Pure AFF

[markbaur 0]

For those instructors doing AFP and who have used both Strongs and Vectors, do you have an instructional preference for one rig or the other? That is, leaving out issues like ease of packing or harness comfort, which system is more likely to produce a good freefall student?
Mark

[Tee 0]

We had to pass 4 levels of static line before we could preceed to AFF (PFF). First was just a "I have no recollection", let go of the plane static line. The next was an awareness jump where you would have to watch the instructor as you were falling from the plane and give the same signal back as they gave you (ie thumbs up). Then you would have to do two "paper pulls" where you pull a newspaper out of the boc to show you can reach and pull. After doing that twice, you were able to start AFF.
Tee

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[Watcher 0]

Hey ill be at ASC tommorrow. On thing (not trying to turn this into a ASC vs other GA DZs debate) is that Monroe and Thomaston have alot more regular jumpers. Thomaston is pretty big on freefly where monroe is alot more RW but i hear its getting more interest in FF lately. cant compete with Thomaston on open landings its huge compared to Cedartown, and the packing area is also alot bigger, no walk up the hill to the plane either. I will say one thing against ASC though and that is from the jumpers just off student status that have come to us, they were not taught much through out their AFF course regarding canopy control, how to do full gear checks, packing, and a few other things that were drilled into me at monroe. Of all the Ga DZ, monroe i honestly believe has the best instructors with alot of expirence. Thomaston has the youngest crowd, alot of 19-30 yr olds and lots of partying over the weekends. i live on campus at Tech and have it an hour to asc and monroe, but choose the hour and 15 to thomaston. I encourage you to say with ASC just cause i dont want Ben mad at me for sending a student away, but just make sure you ask alot of specific questions so they dont neglect to tell you things. If you out there tommorrow maybe ill c ya there.

[canopycudler 0]

Ok. help me out here.. If you do the AFF.. and have seven jumps ... do you still have to get the 20 jumps for A lic? and how do your levels work? Just Curious..
Tina

[canopycudler 0]

we do have s/l and tandem progression.. but i think a huge majority of jumpers at our dz go the s/l.. since I went through tandem progression six months ago.. i can think of two people? is that right guys? that have done it..me, Christian, Clark.. did Keith & Clay do s/l? Hey what ever happended to that one girl.. can't remmber her name.. red hair.. Dad was a pilot.. i haven't seen her in awhile.
I see pros and cons to both ways.. as a personal preference.. I liked the Tandem progression. that first hop n pop on Jump 18 spooked mea little.. not sure if it was the plane or the exit altitude..Going from the King Air at 14K to the Cessna at 4K was slightly differnt.. We were taught to pull at 6k..
Now.. in this cold crappy weather.. praise to the hop n pops !! Its all good!!
Wishing for Blue skies in St. Louis....
Tina

[magicmx5 0]

I did s/l. I thinks it's easier to gain altitude than lose it. Hop N Pops would be nice if the clouds were above 2K, temp>35, wind<30, but hey..who's complaining.
Keith

[Watcher 0]

Well after level 7, they ask you to normally do a hop n pop from lower altitude (3500 or so) to make sure you wont freak jumping out that low in case of emergency. But after that you are free to jump and do whatever you want, i think the DZ officially said you can only jump with Ds or solos, but you can pretty much jump with any licensed skydiver you want. After 20 jumps if youve met the skills on the profiency card you can apply get your A. Little bit cheaper cause your not paying for 10+ more coached jumps.
Jonathan

[bill2 0]

I jump at Bay Area Skydiving in Byron, and they do AFF only. The jumpmasters generally encourage a tandem first just so the student has an idea what is going on. I completed level 8 of AFF 1 - 8 in October, so I'm not sure what people mean by some DZ's not having the same level 7. I was under the impression that all students had to demonstrate the same skills at the same levels. Am I wrong? Do DZ's do their own program? I personally would not want to do the static line program. My first jump came off fine, but it was very reassuring to have 2 jumpmasters holding on to me, since it was definitely a sensory overload, and I would not want to handle the free fall by myself. I was potato chipping all over the place. I thought the canopy flying was the easiest part of the jump.

[Iflyme 0]

Over here on the Island, Rob, I think Gary has PFF students complete at least 2 IADs before moving on, but I could be wrong... anyway, I went the GFF way, but did a level 1 PFF when I was having trouble holding a good arch during my 5 second delay. Things moved along quickly after that!
Frank

[riggerrob 643]

There are two reasons why some DZs modify different AFF levels: time and pass rate.
Cessna-only DZs are usually limited to 10,000', because it takes most Cessnas most of the day to climb to 12,5000'. Exting at 10,000' only gives students about 30 seconds to complete the TLOs.
The other reason for modifying AFF levels is to improve a poor pass rate. Failing AFF levels is hard on the ego, so many DZs add an extra level to reduce the number of TLOs on any single jump and improve the pass rate.

[QuickDraw 0]

As a "potential" recruit and only having done tandem, i'm all in favor of tandems.
Watchin the video of my jump, it took my instructor 3 yanks to pull my head up for the "say hello etc to the vid man".
The tandem takes most of the safety out of the hands of the terrified, and i would recommend it to anyone.
I am considering going over to Florida in march to do the AFF,
any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanx :D

[Iflyme 0]

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any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Join the ranks of the bold, and the free, and fly with us! Those fleeting moments when you are above the earth are very liberating...
Certainly you can gather information about skydiving right here on this great website. Watch videos, look at a variety of skydiving photography...Do you live near a dropzone? Maybe you can get your hands on a copy of "The Skydivers Handbook"... it's a great resource... just get ready for a great experience!
Frank

[QuickDraw 0]

Thanks Frank, i've been glued to this site for neally two days now,
the wealth of information is quite staggering (just as a web-site).
I live in the UK and i'm aware of a few sites around me,but its the weather (as you all probebly know) ;).
I have heard some good reports (on here) about sebastian and their training, so thats good enough for me :).
Thanx again
L8rz Adrian.

[Iflyme 0]

I'm on the West Coast, so I know little about the DZs there, other than: there are many, and some are big! We jump one C-182 most weekends throughout the year here, except the busier weekends in the summer... A bunch of my buddies are in Arizona right now, in Eloy - bastards! Anyway, You might engage Skreamer for a ramble about skydiving in the UK

[skreamer 1]

Skydiving in the UK? Its cold, damn cold!!! Buy some skiing or snowboarding socks, thermal underwear and a good pair of winter gloves. I jump with an open-face helmet, so have just invested in a balaclava. Apart from the cold the weather is often better than the *summer*. I don't wish I was in Florida, really....
/s