AFF practical advise

[Storyteller 0]

I want to write this post just one month after finishing AFF and doing my first solo jump. I know that shortly, as I do more jumps, my perspective will change and the small details of that experience will be blurred. Just some recommendations I wish somebody had made to me.

1 A week before AFF, take a an old backpack and put 20 pounds worth of books or sand and make several sets of squats daily. AFF is not particularly extraneous but each time you practice your exits and dives with your instructors, you will be kneeling and standing up a million times, so a small work out during the days before will be helpful.

2 Take a notebook and whenever you get a break, write down each of the malfunctions and the procedure to deal with it. You can even just copy from the SIM. There are quite a number of malfunctions and each has a specific protocol to correct it. Anything (like writing) that you can do to memorize this information is useful. Think about it, in your first jump chances are everything will work all right, but then again, there is a slight chance that you might experience any one of the malfunctions, you really want to know how to deal with them.

3 Each day, take with you some lunch, like a sandwich and an apple. Also take a couple of snacks. The DZ turns around the weather and you will always be jumping or waiting for the weather to clear. You won’t have time to look for lunch. Besides, the one time I went to town for lunch (it was raining), the weather cleared afterwards and I made my jump full of burritos and salsa, and regretting having eaten so much.

4 If you use prescription glasses, as soon as you get to the DZ where you are going to jump, ask your instructor to help you buy from the local rigging loft or shop a pair of goggles that are acceptable for your AFF jumps but at the same time that are comfortable in relationship to your glasses. In my case my first two jumps where done with the DZ’s goggles, which were pretty uncomfortable, then I bought my own pair ($15), which I chose from several models and it worked like a charm. During AFF you are subjected to many new sensations, tons of information and some anxiety, it helps if you can minimize small distraction like the one mentioned.

5 If you get motion sickness on the plane, tell your instructor about it and he will probably have you take a pill like Bonine. I did my AFF at Skydive the Farm (highly recommended), where they use an Otter and a Cessna depending on the number of divers. I had no trouble with the Otter, but every time I rode the Cessna, I would become nauseous and start cold sweating half way up, two times I even threw up 15 or 20 minutes after landing. Motion sickness can really take out the joy of diving, so don’t deal with it on your own, ask your instructor.

6 Watch out for the tranquility and beauty you encounter once your canopy is open. The Free Fall part of your dive is a high adrenaline rush and then suddenly you are floating. Don’t be fooled, your skydive is far from over, concentrate on flying your canopy and doing a perfect pattern and landing. You can get into as much trouble 30 feet from the ground as 14,000 feet above.

7 I met a guy who had repeated his third jump three times and was repeating his fourth jump for the second time. He was OK with it but at the same time you could see he was bummed. I did my progression without repeating any jump but I will say AFF is not very enjoyable, at least not for me. Each jump I was dealing with performance anxiety jump after jump, I didn’t want to let down my instructors. But my first solo jump is worth a million AFF’s. That first time you are up there by yourself, with no other task besides checking you altitude and pulling when you have to, is unbelievable, you are flying, on your own, the beauty of it is indescribable.
I honestly don’t know what I enjoy better between the FF and canopy flight; each of them is so amazing in their own way. Skydiving ranks up there in the top five experiences of my life.

Blue skies and mild winds,

Luis Hernán Reina

Alea Iacta Est

[mtbriles 0]

8. dont fuck up

Why not?
My direction in life is up...then down again REALLY REALLY FAST!!!
Never take life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
D.S. #55

[sKyFaLLeR_911 0]

9 sKyFaLL!

sKyFaLLiNg makes evrythin seem leik its all goin up agen.

[Skydivesg 7]

Great post.

It's nice to have a new jumper's fresh perspective.

All of your advice is spot on. (just make sure any meds taken during skydiving don't impede your reaction time or make you drowsy)

Nice job and welcome to skydiving. Your life will never be the same.

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

[alp27 0]

As someone who will be taking the AFF course this summer I wanted to say thanks. This advice is exactly what someone in my position needs and I shall be taking it to heart.

Great post and well written!!

Everyone dies.... not everyone lives!!

[peek 21]

Quote

I want to write this post just one month after finishing AFF and doing my first solo jump. I know that shortly, as I do more jumps, my perspective will change and the small details of that experience will be blurred. Just some recommendations I wish somebody had made to me.

Excellent post Luis. This is the kind of practical advice that I really enjoy seeing offered to another student skydiver.

Of course, a student skydiver should not be giving another student skydiver advice about the instructional aspects of their training, but this type of advice is really nice.

I wish that more experienced jumpers could acknowledge the difference between the two types, and not just offer the stock answer, "talk only to your instructor" no matter what the question.

It has been so long since many of us were students that we have lost the feeling of what it was like to be a student.

[Prior23 0]

I thought of AFF as a fun jump with my instructors and that usually helped me, a lot of times I actually forgot I was being tested and if you just have fun everything will come naturally.If you get worked up about trying to be perfect you will more than likely fumble around a lot and have racing thoughts and forget one of your steps.

Just relax and have fun is all I did and I passed AFF 1 level early.

B.A.S.E. #1734

[Storyteller 0]

Thanks for your comments.

I'm surprised more AFF students haven't chipped in with their own additions based on their experience. I have at least two more points:

-Leave your I-pod behind. You will have a lot of free time waiting for the weather, but you want to be accessible and outgoing, talking with all the jumpers and instructors at the DZ. You will make friends and learn a lot. When everything fails you can grab an old copy of Parachutist.

-Bring a pair of comfortable, well fitting, OLD sneakers. On your landings you will probably scuff them or/and drag them through mud. I arrived for AFF with a $100 brand new pair of New Balance shoes, after my first jump, landing on a muddy field, I went to Wall-Mart and bought myself a pair of "Skydiver" specials for $14.

This are small things, but it would be very useful if one of you multi-thousand time jumpers, with tons of credibility, would take the time to write an article with all the practical advise that will make the AFF experience a bit easier for the newbie.

Blue skies and mild winds,

Luis Hernán Reina

Alea Iacta Est

[riggerrob 643]

" ...
-Leave your I-pod behind. You will have a lot of free time waiting for the weather, but ...

Luis Hernán Reina