failed first AFF jump

[guineapiggie101 0]

Finally did my first AFF jump today with the modified rig and I failed. I went through a review of the ground course and had no problem remembering the dive flow, what to pull, what to look for, etc.

When I went up on the plane, I freaked out and literally almost didn't jump out the door. I forgot everything and my instructors had to pull for me. I did better when it came to landing

I am going to conquer this and redo AFF 1 jump tomorrow. I need some ideas on how to calm down and not freak out when I jump. I am still on edge right now, even a few hours after this.

I will pass this though.

[Bruceny 0]

Just try to remember you are there because you want to be. No one is forcing you to jump this is something you want for yourself. Just take a deep breath and have some fun.

dont sweat the petty things and dont pet the sweaty things

[anthonyfellows 0]

So did I.

Serious relationships turn into work after a few weeks and I already got a fucking job :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
H.A.F. = Hard As Fuck ... Goddamn Amateurs

[guineapiggie101 0]

Yes, I want it for myself. It is fun. I just have to calm down and not freak out.

I have a nervous-type personality.

I am glad to see I am NOT the only one who has failed the first AFF

[theonlyski 8]

Quote

So did I.

I don't know how I passed it, but I made up for it with level 4... I think I had 4 of them.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[deltron80 0]

I didn't pull on AFF1 either. It was really scary! lol

[Bruceny 0]

Quote

Yes, I want it for myself. It is fun. I just have to calm down and not freak out.

I have a nervous-type personality.

I am glad to see I am NOT the only one who has failed the first AFF

I failed level two. It all comes eventually.

dont sweat the petty things and dont pet the sweaty things

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

So.... Did you walk into the hangar?  If so, it was a good jump!   (Not all L1 (Cat A) students have "good jumps"!)

You aren't the first or last student to blow L1 (Cat A). Listen to your instructors and go do it again. 

I'll bet that a lot went right on that jump:

Stable exit?
Stable in freefall?
Handled any canopy nusiances?
Navigated back to the DZ?
Safe pattern?
Safe landing?

Any of those are successes!!!

Smile, breathe, relax.

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[JerseyShawn 0]

I was nervous too on my first jump, didn't fail though. My instructor said to take a couple of deep breaths when I was hanging on about to jump, then check in check out. Those breaths really did relax me prior to jumping. Relax (shakes hand signal).

Go over what you didn't do right with your instructor and practice your dive flow on the ground.

Try it again! It gets really fun once your relaxed, easier said than done I know.

Congratulations on trying though! That's a great first step!

[CSpenceFLY 1]

I almost blew level 1 because we exited the aircraft in sleet. It sucked...alot. Came out of the sleet at about 9k and finished the dive. Failed level 3 once.

Just remember, you have now done something that a small percentage of people have done. It's all fun from now on.

[Muffie 0]

I failed my first AFF, too. It was a tandem training jump. I did my practice touches and then started admiring the view and lost altitude awareness (you fall fast those first few jumps!). My AFFI knocked me upside the head, I thought "how did I get to 6,000 feet already," and while I was doing that, he pulled. So, I repeated it the next day and knocked it out of the park. On my next AFF jump (non-tandem), I kept reaching for the hackey and not finding it and my AFFI had to pull for me.

Learn from it. For me, my lessons were about altitude awareness and not shifting my body when I reach for the hackey.

I had been doing some yoga before I started jumping and the whole way up for my first few jumps I kept doing that deep centered breathing every time I started to freak out. I think it really helped. Although it took until about jump 12 until I was somewhat relaxed (evidenced by the fact that I was playing music in my head on the way up which I do all the time, but it turns out not when I'm stressed about skydiving).

Good luck on your next jump!

[guineapiggie101 0]

thanks! I think this jump was me getting over the fear of the solo jump.

I think tomorrow's jump will be better. I do have confidence in myself.

Just have to keep calm.

[TampaPete 48]

Sounds like more went right than you recognize.

Relax and enjoy the ride.

[davelepka 4]

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thanks! I think this jump was me getting over the fear of the solo jump.

I think tomorrow's jump will be better. I do have confidence in myself.

If you recall, in the thread where you were considering buying your own rig to modify and use for your student jumps, I said that it was a bad idea because until you make a few jumps, nobody really knows the best way to modify the rig to suit your needs. We could guess, but the sure way to find out was to jump the DZs rig, and see how those mods worked out, and go from there. Until you made one jump, we had no idea of what would be best, and once you make one, two, or three, we'll know worlds more about how to build a rig to suit you.

Jumping in general is the same thing. Before your last exit, you had NO idea how this was going to go, or what to expect. With such unlimited possibilities, it's not surprising that the fear got the better of you and took control.

However, going into jump two, you have 100% more experience in making a solo skydive. You have an exit, an opening, and a successful canopy ride under your belt, and there to boost your confidence for the next jump. You no longer have the fear of the unknown working against you, because there is no longer an 'unknown'.

[guineapiggie101 0]

Very true. I now know what to expect and it is not some "scary" unknown to me.

Tomorrow should be a lot easier, I hope :)

[DSE 5]

We had this conversation.
You did not "fail."

You're going to knock it out of the park. Now...get some sleep. Tomorrow is another awesome day!

[Andy9o8 2]

There is no such thing as a failed AFF jump if you survive it uninjured. An AFF jump is training; it is not a quiz. Just like any training, you practice a skill set until you gain proficiency at it; then you move on to the next element of the skill set. Sometimes it requires live-practicing a given skill set more than once to become proficient at it - just like, for example, practicing parallel parking numerous times until you become proficient. And that's OK! (It may be expensive, but it's still OK.) Plus, unlike most other activities, when learning to skydive, you have considerable fear and sensory overload to contend with, too.

You didn't fail your AFF-1; you simply have to perform that level of jump more than once to become proficient at that level of skill set. Nothing more; nothing less.

Generally speaking if an instructor lets a student feel that having to repeat an AFF level means the student has "failed" a jump, it's the instructor who has failed, not you. Good instructors never let a student think that repeating a level to learn it sufficiently is "failing". (For example, look at DSE's words of encouragement to you.) If someone other than your instructor uses the term "failed" in your presence to describe the need to perform an AFF-level more than once, they really need to STFU.

One more thing: fear and sensory overload are virtually every new skydiving student's constant companions. That's what "normal" is. (When I was a student, I used to sneak off and barf when I first arrived at the DZ.) If dorks like us can get past that, you will, too.

[virgin-burner 1]

i always pulled myself, but jump #2 and #3 very REALLY scary!

i dont remember much from #1 anyway..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[DaVincisEnvy 0]

Tips and tricks from one newbie to another:

SMILE and BREATHE!!

Seriously, it sounds cheesy, but it's very hard to not relax and take a small mental step back when you smile. Smile on the ride up, even if your heart is pounding and your brain is screaming at you, "Wtf are we doing back here again?!" Smile at your instructors. Make goofy faces. Sing a song in your head (or aloud!) and bop your head to it. Soon, everyone else in the plane will start smiling and laughing and relaxing, too.

Breathe in slowly through your nose, hold it for a few slow seconds, then let it out slowly and deliberately through your mouth. Focus your mind on your breathing. Focus on every detail of how it feels when your breath enters, when your lungs are full, when your breath leaves. Focus your mind on this slow and steady and calming experience of breathing. Do it on the ground, in the plane, anytime you start to feel your nerves firing up.

Visualize success! Don't psych yourself out! I had to repeat AFF1, too, and I was more nervous about that repeat jump than my first one. I was worried that I was doomed to make the same mistakes again. It takes a lot of nerve and a lot of confidence in yourself to experience how things can go wrong, to learn how you can do better, and then to go back and do better. Visualize a successful jump, from overcoming the fear as you climb out the door, to perfectly performing each step in the dive flow, to enjoying the breath-taking beauty of being under canopy, to flying a smooth pattern, to performing a beautiful stand-up landing. See it in your mind, then do it in the sky.

And SMILE! You're doing what so many dream of and what so few actually accomplish.

[DSE 5]

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Breathe in slowly through your nose, hold it for a few slow seconds, then let it out slowly and deliberately through your mouth. Focus your mind on your breathing. Focus on every detail of how it feels when your breath enters, when your lungs are full, when your breath leaves. Focus your mind on this slow and steady and calming experience of breathing.

Valid information, however; we'd prefer the student focus on the tasks and objectives placed before them by their instructors.

[skybytch 273]

I really really hate the use of the word "fail" when it comes to making a skydive. Are you alive? Uninjured? Then you didn't fail.

You may not have completed all the objectives for that jump, but you didn't fail. Your instructor may have had to pull for you, but hey, that's why you have instructors with you at this point.

You jumped out of a perfectly good airplane even though your brain and body told you not to. You may not realize it just yet, but that's a HUGE accomplishment. Be proud of yourself for breaking through that fear barrier and doing it.

The next jump will be better. Quit beating yourself up.

[DaVincisEnvy 0]

Quote

Quote

Breathe in slowly through your nose, hold it for a few slow seconds, then let it out slowly and deliberately through your mouth. Focus your mind on your breathing. Focus on every detail of how it feels when your breath enters, when your lungs are full, when your breath leaves. Focus your mind on this slow and steady and calming experience of breathing.

Valid information, however; we'd prefer the student focus on the tasks and objectives placed before them by their instructors.

I did not mean to imply that this relaxation technique should ever supersede focusing on the information or objectives presented by an instructor, and I apologize if that was unclear.

I have simply used this technique many times (in skydiving and other pursuits) to quiet my mind before undertaking arduous or stressful tasks. It has helped me improve my ability to focus on important goals and objectives during stressful situations by reducing fear and the likelihood of panic.

Since the OP has been struggling with anxiety, I thought it might be helpful to him/her as well, although only when practicing the technique would not interfere with following the advice or instruction of instructors.

[JerryBaumchen 1,362]

Hi Andy,

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If dorks like us can get past that, you will, too.

This should be on the wall of every dz out there.

Was I ever terrible at first; well, maybe even later.

JerryBaumchen

[guineapiggie101 0]

Got up early and went to the DZ to redo AFF 1. I was in a calmer, more upbeat mood today and was more relaxed. I took people's advice and kept calm and BREATHED. My 2 instructors helped me keep my calm and made it less stressful for me.

I managed to pull the ripcord but still forgot a bunch of stuff.

Before I go and do level 2, my instructors suggest that I spend some tunnel time at Perris so I can practice my arch (which I had problems with). I plan to try to get some tunnel time sometime in the next 2 weeks before doing level 2.

Overall, today was ALOT better than yesterday

[TampaPete 48]

So that's a pass right?

Congrats!