps total)
The following week = 28 more jumps - Scott Miller canopy flight course - A license and 1 hour of coached tunnel with me.
During the next 6 months he made 200 more jumps and got his D license.

During the winter prior to going to Deland he bought the AFF Instructor Manual and all but memorized it. He was motivated.

If you have the money - let them know you want to power through - get plenty of rest and don't drink too much at night and don't leave the DZ during weather holds you should be able to do something similar.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.
.

Is he still jumping?

Remster

[yoink 321]

-Joey-

I did all AFF's in two days and got my A in another 3.

It's entirely personal, but this is one of the things I REALLY don't like about AFF. Yes, a student is qualified in 5 days, but they only know the very basics of the technical part of skydiving... there's so much more to it than that.

Some things in the sport are learnt by just spending TIME at the DZ.

I think the 'get qualified in the shortest time possible' syndrome is in part responsible for a prevalence of newer jumpers thinking they're better than they are, or know more than they do. They haven't had the time to see others making mistakes, or listening to all the stuff in the evenings.

[GooniesKid 0]

corpkid

My best bud from Mass wants to come down when I do my AFF and do it together (which is awesome, IMHO). I've got a lot of tunnel time (will have over 1 1/2 hours by then) and I'm going to put him in there for 30 mins before we start, so stability shouldn't be an issue.

That said, what's the schedule like for AFF in terms of days? We will be doing AFF at Deland, FL, and both of us has several tandems under our belt. We were hoping for a schedule like:

FRI: Tunnel
SAT: Ground School and jump 1
SUN: Jump 2, 3 and 4
MON or TUE: Jump 5 and 6
WED or THU: Jump Seven/repeats padding

FRIDAY: Head to the Florida Keys
SAT: First Student solo license jump in skydive key west / sugarloaf

Are we being too agressive here?

what's the rush?

what's it going to be next..."oh, i only have 30 jumps and i'm buying a complete new rig, is a 130 too aggressive"?

Kids these days

[Remster 30]

GooniesKid

***My best bud from Mass wants to come down when I do my AFF and do it together (which is awesome, IMHO). I've got a lot of tunnel time (will have over 1 1/2 hours by then) and I'm going to put him in there for 30 mins before we start, so stability shouldn't be an issue.

That said, what's the schedule like for AFF in terms of days? We will be doing AFF at Deland, FL, and both of us has several tandems under our belt. We were hoping for a schedule like:

FRI: Tunnel
SAT: Ground School and jump 1
SUN: Jump 2, 3 and 4
MON or TUE: Jump 5 and 6
WED or THU: Jump Seven/repeats padding

FRIDAY: Head to the Florida Keys
SAT: First Student solo license jump in skydive key west / sugarloaf

Are we being too agressive here?

what's the rush?

what's it going to be next..."oh, i only have 30 jumps and i'm buying a complete new rig, is a 130 too aggressive"?

Kids these days

It's not about rushing.

I actually think doing as many AFF jumps in rapid succession is actually the better way to learn. Yes, time on the DZ will help too, but not waiting 1 week in between jumps is a great way not to have to re-learn every thing almost every time.

Remster

[GooniesKid 0]

Remster

******My best bud from Mass wants to come down when I do my AFF and do it together (which is awesome, IMHO). I've got a lot of tunnel time (will have over 1 1/2 hours by then) and I'm going to put him in there for 30 mins before we start, so stability shouldn't be an issue.

That said, what's the schedule like for AFF in terms of days? We will be doing AFF at Deland, FL, and both of us has several tandems under our belt. We were hoping for a schedule like:

FRI: Tunnel
SAT: Ground School and jump 1
SUN: Jump 2, 3 and 4
MON or TUE: Jump 5 and 6
WED or THU: Jump Seven/repeats padding

FRIDAY: Head to the Florida Keys
SAT: First Student solo license jump in skydive key west / sugarloaf

Are we being too agressive here?

what's the rush?

what's it going to be next..."oh, i only have 30 jumps and i'm buying a complete new rig, is a 130 too aggressive"?

Kids these days

It's not about rushing.

I actually think doing as many AFF jumps in rapid succession is actually the better way to learn. Yes, time on the DZ will help too, but not waiting 1 week in between jumps is a great way not to have to re-learn every thing almost every time.

Well, you do have a good point.

But i'll say it here first,,,OP will ask something along the lines of "oh, i only have 30 jumps and i'm buying a complete new rig, is a 130 too aggressive"? Watch...

[BigMikeH77 0]

It's not a race. If your buddy wants to just "knock out" all of the AFF course in as little time as possible perhaps he should ask himself why, and what he believes are the perceived advantages of doing it in a couple of days...

And as mentioned in other posts, once a student completes AFF, there are still things that need to be done. For example, after completing all the AFF jumps my DZ requires a 12 coach jumps (three of which are actually solos), a canopy course (that's an all day event), and a packing class before you can take a shot at the check dive.

You can learn a lot in between jumps by talking to your instructors and being around the DZ. Plus, think of the additional benefit of spreading your training across a longer period of time - for example, jumping in different wind/weather conditions, jumping with a greater variety of instructors and coaches, and there might even be a greater sense of satisfaction and accomplishment having committed more than just a weekend to "trying something new."

One of the things I really enjoyed about my recent progression through AFF was kind of the whole "The journey is the destination" thing, and what I'm really getting at here is simply that I don't think it's wise to rush, but then again I'm a simple student myself so...

[BigMikeH77 0]

***I actually think doing as many AFF jumps in rapid succession is actually the better way to learn. Yes, time on the DZ will help too, but not waiting 1 week in between jumps is a great way not to have to re-learn every thing almost every time.

Yes, good point.. I suppose it's all about whatever works best for the individual. For me, the intervals between jumps were productive and I feel as though I gained more than I lost. I had time to read up and study on things, watch some of the video captured by my instructors and say "What the heck was THAT?!" when look at my body position, and had time to go to the tunnel to work on correcting the problems. I might not have been able to do all that had I taken a very aggressive AFF course. But like I said, that's just what worked for me.

[tan 0]

BigMikeH77

***I actually think doing as many AFF jumps in rapid succession is actually the better way to learn. Yes, time on the DZ will help too, but not waiting 1 week in between jumps is a great way not to have to re-learn every thing almost every time.

Yes, good point.. I suppose it's all about whatever works best for the individual. For me, the intervals between jumps were productive and I feel as though I gained more than I lost. I had time to read up and study on things, watch some of the video captured by my instructors and say "What the heck was THAT?!" when look at my body position, and had time to go to the tunnel to work on correcting the problems. I might not have been able to do all that had I taken a very aggressive AFF course. But like I said, that's just what worked for me.

No offence to the posters with thousands of jumps here, but I too has a similar experience as with BigMikeH77. I had many weeks of gaps between jumps 1 through 4, and a one year gap between 4 and 5. With each additional jump and debrief, I added a little more knowledge, and I also had the time to watch videos of how others did well or failed in their jumps. The intervals gave me time to digest the information clearly, which aided me in every subsequent jump.

Conversely, it was the back-to-back-to-back jumps in one day that I could never quite seem to get things corrected, but maybe that was just my experience. Whatever works best for the individual indeed!

[yoink 321]

There are drawbacks to both ways of doing it.

I'm not a fan of hammering out 3 or 4 student jumps in a day. I think it's easy to overwhelm a student with too much information and lose some of the retention of what's been taught - it's like cramming for an exam the night before. Sure, you may do OK on the test, but 6 months from now you don't remember much of it.

There's also the physical tiredness that needs to be accounted for. Thos ebig student rigs are HEAVY!


However, I don't think taking multiple weeks between jumps is a good idea either. A massive part of skydiving is muscle memory, and training your body to behave in certain ways, and that only comes with frequent, repeated practice. If you're taking months or even a year(!) between jumps, you've lost everything you've gained in those areas and it could be argued that you're increasing the danger to yourself.

I personally think there's a sweet spot of 2 to 4 jumps over a weekend, then go away for a week, let it sink in, relax a little, then come back and do the same the next week or week after. I certainly wouldn't recommend longer breaks than that.


Having said all that, this is only my personal opinion, and it's one of those things that everyone will have a different view on.

[NorrinRadd 0]

The DZ I am taking my AFF only allows two aff jumps in a day (Per student, of course), and no jumps the same day as the ground school. They want to make sure their students don't deal with mental fatigue.
I wont argue... I can't afford to do it all in one go, so a slow schedule works for me.

Why drive myself crazy trying to be normal, when I am already at crazy?

[Skydivesg 7]

Remster

***This is how my son did it at Skydive Deland.

Thursday night = 15 minutes tunnel
Fri = 1st jump course - level 1 and 2 jumps
Sat = 4 more jumps and graduated - then 2 drill dives with me (6 jumps total)
The following week = 28 more jumps - Scott Miller canopy flight course - A license and 1 hour of coached tunnel with me.
During the next 6 months he made 200 more jumps and got his D license.

During the winter prior to going to Deland he bought the AFF Instructor Manual and all but memorized it. He was motivated.

If you have the money - let them know you want to power through - get plenty of rest and don't drink too much at night and don't leave the DZ during weather holds you should be able to do something similar.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.
.

Is he still jumping?

Yes, he is. He's been jumping for 7 years and has around 5,000 jumps. He's starting to make a pretty good name for himself in the sport.

I must add that before he went through his training he had about 3000 pack jobs and has been emersed in the sport since he was 7 years old.

He had a leg up that most don't have - so he may not be someone to whom others would want to compare themselves

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.
.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[corpkid 0]

GooniesKid

But i'll say it here first,,,OP will ask something along the lines of "oh, i only have 30 jumps and i'm buying a complete new rig, is a 130 too aggressive"? Watch...

Um, no I won't - I'm not stupid, understand wingloading, and read these boards constantly. :) I also spend a ton of time at the tunnel with those guys, who also skydive and we talk. The reason we are "rushing" is because I want to do this with my best friend who lives a few thousand miles away. We don't have the luxury of many weeks of training together (jobs), so we thought we'd do it pretty rapidly so we could be get our student status together and then work on our A license separately back home.

Also, I'm 36, not really a kid anymore... :) But thanks.

[corpkid 0]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think he's going to come down for 2 weeks and we'll try to do it over the course of those weeks, taking breaks in between. The catch is that his closest DZ is pretty far from him, whereas Deland (and the Orlando Tunnel) is close for me, and he can't really stay here very long (he can work remotely, but 2 weeks remote is pushing it). Thanks for the advice on Sabastian... I've always had a dream of flying there, but sounds like I'm going to have to wait a while (if at all). Thanks again!

[corpkid 0]

Skydivesg

This is how my son did it at Skydive Deland.

Thursday night = 15 minutes tunnel
Fri = 1st jump course - level 1 and 2 jumps
Sat = 4 more jumps and graduated - then 2 drill dives with me (6 jumps total)
The following week = 28 more jumps - Scott Miller canopy flight course - A license and 1 hour of coached tunnel with me.
During the next 6 months he made 200 more jumps and got his D license.

During the winter prior to going to Deland he bought the AFF Instructor Manual and all but memorized it. He was motivated.

If you have the money - let them know you want to power through - get plenty of rest and don't drink too much at night and don't leave the DZ during weather holds you should be able to do something similar.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.
.

BEST...DAD...EVER!

[corpkid 0]

My buddy just signed up for some time at the NH tunnel. Working off the tense. LOL. We are not looking to be superstars - just jump together at some point and wave hi to each other.... for now. :)

[jackcupp 0]

How things have changed. I started in 1959. 2 static jump then free falls. Last jump in 1968 Taft, Calif. Jack Cupp D84

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