Anon1234

I understand what you are saying about buying a beer and getting some time with the instructor. I don't feel that I should have to do that, but I know what you mean. I did pay almost $300 per jump with camera to get that time with the instructors. What did I pay for, 50 seconds in the sky and instruction on how to set my altimeter to "0". I was told we were going to get a briefing and if the couple minutes in the back of the truck are the briefing than that is not fair. My adrenaline in so high at that point, I don't recall half of what they have said to me. I need that couple minutes to catch my breath. When I have tried to talk to them when we get back to the packing area to get a little more info that is when the caos (sp) starts and they are talking to the tandem and to me at the same time. With the tandem getting the "quality" time. I have gone up to the instructor when I am taking off my gear and said "When we were in the truck you said something about flare, what was it." That instructor said, "Oh we have a log in the office and you will get a copy, it will have all your instructors comments in it. I've got to get ready for this tandem." Then they go on getting ready for the tandem. I don't want that to be me. I just want to feel confident that I was taught the basics that I need to know and continue my education from there. I have the SIM, many recommended books and videos, I don't remember who posted that thread with all the list of recommended reading (I wish I could remember who posted that), but I went and got alot of the items, to try and help me to get the information I need. The books and videos are not the same as a hands on gear check, showing, touching, seeing that everything is okay and properly routed. Knowing what to look for and having someone tell you. Maybe you are both right, maybe as a newbie I am in the wrong place and need to go to Elsinore. Maybe Perris is for the experienced and the tandems and not for someone who is still on student status. I am still going to give Perris an opportunity to redeem themselves with me.

I know that the A license proficiency card is not intended to be filled out by completion of AFF, but according to the instructor who did my graduation jump said that he wanted my packet because he is supposed to sign off on the "black" dots on the replica of the card that is in the packet. It is all color coded as to who, is supposed to sign off certain areas. If he mis-spoke and I will learn alot of these during my next jumps then I feel a little better. But some of these things are definate AFF items. I didn't want to turn this into my thread. I also don't want people to think that Perris is a bad place. I have had a wonderful time. I know that I have been going thru AFF at a bad time when people have gone weeks and weeks with no income and are hungry. I can totally understand that and respect that. Someone else posted that I shouldn't be asking ground school questions after the jump. I thought maybe gear checks were taught at a higher level of AFF. I am the student, who is expecting my instructors to teach me at the appropriate times, this is a very overwhelming experience and I thought maybe gear checks were a part of the graduation jump day. I was so overwhelmed and nervous about that day, that I just let them do as they have been doing all along and gave me a gear check, I did the usual, locate my three handle and the chest strap, and leg straps. I was told we were going to sit down after graduation, I thought that is when we go over all that is involved in a gear check. I guess if I am going to ensure survival I better learn to get vocal and let people know. Now that I know, what I should have learned so far I am going to do that. The instructors are there on rainy days? I figured you would be there on cloudy days, but not rainy days. I am trying to get a week off work so that I can come to the dz everyday and get this taken care of and as many jumps in so that I can get my A-License. = What days and times are you at Perris?

I was told after my gradution jump, when the instructor and I were going over the graduation packet, that I was supposed to be shown that at AFF 4. But the instructor who did my graduation jump didn't offer to show me how to do a gear check at that time. On my AFF 4 that jump I met my instructor on my way to the loading area as he had just come down from a tandem. He probably thought that who ever dealt with me on the ground had already taken care of any ground instructions besides the skydive. I am not blaming the instructors at all, and I understand the amount of money that the tandems bring in and with all the rain needing any jump that they can get. I just want to jump, and am afraid that there is something else that I haven't been taught that could save my life. I was never tested on anything. I just practiced the skydive, went up and jumped. I having been thinking about going to the school and meeting with either Stu or Molley (sp?) and talking to them about this and seeing how the response is before I go to either Elsinore or maybe down to Skydive San Diego.

I don't think I said whether I was a man or woman but I know what you mean, I have watched that. I have tried approaching the coached on several occassion and they have said "Well, I am on my way to take care of this tandem. Try and catch me later of see if someone else can help you." I do read the SIM and I will try your suggestion and I will work on being more aggressive and persistant and just hang out in the school.

Yes it is the Yellow Card, no I do not expect it to be done by the end of AFF, but in the graduation packet there is a replica of the Yellow Card with color coding in it and all the "black dots" are what the AFF instructor should be able to sign off and this helps them when going over the card at AFF graduation. I am not a troll and I have not read your PM yet and I will tell you who I am, just not in an open forum. The skydiving community is very small and I want to be a part of it for along time.

Sorry for the Anonymous reply, but this is not going to be a postive post for Perris Valley Skydiving and I am a newbie who had a very bad experience and don't want any ramifications from this post. I am a fairly recent graduate of the Perris Valley Skydiving School AFF program. After AFF I have felt so alone and on my own. There are so many things that I was supposed to be taught at each level on the ground that I was not. The only things we ever went over was the skydive. I did have FJC, but that doesn't go over each skydive and what to learn on the ground at each level. I didn't realize how much I was not taught until I was with my instructor at graduation and he was trying to sign off my profiencency card all the points that are marked to have been learned/gone over in AFF. He asked me if I had done a gear check on any one else. I told him that I had never been shown how to do a gear check on my own gear, the only thing I was shown was how to turn on the cypress. I was only told to know where my handles were. There are so many items on this card that are supposed to be gone over in AFF and were never addressed. I had gear checks done by other instructors on the ground and on the plane, but no ever took the time to show me what they were doing, I didn't ask because at the time I thought that is something they will show me in one of the later levels. The instructors at Perris are not given any time to be with the student before or after the jump. I would be handed a rig, by someone, then my instructor would come in from a tandem and ask me "So do you know the skydive?" Then we would go and do our jump, get in the truck and go back to the school. When you get to the school someone is standing pointing them to their next tandem, so you sort of get a briefing while they are introducing themselves to the tandem. I am so scared to get in the sky that I am either going to go to another (smaller, friendlier) drop zone and do AFF over or whatever they suggest so that I can continue with a sport that I love or I may hire a private coach to work with me. I almost never can get time with an instructor at Perris. I have waited so long that now I am not current. I have thought about talking to someone at the dropzone but don't even know who to go to with this issue. I am a very non-confrontational person and don't want any trouble. The standard statement I read on here when us newbies ask a questions is "Ask Your Instructor". Well, not a lot of confidence that I will get any time with an instructor at Perris, unless I start using vacation days and go during the week. I wish they would have given us the card at the beginning of AFF because I would have demanded that my instructors go over the things that I was to learn on the ground. Now it is too late and all that money is gone and I am afraid to jump. This incident made me even more scared, I don't want what I was not taught and didn't know to ask to be taught it to be my demise. To their credit, they do make sure that you have had harness room time, I am very confident that in an emergency I will recognize it and do the right things in the right order. I have already has line twists, recognized the problem and handle it with no panic.