trying to figure out if skydiving is for me

[devildog 0]

The fear is normal. Like people have said before, if you weren't scared on your first jump(s), something is wrong with you. Take that fear and do something good with it. Pay attention to your instructors and learn :) I was pretty nervous / scared in AFF on all my jumps. The 2nd was worse I think than the first, because the first I didn't know what to expect, but on the ride up on the 2nd jump, I kept thinking, "Okay, I survived once. I can say I did it. Do I really want to tempt fate again?" Once I learned I could get stable if anything went wrong, (barrel roll / flips), my nerves lessened considerably. I was still nervous, but not nearly as much. Right around that time, I asked my instructor about how long it took for those nervous to go away completely. He said about 100 jumps, which I'm not sure how well that applies to everyone, but I'll tell you this, each jump does get easier and it doesn't take long for you to be enjoying every moment of it.

My advice would be if there's a part of you that loves the sport, even if you're scared right now, keep pursuing it at whatever pace you are comfortable with. You'll be glad you did.

You stop breathing for a few minutes and everyone jumps to conclusions.

[ph.nilsson 0]

I haven't read all the answers so someone may have mentioned this already...

Anyways, I was recently in the exact same situation, two tandems, scared shitless, and thinking about doing the aff course. In the end I figured that the only way I'd be able to get to know whether or not skydiveing is actually for me, force myself out of a plane a bunch of times...

First jump actually wasn't all that scary, for me the fear came after failing to deploy my parachute during the aff course...

[nigel99 475]

Quote

I haven't read all the answers so someone may have mentioned this already...

Anyways, I was recently in the exact same situation, two tandems, scared shitless, and thinking about doing the aff course. In the end I figured that the only way I'd be able to get to know whether or not skydiveing is actually for me, force myself out of a plane a bunch of times...

First jump actually wasn't all that scary, for me the fear came after failing to deploy my parachute during the aff course...

You've got me curious. What AFF level, did your instructor deploy for you or did you have an aad save?

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[ph.nilsson 0]

Actually, my instructor pulled for me twice. Once I got stressed out since I noticed pull height approaching in the middle of a turn, couldn't find the handle, and instructor pulled, that was on level 2.
The next jump was kind of a mix between jump 4 and five (hade failed 5 and gone back to 4 but keeping some of the stuff from 5, like solo exit for instance). The second time I started rotating a bit, and the instructor grabbed my leg in kind of an awkward way, I tensed up and couldn't find the handle. After this one I got seriously scared since I had 3 weeks of off jumping after that...