Looooove it, but...............

[ellbee 0]

Hi everyone,
I went to the freefell university in Aranjuez, Spain last week to do AFF. I had never jumped out of a plane before. I got stuck on level 5 because I am having problems with stability. I just can't seem to relax, which I have discovered is really important, but falling at 120mph, relaxing is the last thing i feel like doing. I am getting some coached tunnel time tomorrow, this will hopefully help me out. I haven't been able to stop thinking about anything else but skydiving since and am going to do whatever it takes to pass my AFF. Is there anyone else who hasn't found stability as easy as it is meant to be ? I feel like I am the only wannabe skydiver that can't gert stable !

[countzero 7]

hang in there, remember you're in a totally new environment. it took me 3 tries to pass level 4 due to stability issues. the tunnel will help alot. best of luck and have fun!

diamonds are a dawgs best friend

[airathanas 0]

It's hard to relax your body if your mind is stressed out. Make sure that you are still breathing- some people unintentionally hold their breath when they are in situations of high stress.

Tunnelling will really help out too!

http://3ringnecklace.com/

[dreaming13000 1]

Tunnel time! will help alot.

Also I found that when climbing to 13k, if I started relaxed breathing techniques at about 10k while visualizing the entire freefall from the door, my body went out of the plane in a relaxed state and breathing wasn't anything I had to think about, my body was already there.

(deep breath in for 10 seconds, then out slowly for 10 seconds...repeat until you are out that door) who cares what everyone else on that plane thinks about the newbie...they were all newbies once themselves with the same nervous fears...

It is all mind over matter, but it also helps to repeatedly go over your emergency procedures and know your equipment well....trust yourself, your instructors and your equipment.

This also helped me
http://www.uspa.org/publications/SIM/2007SIM/section4.htm

good luck
visualize your success
and blue skies!
jess

"A man only gets in life what he is believing for, nothing more and nothing less" Kenneth Hagen

[HeatherObscura 0]

maybe try doing some long stretches before a jump...i think flexibility is really important to get a good arch. Ive been doing yoga for years and when i started skydiving it just felt natural, ALSO remember that you need to push your hips forward as faaaar as you can as opposed to just arching your back. Good luck

[dnhump 1]

Hey ellbee,

Stop trying! Just experience the insanity of falling through the sky with your hips pushed out.

I have the seceret to successfully falling stable...

Are you ready to hear it?

Smile! That's right, simply smile. Know that you will be just fine, push your hips out like never before and smile!

If you truely "Looooove it", smile and be proud!

[Chubba 0]

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Are you ready to hear it?

Smile! That's right, simply smile. Know that you will be just fine, push your hips out like never before and smile!

That's it
My AFF4 (release dive) went horrible, rig caught the door on exit, I span throughout the dive and dislocated my shoulder from a hard opening.

AFF5 a month later, determined to just "enjoy it"... smiled the whole ride to altitude... jumped out, let my body turn to jelly and put on a big grin... easiest dive I've ever done, 360 turns and docking no problems.

It seems silly when people tell you to relax... but just relax, go completely relaxed... it makes flying THAT much easier... just say "F*** IT!" and loosen up all your muscles.

[vskydiver 0]

When you get out of the plane, close your eyes. Freefall is very overwhelming at first. If you cut off your sense of sight and concentrate on going limp, that might work. Once you achieve your new relaxed state, open your eyes and enjoy. You'll get it.

[mminolli 0]

I had this problem too, but quickly found out how to fix it. People kept telling me to relax, and I felt relaxed, but I was still unstable.

It finally hit me when I realized I was putting muscle into forcing my self into and arch. It wasn't until I just literally relaxed every muscle in my body (like meditating) I was able to gain stability. The arch then became totally natural, the air hitting my belly did all the arching work!

Good luck, hope this helps!

[rwieder 0]

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Tunnel time! will help alot.

I couldn't disagree with this statemen more. in fact it's bordinline ludicrous.. How will tunnel time help a new sky diver over come fear, reiticnecy to breath? Not to mention you do not have your rig on your back, which you shouldn't. So the air stream your feeling isn't at all waht you'd be experiencieng through actual free fall.

Do me a favor, humou an old man. Next time you exit, just watch the plane fly away on the prot side wing tip on the pilots side, then just fall into the slip stream. I must give Chris Miller SDSL, a wonderful and telented Dive Master Chris Miller At SDSL, "Do a prop exit, and watch the plane fly away and enjouy you canopy ride. When i did my grauduation Hop-N-Pop at SDSL, Chris had a tandem passenger, and could't be with me, best Hop-N-Pop I've ever had! Thanks Chris!

Not him brin there, but knoening wss om my own and relying on my own skill taught to mr by my Excekkent sjyu=ive

Thank you, you know who your re, These two professiomal sky master diving masters, I leaned andlearned wekk.

-Richard-
"You're Holding The Rope And I'm Taking The Fall"

[sartre 0]

Quote

Quote

Tunnel time! will help alot.

I couldn't disagree with this statemen more. in fact it's bordinline ludicrous.. How will tunnel time help a new sky diver over come fear, reiticnecy to breath? Not to mention you do not have your rig on your back, which you shouldn't. So the air stream your feeling isn't at all waht you'd be experiencieng through actual free fall.

Do me a favor, humou an old man. Next time you exit, just watch the plane fly away on the prot side wing tip on the pilots side, then just fall into the slip stream. I must give Chris Miller SDSL, a wonderful and telented Dive Master Chris Miller At SDSL, "Do a prop exit, and watch the plane fly away and enjouy you canopy ride. When i did my grauduation Hop-N-Pop at SDSL, Chris had a tandem passenger, and could't be with me, best Hop-N-Pop I've ever had! Thanks Chris!

Not him brin there, but knoening wss om my own and relying on my own skill taught to mr by my Excekkent sjyu=ive

Thank you, you know who your re, These two professiomal sky master diving masters, I leaned andlearned wekk.

Ok, apparantly you disagree with tunnel time helping the AFF progression, but beyond that it's a little difficult to tell what the heck you're trying to say.

I, on the other hand, AGREE. I flew several hours in the tunnel prior to my first skydive. I breezed trhough AFF.....in fact, the fact that I knew the basics of handling the freefall portion was what kept me plugging away when my landings continued to be problematic.

In the beginning, it's sensory overload being in the air. If you've already got the muscle memory to get you in a stable position, you've got a lot accomplished. It was very difficult for me to get how to accomplish a good arch....so I focused on that in the tunnel. I am SO thankful that I did so, as it was one less thing I had to worry about figuring out in the air.

[Jewels 0]

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Tunnel time! will help alot.

I couldn't disagree with this statemen more. in fact it's bordinline ludicrous.. How will tunnel time help a new sky diver over come fear, reiticnecy to breath?

There are plenty of people who learned to handle themselves in freefall the hard way--by making all of their jumps without the benefit of having a tunnel--and you could probably do the same. On the other hand, there's no reason to ignore a useful tool when it's available to you. The wind tunnel may not remove all of your fear, but it can certainly help counteract it. The more familiar the sensation of free fall, the easier it is to relax. My tunnel time vastly exceeds my jump numbers and getting into free fall is what actually starts allowing me to relax because that's the familiar part of the jump to me.

My theory is that you're going to fall from the plane no matter what your orientation. If you can master a comfortable belly position and concentrate instead on the other important parts of the dive, like altitude awareness, awareness of what's going on in the air space around you (like the signals your instructor is giving you or where other jumpers may be), and what you need to be doing on the jump as you lead up to pull time, you're a step ahead. And, for what it's worth, I haven't noticed a big difference on my AFF jumps between having a rig on my back and not having a rig on my back in the tunnel. I think you're more likely to notice that difference with sit-flying or other orientations.

I can't imagine that your instructor would tell you not to do tunnel time, but they are still always the best resource. Before you listen to the online banter and debate (even though I'm sure I'm right ), run it past them if you have any questions. It sounds like you've already decided to take the tunnel route and, if so, I hope it helps! Oh--and don't forget to breathe! You can think about that in the tunnel, too. Oxygen is good. . . .

TPM Sister #102

[ghost47 18]

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I couldn't disagree with this statemen more. in fact it's bordinline ludicrous.. How will tunnel time help a new sky diver over come fear, reiticnecy to breath?

One problem that I had during my AFF was that, whenever I went unstable, I reflexively put my hands out to steady myself, because that's what you do on the ground -- when you're about to fall, you either put your hands out to steady yourself, or you even ball up to protect your vital organs.

When I was in the tunnel, there were times that I would go unstable. It would be apparent when that was, because the tunnel was so small and had so many reference points, that if I started to flip or spin or whatever, it was immediately noticeable. If I tried to do any of my "ground" reflexes (put my hands out, ball up), I'd go even more unstable. After two tunnel sessions, it finally sank in at more than an intellectual level that arching fixes instability. So when I started to flip or spin or whatever, I relaxed and arched. That made me stable, and as it happened over and over, it got etched into my brain that arching = stability.

And that's what I do in the sky now. Whereas my pre-tunnel jumps, when I went unstable, my first instinct was to engage those ground reflexes, which of course didn't work.

So I think for those of us who didn't start with a good arch, and who were having trouble instinctively arching when things went bad, the wind tunnel is a great (if expensive) resource to help cure that problem.

[popsjumper 2]

Your post was useful...it gets people thinking...and that's a good thing. Playing the Devil's Advocate is a valid technique to get people to think.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[finch 0]

Try to "stick your d*ck in the dirt"if your a male.I tell myself that everytime I exit or feel a little unstable and it works.Good luck !!

"Never go full retard"

[bloody_trauma 2]

ya man, chack out with your intructor, look at the wing, give your exit count... out, in, out, and as you say out, just present your body to the wind and step out, keep your eyes on the plane and relax, find your instructor, and initiate your manuevers.

once you learn the upper body turns and get into the lower body turns, falling is far less complicated, from muscle memory, you will simply know that you want to do something and your body follows your thoughts almost in an unconscious manner.

Relax bro... take some deep breaths, all you have to do is fall, its not that complicated.

and remember its never the fall that kills you...

Fly it like you stole it