First AFF jump and advice

[Casurf1978 0]

I completed my first AFF jump this last weeknd and everything went great. Both my instructors said I was miles ahead of the regular affers, altituted awareness was great and also body position (just need to work on the legs). Anyway, I just have some questions/concerns and I want input from experience jumpers and how you guys and girls got over these. When I deployed the main I noticed two line twist, I did what my instructor told me and everything was fine (but it did freak me out a bit). Are these common and as easy to fix as what I was told in the emergency procedures? And was it something I did, like bad throw out or body position? After that I checked the canopy like they instructed me and it was great and flew fine. I also got to play around which was hellof fun. The landing hurt a bit though, what I thought was 12 feet to flare was about 20 and had a nice hard landing. How long did it take you guys and girls to develop your depth perception and are there any tips or exercises I could do to help myself out? I know I shouldve asked my instructos these questions but now that I've had time to digest the jump and go through it in my head they're coming up.

Thanks

[Shark 0]

You sound like my student on Sunday. Did you jump with me and Robert at Elsinore?

[Casurf1978 0]

Yeah its me Javier. Now that its been 24 hours since sunday and I've had time to go through the jump in my mind and break it apart in stages I have a bunch of questions (i've written a most of them down for next time) but main one being landing/depth perception.

thanks

[FrogNog 1]

Quote

Yeah its me Javier. Now that its been 24 hours since sunday and I've had time to go through the jump in my mind and break it apart in stages I have a bunch of questions (i've written a most of them down for next time) but main one being landing/depth perception.

thanks

On landing, I look all around from 75 feet down to the ground. I look straight down, forward at 45 degrees, left horizon, right horizon, left at 45 degrees, etc. to make sure I know where the ground is and I don't get fooled by a clump of grass or the texture directly in front of me looking different.

But in terms of knowing where to flare, that comes from trying it again and changing something each time (baby steps are best) and knowing what you did and how well it worked. Actually, that applies to most of skydiving. :)

My first half-dozen flare timings were dicey. I basically flared "on the second 'oh-shit!'". After a dozen jumps it seemed like I could tell how long in time I am from touchdown (by knowing where the ground is) and so I know when to flare based on that.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[Shark 0]

Javier,

We'll go over the stuff Robert mentioned to me on your debrief, especially your final approach to landing.

Mark

[TheBachelor 5]

First, line twists are usually easy to get out of. I've had twists so bad that my head was forced forward by the risers twisted up behind my head. The only difficulty I've heard of with line twists is on highly-loaded eliptical canopies.

As far as flaring goes, it does take a while to get a feel for when to flare. I tended to flare too early also. Now I just wait until I think I've waited too long, and then do a nice smooth flare. Remember that you don't necessarily have to whip the brakes from zero to full brakes. Try a more gradual flare where you go into brakes more slowly. As you're flaring, keep watching the ground to determine if you need to speed up the flare, or slow it down.

Just stick with it, and eventually it'll come to you.

There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

[cruzit 0]

Man are you getting service or what??? Your JMs are online w/you.

Don't sweat the line twists too much. They are caused for a variety of reasons. With a student canopy, line twists usually don't cause a big problem. While your canopy may be uncontrollable as your kicking out of the twists, it usually is not turning violently like loaded elliptical canopies will under the same circumstances. While you should always be mindful of your hard deck, line twists under the circumstances you describe are neither difficult to kick out of nor are they very scary.

As to your flare...during your first couple of jumps it isn't uncommon at all for you to stare straight down at the ground. This is a bad idea as you will experience a phenomena known as groundrush which usually will cause you to flare too early. My advise is to pick out an object on the ground prior to your jump (windsock and hangers are good ones) which are roughly the same height as your expected flare. As you come in on final, pick up your object either in your periphial vision or by looking out towards the object (never look straight down) and flare as you perceive your feet being at the same height as the object. Don't reach for the ground and always be prepared for a hard landing by being ready to PLF.

Hey have a good time, Rome wasn't built in a day and learning to skydive takes more than the minute of freefall you have experienced so far.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

[Casurf1978 0]

Hey Mark! Sounds cool with me, I really cant wait till this sunday for the second jump. I would play hookie from work, but did that the last few months for surfin and kiteboarding, so I've used up my quota for the year. Will you or Robert be the JM for this one? If not could I request either one or both.


Thanks,


Javier

[Shark 0]

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Will you or Robert be the JM for this one? If not could I request either one or both.

I probably will. Robert cannot as he and Judy have begun their cross country adventure for 6 months. Check our website for the Level 2 dive flow and practice your exits and body position. See you this weekend.

Mark

[cesslon 0]

working out depth and hieght on ya first jump must be tough

at my dropzone the instructor got out paddles once i hit 500 feet and guided me in all the way and flaired with them to tell me when to flair etc
same as on my second stage
thats all ive done so far

[skyyhi 0]

Hey Mark, I am coming out to play this weekend too. . .will do level 5 & 6 this weekend. . .not sure if Saturday or Sunday but will know by Friday. . .

Hook me up dude. . .p.s., Brian was a fun JM by the way. . .made me laugh during freefall. . .

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[Shark 0]

Hey Darcy,

Just let Jason (Air Boss) know, and he'll schedule you with Bryan.

See ya

[skyyhi 0]

So Mark, does that mean you don't want to jump with me?

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[Shark 0]

No, you can jump with whoever you want to, unless of course I'm indoors with the FJC.
I misread your post.

[TypicalFish 0]

Sounds like me; had the line twists on my first AFF AND blew the landing; though mine was flaring too late and ended up on my ass in a nice slide. The twist kind of freaked me out, too; but was good to know I could keep my head and remember what I was taught.

"I gargle no man's balls..." ussfpa on SOCNET

[Casurf1978 0]

I cant wait for the second jump this sunday. Rain is forecasted, I just hope and pray that it wont rain. Weather people are wrong 90% of the time so I hope they are wrong this time. Kindof being going over the jump, exit and body position in my mind. Just hope I dont mess up the landing again or screw up somewhere along the jump. I've been standing on the top of my roof just to get depth perception and a 'feel' of what being above 15 feet looks like, neighbors must think I'm a freak.

[skyyhi 0]

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I cant wait for the second jump this sunday. Rain is forecasted

I am going to try to be at Elsinore on Saturday for AFF 5 & 6, because of Elsinore's rain forecast for Sunday. . .course I could always change my mind. . .

Good luck on #2. . .see you in the skies soon. . .

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[Casurf1978 0]

Good luck with 5 & 6. Just a few more days for my # 2, getting really excited about it too.

[Shark 0]

Quote

I cant wait for the second jump this sunday. Rain is forecasted, I just hope and pray that it wont rain. Weather people are wrong 90% of the time so I hope they are wrong this time. Kindof being going over the jump, exit and body position in my mind. Just hope I dont mess up the landing again or screw up somewhere along the jump. I've been standing on the top of my roof just to get depth perception and a 'feel' of what being above 15 feet looks like, neighbors must think I'm a freak.

Marie said you did pretty good on your Level 2! She also said you read the SIM. That's great that you are doing your bookwork, too. How did your mom enjoy her Tandem? You coming out for Level 3 this weekend?

[Brodes 0]

I did my AFF1 theory on saturday, and we were told to expect line twists, slider up or end cell closure and that they were just idosynchracies that happened a lot and were easy to deal with. That filled me with confidence, especially after watching how easy they were to fix.

We also have a target assistant to tell us exactly when to flare upon landing approach, i dont know if you do or not?

[Casurf1978 0]

Hey Mark,

Hope you had a merr x-mas. Yeah, level two was a blast. I wanted to start doing the turns right from the start. I'm amazed at how aggresive you have to be to initiate them, you really have to push down that shoulder. Yep, I'm comingout this sunday for level 3, but first hitting up the wind tunnel which looks like a lot of fun. Gotta work on keeping my legs out a bit more and not bending them so much. My moms coming out this sunday to start her AFF which should be cool. Hope to see you this sunday.


Javier