Sep 17, 2003, 6:28 PM
Post #1 of 39
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new to skydiving?
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Hello everyone,
I'm not sure if I should be posting here or not, but wanted to get insight from people who have experience.
I went on my first tandem jump in pepperell, ma last saturday. It was a great experience. Since then I have dreamed about, obsessed about and just in general non-stop thought about skydiving. I've watched my video about a dozen times now. I guess I'm hooked. My husband calls me nuts, but I really considered it to be a life changing event for me.
I've already made plans to go again October 11th but would like to know what the next logical steps would be and how to go about it?
I had such a great time, I feel if I don't go again, and soon - I'll explode!!!
is so then maybee you should look into going the rout of aff.. accellerated freefall...
if your not sure then maybee you should do another tandam...
if you dont want to become a skydiver but you want the thrill every now and then.... well just keep doing tandams...
there is a tandam progression program that works for some... but in my opinion.."me being an aff instructor and tandam instructo." if you want to do it and you know you want to do it .. then do the aff program... i think it is the best way to learn... the tandam progression program is good too... but i see alot of students have a few problems crossing over.... what i mean by that is.. well you have to cross over to the aff program at some point in the tandam progression... and it is a large leap....."no pun intended"...
ask your drop zone about wich kind of methods they have to teach you to become a skydiver...
Sep 17, 2003, 6:59 PM
Post #5 of 39
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Re: [FrenchyDiver] new to skydiving?
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Thanks for the welcome.
I'm still in a bit of a fog, unsure if its really me in those pictures. Hell... if I didn't have the pictures I don't think I'd remember much of the free fall....
It sure is It's called sensorial overload. What happens is that in the case of a first skydive, there's way too much new things/feelings/emotions for our brain to cope with, thus it shuts off some parts, like "How come I can't remember what happened between me being at the plane door and me being under an open canopy". Then, it varies from one individual to another, some remember evrey thing as of the 2nd jump, some others it takes a few more jumps.
All in all, it's very normal. You are still the same nice person you were before your 1st jump. Except for one thing...........You are now a Skydiver. Stand tall and proud. Welcome to our family.
Yep...*touches your forhead, detects high temp building up*... Dear Jennifer, I am very much afraid to report that you got the skydiver's bug. Now, the good news is that it never goes away
There's no timeframe set up on a specific date you have to have completed your levels to get your license, nor a specific number of jumps by when you have to get it or else. It will depend on how you progress, and that again varies from one person to another. One thing that matter is trying not to let too much time go between your jumps, so you keep what you learned current and not loose them. Not a big deal either, you may need to repeat the last jump, if too much time went by, and if your instructors deem it necessary. Just a possibility to keep in mind.
All in all, you can do it according to your budget. Say, every weekend, every two week ends etc...
I'm not sure what the cost is for AFF at Pepperel but if it is 3K I would look at going to boston-providence. The AFF course there is $2000 all the way through to your A license. They even allow you to fail a couple of levels and repeat them for that price.
Very true! The money aspect doesn't worry me at all, as I know its not all at once. Just hope hubby agrees with me.
I take it that there is no time limit on getting an A license? Pepperell does break it out by level - is there a time line to finish it by?
yes there is a time limit...
you have to make one jump every 30 days all the way till you get your a license.... then to keep your a license current you have to do one every 60 days i believe.... then if you want to get the unlimited then you would have to get oyu d license... wich is going to 500 jumps soon....
The total price is about $2500 - but I heard the AFF A license requirements were changing to add more jumps - so I'm sure that the price goes up accordingly.
I'd have no problem doing SDProvidence (its actually Lincoln, RI as I'm in Providence), but that DZ was closed for a while (not sure why) and I felt better at Pepperell becuase of the private airport - but the 2 hour drive is a bit much....
Very true what marks said, yep it is a max of 30 between jumps, til you get your A license. Same with the 60 days period afterwards. My bad, I forgot that one. Sorry.
I'm sure once I get to that point I'll feel more comfortable will all of this anyway, and the time limit won't be a problem.
The only thing that keeps sticking in the back of my head is the only 'injury' I got from the tandem Saturday - which was a bruised knuckle from the botched landing (yep, face first, yep my fault). I'm sure if I continue to do more jumps I'll get more comfortable with various aspects.
Here's something you can start reading, it's the SIM manual (Skydiver's Information Manual) from the USPA. It details all you need to know about the levels for each type of license as well as a quiz test with the correct answer at the end of each level. You will also have to join the USPA (around $50.00 / year) in order to get your licenses
Sep 17, 2003, 7:51 PM
Post #21 of 39
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Re: [FrenchyDiver] new to skydiving?
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Was wondering how much a USPA membership was - cause of course hubby wants me to get my butt covered by an insurance that'll cover me in a SD related accident (that hopefully would never happen), and I heard you can get it through USPA.
Here's the link for the insurances. Membership is (went and checked) $51.00 annual, for new members, $49.00, annual, renewals. You can register online as well. Then the USPA will send you your card with your USPA member number by mail.
It's called sensorial overload. 
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