AFF or Static line...which is the best?

[Testikjel 0]

Hello all skydivers!

I am writing an task about which course is the best,AFF vs Static line! Many people will say that an AFF-course will educate the best jumper, does it? I will in my task try do discuss which course is the best. To this I need many different meanings and assertion on which is the best!

I would appreciate all meanings and assertion !!

Mikjel - fallskjerm@netcom.no

[hooked 0]

Geez! This topic has been discussed a lot here on the forums. If you do a search you will find lots of info. In fact there is a thread going now about Static Line, if it is outdated or not.

J

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Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings.

[listo 0]

uhhhhhhhhh......well........uhmmmmmm. Nevermind, I don't care to discuss this.

Both have their good points. However, I feel like AFF is the better way to go. Please don't ask for my reasons why. I won't tell because I don't want people jumping down my throat about it.

Just my .02

Listo

[mark135 0]

both are good programs in their own respect. Bottom line is I never would have made a second jump if i had to pay 100 some odd dollars per jump. My wife and I learned to pack student rigs and worked our way through the static line program. I feel that static line provides a cost alternative to aff for those who cant cough up a lot of money per jump.

_______________


"It seemed like a good idea at the time"

[jumpy 0]

Both are good in my opinion. I did static line and had no problems with the programs. No serios issues anyway. AFF kinda seems more logical now after i'm done but thats IF the student can handle it. Anyway having not started on AFF i cannot compair the two from a novices point of view.

[nightjumps 1]

With the new Integrated Student Program, students can now utilize the best method-specific discipline to overcome any hurdles and achieve their goal of "A" License. You can do a couple of Tandems to get used to door opening and freefall and some one-on-one in-flight canopy control instruction, you can take a couple of static lines to get used to canopy control on your own with radio assistance, you can make an AFF dive, then do a ten second delay from static line. Its all one program now. As long as you meet the criteria for each of the categories along the way, you decide whcih method is best to overcome any weaknesses along your path of progression. So, the bottom line is; there is no more "Which is better?" Use them all to get there and have fun.

[StevieBoy 0]

IMHO GO FREEFALL FIRST

AFF1 ROCKS, great ground school, you learn to fly your body right away, you have your own parachute for 50sec freefall, YOU made the choice to be a skydiver, SO GO SKYDIVE.

it deosn't mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

[suz 0]

AFF man, for sure. More freefall time! I always get asked before we load, whether I want to go up to 12000ft or stay at 10000ft. I always tell my JM he's a crazy man for asking! You get taught all the fun stuff in AFF too! just my opinion, though!

Don't bother me, I'm living happily ever after

[masher 1]

or you can go S/L and get more canopy time...

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[suz 0]

yes. true!

Don't bother me, I'm living happily ever after

[AllyMilne 0]

"or you can go S/L and get more canopy time... "

well not per jump as an aff students pulls at 5, a s/l student is open about 3 so the aff student is getting 2k more canapy time. If doing it the BPA way you have to complete 10 consol jumps, assuming you get aff in 10 jumps and on the consols you pull at 4 thats 90k of canapy time compared to doing RAPS in 30 jumps pulling at 3k is about the same.

[riggerrob 643]

In the long run, by the time you earn an A License, both programs will cost about the same, however, under the S/L program you will have twice as many landings.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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In the long run, by the time you earn an A License, both programs will cost about the same, however, under the S/L program you will have twice as many landings.

I don't get it? To get your "A" licence you need to make a minimum of twenty skydives right. How is it that an AFF student who made 20 jumps has less landings than a S/L student who has 20 jumps? Your math just doesn't make sense to me.

Of course not everybody gets their license in 20 jumps. I got mine on my 28th jump. But that was because my DZ wouldn't let me do my pack job jump on weekends and I had to wait several weeks before I could take a day off of work on a weekday. But I still jumped on weekends in that time.

Now AFF is not for everybody (but it sure was good for me ). I'm not arguing that S/L students possibly get better canopy lessons at the very early stages of the respective trainings but that has a lot to do with the environment they trained in. Not all student perform a like and to say a generic S/L student is a superior canopy pilot to a generic AFF student is wrong because it doesn't take into account that we all perform differently. 20 skydives are still 20 skydives.

PS: By the way, while I do think I'm a good canopy pilot now for my jump numbers (I stand-up virtually every landing in all sorts of different conditions), I did a lot of PLFing in the first 20 jumps of my short skydiving career. Why was this? Part of it I'm sure had to do with the fact that the student F-111 canopies I used couldn't be flared worth shit and part of it was likely due to the fact that my instructors had me thinking of PLFing from lesson number one and it wasn't the easiest of habits to break.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[bch7773 0]

I learned using the static line method... it was the only kind my DZ offered. I would say that if you have lots of money saved up go ahead and go for the AFF, because its gonna cost you a lot more. At our DZ, NONE of your static line progession jumps (ie static line, 10sec, 45sec) cost more than $30 bucks. Compare this to AFF which most of your jumps are over $100 bucks.
But I do agree that your first few intial jumps on AFF are a lot more fun than your first few on a static line.

Both methods will teach you to skydive, and let you have a sh*tload of fun.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[NoShitThereIWas 0]

This is just my opinoin but I would have to say go AFF for sure. Yeah, static line may be a lot cheaper but I think you get what you pay for. In AFF, your first jump course alone will give you 6 hours of training on the ground and build every jump from there until you are safe to jump on your own. I never did static line personally, it looks way too damn scary and you don't get any freefall time hardly. Freefall is what I enjoy the most. Some drop zones offer Tandem progression into AFF which seems like a very comprehensive program. When you graduate you are ready and prepared for your A license. My advice, Go for broke because if you haven't figured it out already, this sport is costly.

Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires."

Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

[kryos 0]

And in my humble opinion that's the important thing. The freefall will rarely kill you no matter how much you screw up. Piloting the canopy had better be done right ... or you'll pay for it in soreness the whole next week ... or worse, far worse.

I hear tell, though, that the Integrated Student Program focuses a lot more on canopy skills, so maybe the problem of adequate canopy training has already been resolved no matter which type of jumps you do.

Blue skies ...

--rita

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or you can go S/L and get more canopy time...

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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or you can go S/L and get more canopy time...

Actually, if you are following the ISP then you are going to get the exact same amount of canopy time. You are a STUDENT until you get that A license, no matter what your dropzone is telling you. True, you may be cleared to "self jumpmaster" sooner as an AFF-based student, but each and every student must complete each and every block on the new A-license proficiency card in order to get off STUDENT status. That being said, the SL-based students have the possibility of checking off all the canopy blocks while in the "under supervision" catagory, while the AFF student does not. Every skydive, whether it be SL, tandem-progression, or AFF counts towards that 20 jump total, so there truly is no real winner in the AFF versus SL debate nowadays. Period. By the way, we teach AFF-based ISP here at Raeford Parachute Center, but have three other groups of people who train students on our dropzone by various other methods. So long as they all complete the new A-card without pencil-whipping, then they are fine. The card mandates at least a semblance to ISP in order to complete it.

Chuck Blue
D-12501
AFF/SL/TM/BM-I, S&TA, PRO
RPC School, NC

[masher 1]

I was refering to more canopy time when you are 'formally' a student, ie haven't finished your training table.

For Australia, AFF and S/L are both 9 stages, but S/L has 17 jumps and AFF only has 9.

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[jitsoa33 0]

if i were going to jump stat lines id join the military.

[LisaBabie 0]

Hey, I'm a new skydiver w/ only 15 jumps... Though I did AFF, I'm sure static line can have it's benefits. I personally went for AFF because I felt it gives you an all around wealth of knowledge. My boyfriend is standing over my shoulder as I speak this, an insturctor for both AFF & SL, and is lecturing me on the importance and knowledge that can be obtained from both... He feels that AFF gives you a good feel for body position, while SL teaches canopy skills better. As said above, I have very little experince to go on, but I feel that AFF is the way to go.

Thanks,

Lisa

For every first... there is a case of beer!

[Tonto 1]

AFF is like learning to swim in the pool with 2 instructors with you.

SL is like being briefed for your swim, then being thrown in and yanked out after 3 seconds.

I'm completely impartial. I hold SL I, AFF I and Tandem ratings.

Of course, I get paid for AFF...

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[andybr6 0]

As someone who started learning on Static line [RAPS for all us Brits] and then went on to do AFF i can say that for me AFF is imeasurable better. I could never get my exit right on RAPS which becomes discouraging. However i completed AFF without having to retake any levels, this is because although my first exit was a little unstable i had two instructers that could say, dont do this do that etc. That being true i know people that graduated through static line easily in the minimum number of jumps. I beleive that it is an individual thing some people will be naturals and easily progress through either course others will work better with instructers [eg me]. I would also like to point out the safety issues of a, having two instucters with you should you have a problem in freefall and b, opening at higher altitude giving more time to deal with any possible malfunctions. I only speak with the experience of a student who has friends who graduated through both systems i dont pretend to have the understanding of an instructer, but thats my 2 cents for what it is worth.

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"All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

[Ron 10]

Well it really does not matter...

Just learn to jump.

I had a guy tell me many years ago that I would never be any good because I learned S/L?????? I never really got that.

Anyway you will find most people will preach whatever method they learned on.

Both methods have advantages, and disadvantages....I am not going to get into them here....search the forum for the debates.

Just do it....jump....If you start S/L and have problems with the FF...Then do an AFF or Tandem...If there are low clouds..do a S/L.

Ron

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[dkf1979 0]

Ok. I'm in the S/L program. And you guys keep knocking it. Now someone tell me the S/L program is better.

http://bodypilot.bounceme.net

[michaelflying 0]

both have the pro's and con's find what suits you and your pocket

www.skydivekzn.co.za