AFF Level 1 Instruction Course

[loflyer 0]

Hello everybody! This past year I received my coach rating. (On my way to getting my Aff Instructor License) Anyway, I have been teaching the First Jump course at one of my local Dz's for the past year & I have come across a scenario that I have asked other A/I & S&TA's, and I seem to get different answers. When teaching the first jump course & when you are going over the Emergency Freefall procedures with the student, when you get to the part about if the student finds himself/herself alone in freefall, to arch & pull immediately. Well I had a AFF Instructor come up to me & asked me to "CLARIFY" alone? I was taught that if neither of the two instuctors had a grip on the student, that they were considered to be "alone". This instructor told me something about a 5 second rule. So now I am wondering what the actual guidelines state as "Being Alone".

I have looked in my SIMS book, & it doesn't say anything about a 5 second rule. Can anyone shed a little light on this subject as to the correct answer to this question? Or where I might look to find the correct response to this question? I have had a couple of students ask me, "If i can see them out in front of me, am i still alone?"

Thanks!

[riddler 0]

A couple of things.

The Instructional Rating Manual, explains that coaches may only teach non-method specific portions of the skydiving ground school. This does not include freefall emergencies. When I teach FJC, I am required to get an instructor to teach or supervise my teaching the emergency procedures, including freefall emergencies. I recommend checking the IRM as well as the SIM for teaching guidelines.

There is no "five-second" rule in any of the manuals that I've read. That may be something they teach to AFF instructors, but it's not something I've ever read. If your AFFI came up to you and told you that they both need five seconds to get to the student, I would ask them why they don't have hold of the student in the first place?

IMO, it's best to teach FJC in accordance with your DZ procedures. If your DZ has a rule that instructors are allowed 5 seconds to catch a student, and the S&TA agreed and the DZO agreed - well, if it was me, I would find a new DZ quick. Not only would I not teach there, I don't think I would feel safe jumping with those people. Don't take the word of one AFFI - ask the S&TA and the DZO.

Edit for grammer.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[tombuch 0]

I don't use the five second rule for being alone.

The five second rule is generally (in my experience) applied to a student who is unstable and unable to recover for five seconds or longer, or who is not altitude aware for five seconds or longer. In those cases the student may have been instructed to pull after trying to regain altitude awareness or stability for five seconds. Students generally have a horrible sense of time and we don't want them fixating on a problem, thus the five second rule was developed.

Being alone in freefall is a different animal. On a conventional AFF level 1-3 a student shouldn't be alone, so if he is, the briefing is generally for the student to respond by pulling the main ripcord. This could happen with an unstable exit, but otherwise at least one instructor should be attached. On conventional AFF levels 4-7 the student will probably be released and should expect to be alone. There shouldn't be any reason for a student to pull in this situation. It's entirely possible that everything will be fine yet the student won't be able to see his instructors if they are slightly behind him, or if the student has tunnel vision, so it shouldn't matter to the student if the instructor(s) are there or not. My brief on levels 4-7 is to remain altitude aware and do the skydive, even if you never see the instructor at all.

The five second rule should be of interest to a coach. Imagine your student is an upper level student who is in your charge as a coach. For some reason he begins to spin out of control or at least he thinks he is out of control. I don't believe that you should (as a coach) attempt to stop the spin, but you should know the student may have a five second rule in his head and may deploy after just a few seconds of spinning. So, it is especially important for you to remain clear of the space over the student at all times, but doubly so when he is out of control. My suggestion in that case is for the coach (or AFF-I) to move away immediately following the student opening and open quickly to stay with the student who, because of the high opening, may not be able to land on the DZ. Float your parachute as best you can, try to get your student to follow you, then pick out and land in a giant field that you believe your student can also reach. Once on the ground you can use your arms to offer a "flare" command if your student needs it, but that's not usually necessary for a student who has progressed to the coach phase.

The only reference I could find to the five second rule with a quick check is in the ISP under Category "C" Emergency Procedures. That part mentions that the procedure for loss of both JM's needs to be modified for this level. Loss of stability for more than five seconds is also briefly touched on. The actual use of this rule/procedure will vary and should be reviewed with your local DZ staff.

It's something to think about.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[loflyer 0]

Thanks Tom! You totally answered my question.
I knew if I put this on a post, someone would be able to give me the answer! Like I said in my original post, I have asked this question to multiple instructors & always got the "alone is alone" or the 5 second rule answer. Thanks again...

Blue Skies!

[loflyer 0]

Thanks for the input, but I am aware of the teaching guidelines for coaches. The A/I who questioned me about this, was not the A/I who was teaching the "method specific" section of the first jump course, that I have been sitting in on, since I plan on trying to get my aff instructor rating this year, but he was a A/I who was just visiting the DZ for a fun jump. I totally trust the people & the DZ's I jump at, or I wouldn't be jumping there...

[Nightingale 0]

I was taught the five second rule as you explained it. What I was told on my level 6 was that if you:

1. lose altitude awareness
2. lose stability
3. lose mental composure (freak)

for more than five seconds, PULL.

[voodew1 0]

AFF Lvl 1 or Cat A--------Until the student is supposed to be released he is to consider his/herself alone in freefall if he/she does not have at least 1 instructor with grips.

At LVL3 / Cat C we introduce CIA continue to skydive even if no instuctors have grips as this is an intentional release skydive. If not CIA and above pull altitude you have the 5 second rule---you have 5 seconds to fix the problem and get CIA or you are to pull........ If not CIA at pull altitude PULL STABLE OR UNSTABLE don't spend the rest of your life trying to get stable.
Roll out of bed is another topic altogether

The pimp hand is powdered up ... say something stupid

[Chrisky 0]

How do you measure five seconds when you freak???

The mind is like a parachute - it only works once it's open.
From the edge you just see more.
... Not every Swooper hooks & not every Hooker swoops ...

[Nightingale 0]

dunno. If I was freaking for some reason, at that level, I'd probably just pull.

[markbaur 0]

It's time to switch from CIA to AIR
--Altitude aware
--In control
--Relaxed and comfortable

AIR puts the priorities in the correct order.

More on acronyms: the acronym is for the instructor, so he or she can more easily remember sequence and content of instruction. If you teach, "If you are alone in freefall, remember CIA," then when the student is alone in freefall he or she will have to first remember there is an acronym, then select the correct acronym from among the many, then decode the acronym. I can imagine a student spinning down through pull altitude thinking, "FBI? CIA? KGB? ... HARM? GASP?..."

> If not CIA at pull altitude PULL STABLE OR UNSTABLE

How about "If you are at or below pull altitude, pull." CIA has nothing to do with it. And when you associate pulling with stability, your student will too -- even if, or especially if, you tell him not to. Pink elephants.

Mark

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

The "five second rule" as we apply it where I instruct goes hand-in-hand with the "CIA" checklist on category C and higher. On a Cat A or B AFF skydive one is taught to wave off and pull if he/she finds themself in the air with no jumpmaster attached at all. With one JM you simply continue the skydive as planned.

The "five seconds" comes into play on release dives. If you spin out and float up and away or somehow else throw your JM's off, then you give yourself five seconds to regain stability and meet the CIA criteria. If you can do so, then you continue to skydive down to the designated pull altitude. If you cannot, then you pull after five seconds of not meeting all three criteria, no matter what your body position.

Comfortable
In control
Altitude aware

Chuck Blue
D-12501
AFFI (among other things)

[voodew1 0]

How about "If you are at or below pull altitude, pull." CIA has nothing to do with it. And when you associate pulling with stability, your student will too -- even if, or especially if, you tell him not to. Pink elephants.

[Shark 0]

Quote

How about "If you are at or below pull altitude, pull." CIA has nothing to do with it. And when you associate pulling with stability, your student will too -- even if, or especially if, you tell him not to. Pink elephants.

Your writing explains better than mine -- point comes across better

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Pull priorities remain the same: Pull, Pull at the right altitude, Pull at the right altitude with stability.

I MUST pull in order to survive
I NEED to pull at the right altitude, no matter what my body position
I WANT to pull at the right altitude with stability

[lug 4]

Good question.

Some of this is repeating what others have said already but it does rase a question of my own in the fourth paragraph.

If a student can not answer yes to any one of the fallowing: C I A (Comfortable, In control or Altitude aware), they should work towards the level to where they can yes to all and give themselves five seconds to do so. After five seconds has elapse and they still can not say yes to any one of the C I A’s then they should pull.

As for loss of Instructor on two instructor jumps where the student loses one of their instructors they should continue the skydive with one instructor and pull at the altitude according to the dive flow. If they were to lose both instructors they should pull, now.

On release skydive with one instructor and the student loses them, they need to ask themselves are they C I A and if they can answer yes they should continue with the skydive and pull at the altitude according to the dive flow.

As for Category C skydives, the release, where the student loses both instructors seems to kind of a gray area, so I am interested in what everyone else is doing through out the U.S. I have been instructing them, during the ground training, to fallow the C I A, five second rule format in this situation.

Memento Mori

[markbaur 0]

Quote

If a student can not answer yes to any one of the fallowing: C I A (Comfortable, In control or Altitude aware), they should work towards the level to where they can yes to all and give themselves five seconds to do so.

This is the problem with CIA: it gives priority to the least important element. I don't think there are any instructors who want to apply the 5-second rule to altitude awareness, and yet that is exactly what is said above -- even though you didn't intend it, you taught it.

Try instead AIR:
Altitude aware. You can see your altimeter and you know it's working.
In control. If not, and altitude permits, 5 seconds to get that way.
Relaxed and comfortable. You don't have to continue freefall if you don't want to.

You could make your explanation even simpler by stopping after "In control."

Where in the SIM or IRM is CIA?

Mark

[lug 4]

I see what you are saying I’ll try using AIR. Just like the circle of awareness, the first thing a student should be doing is checking their altitude when they are given the hand signal or they do it on there own.

I have also not found C I A in the SIM, but for me it came from my AFF certification course where the class was instructed by the evaluator to teach it during the ground school for the level 3 jump. It is however found in the video tape I received with my AFF package titles “USPA AFF Level Three Training” Second Edition. I feel that if this information about C I A on the tape was incorrect or out dated then the USPA would have taken it out before the wide distribution to the candidates as part of their AFF package.

Things change over time so I am not sure if even the USPA is including a video in the AFF candidate package since the IRM’s introduction.

Memento Mori