After AFF?

[Nicknero1405 0]

Alright, thanks for the information Dragon.
I was just confused by the price list and wanted some clarification. Your second last post has all the information I needed about that subject. So thanks. ;)

I graduated AFF last sunday and did my first solo jump that same day. John (Opa) was nice to let me make my first solo jump without KNVvL membership so I could get that the first of July to save half the cost, which I got now. Tomorrow I'll be making a couple of more jumps at Teuge as well. So perhaps I see you tomorrow then?

I apologize to anyone if I come over as annoying, or any other negative way. I'm simply full of curiosity and interest and want to find out everything in maybe a too fast phase.

Oh and yeah of course I know Yvonne. She's manifest and did my pincheck last time.

[coolin 0]

dragon2

***very silly of me, i just realised today that I've been e-mailing Paracentrum Teuge, not Paracentrum Texel. They said that it takes about 50 jumps in Holland to get an A license, and I don't have enough money to do so though. :(

If money is an object, and you are going to jump at Teuge anyway, why not do staticline instead of AFF? At Teuge you only pay for the first jump course, after you are considered proficient at staticline (SL jumps are from 3.5000ft) you open your parachute yourself (at 5.000ft), after that you get to jump from 7.000 ft, 9.000ft and then 12.000 ft. All of these jumps you only have to pay your own slot + equipment rental, as here is no instructor juming with you/you have to pay for. So by the time you've spend as much as the AFF course costs you'll have many more jumps than 7 (25ish?) and are well on your way to your A license.

Hi there,
Sorry if i got it wrong, but are you saying I can do the SL course and then jump off on my own to work towards my A license? Very roughly, how much would it cost if I did a SL course then jumped until i got my A license at your dropzone?

[dragon2 0]

coolin

Hi there,
Sorry if i got it wrong, but are you saying I can do the SL course and then jump off on my own to work towards my A license? Very roughly, how much would it cost if I did a SL course then jumped until i got my A license at your dropzone?

Sort of, yes. You'll get a briefing before each jump where you are doing something new, this briefing is always free.

You need 5 relative instruction jumps for your A ("TRIP"), where you pay the coach's slot.

You'll probably need to pay for a packing course or 2.

A SL student should be able to get to his/her A in 45-75 jumps. You need a suit (rented by the day or by jump or bought), alti (rented per jump or bought), helmet (same), goggles (bought).

So, price list:
SL first jump course: eur 420 (5 jumps, including all needed rental gear and packing)
Small logbook: included with SL course
KNVvL membership (mandatory after finishing your SL or AFF course, mainly for insurance purposes): eur 112,50 per year (or half a year eur 56,25 if after july 1st)
A couple extra SL jumps: 45 eur per jump (this includes rig rental)
Freefall jumps: most will be eur 20, a few lower ones for eur 14
Rig rental for freefall jumps: eur 13
Packing: 5 eur per jump, until you learn yourself (good incentive)
Rental suit, helmet: eur 2,50 per day for each I think
Rental alti: eur 5 per jump, so best go and buy a 2nd hand one
Packing course: eur 25 (may need 2), or become a member of NPCT then it's free
TRIP jump: eur 35 x 5 jumps
Suit hire for TRIP jumps (you need a suit with "grips"): 5 euro/jump
A license exam: free
A license itself: eur 13,50
Mandatory "harness checks" every 3 months: free
Repeat course: eur 75, try not to need one (no more than 3 months between jumps)

If you rent everything, take 75 jumps to reach your A and jump for one calender year max, this comes to ~eur 4000. ~Eur 3300 if you can do it in 50 jumps.

Cheapest: buy a 2nd hand analog altimeter (profit regardless), maybe a new or 2nd hand pro-tec/benny type helmet (for less than eur 70 = profit), buy a simple suit 2nd hand or a coverall (less than eur 70 = profit, color: not orange or red), learn to pack yourself ASAP and don't leave too much time between jumps to help learning. When done, you can always sell the suit, helmet and alti again for close what you paid for them.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Nicknero1405 0]

At Teuge you can get one packing course for free with a basic course (AFF or SL) and they are every last friday of the month. So I applied for the next one which is Friday 31th of July.

Also, you sure it's 5 TRIP jumps? Because the website says 10. Unless it differs per person. (Like 5, minimum or 10 maximum).
Edit: Nvm, website says /maximum/ 10 TRIP jumps. So I guess it is 5, but can increase to 10 depending on your results.
And what would you suggest as a good start for TRIP? At how many jumps or what kind of skill. (As in, what positions or maneuvers do you recommend to practice before you start with TRIP?)

Am I understanding it right, that the whole road towards my A license would be roughly about this?:
- AFF (total 7 jumps)
- Couple of solo (total 25?? jumps)
- TRIP (Total 30/35 jumps) (Depending if TRIP is 5 or 10 jumps)
- Some more solo (Till a total of 50ish jumps)
- A license exam.

[dragon2 0]

The TRIP course, which allows you to jump with other jumpers who finished theirs, is 10 jumps, or maybe more if you need it to complete all the tasks. You need 10 TRIP jumps MINIMUM to get signed off.

For your A, you just need to have done the first 5 TRIP jumps.

Read: your A doesn't necessarily allow you to jump with other non-coach/instructor jumpers (in The Netherlands anyway). A finished TRIP course DOES.

So if your goal like the OP (to keep this on topic) is to get your A you can stop after 5 TRIP jumps.

Again, this stuff is all online free to read: click

Not sure what would be a good place to start TRIP at after AFF, I think it is wise to do some solos and maybe do the progressively lower jumps after that.
For SL it takes more jumps to get ready for TRIP, I think the minimum number of jumps to start TRIP is 20 these days but could be mistaken (been a while since I did a lot of TRIP jumps). No need for an AFF jumper to practice a lot of stuff specifically, just be "free in the sky" enough that added distractions and tasks are no problem. This is usually not an issue for AFF.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[DSE 3]

Nicknero1405

My advice, which is exactly what I'm doing myself now as well: After you're done with your AFF, go have fun and do as many solo jumps as you can. Pick up some skills at your own phase and discover new stunts and manoeuvres step by step. Such as salto's, delta flying, or even vertical flying.

Although this is indeed fun, jumping solo at the earliest stages of the learning process can ingrain some bad habits that you won't discover until you begin jumping with others.

Other than solo distance/time wingsuit jumps, skydiving is a very social sport. Learning to be in the air with others, and discover your position control and movement relative to others requires being in the air with others that have training to deal with less than stable and position-controllable students.

In short, I'd suggest tempering the solo jumps and jump with coaches, instructors, or those rated/qualified to jump with newer skydivers. Your growth curve will be rapid, and you'll be a much better skydiver. Plus, jumping with others frequently means you'll have video that allows for proper debriefs.

[Nicknero1405 0]

DSE

***

My advice, which is exactly what I'm doing myself now as well: After you're done with your AFF, go have fun and do as many solo jumps as you can. Pick up some skills at your own phase and discover new stunts and manoeuvres step by step. Such as salto's, delta flying, or even vertical flying.

Although this is indeed fun, jumping solo at the earliest stages of the learning process can ingrain some bad habits that you won't discover until you begin jumping with others.

Other than solo distance/time wingsuit jumps, skydiving is a very social sport. Learning to be in the air with others, and discover your position control and movement relative to others requires being in the air with others that have training to deal with less than stable and position-controllable students.

In short, I'd suggest tempering the solo jumps and jump with coaches, instructors, or those rated/qualified to jump with newer skydivers. Your growth curve will be rapid, and you'll be a much better skydiver. Plus, jumping with others frequently means you'll have video that allows for proper debriefs.

Well yeah, I would love to start on my TRIP jumps (Teuge Relative Instructional Program) but I was afraid that if I'm too early with this, I might fail some of the tasks. Hence I wanted to improve my skill with a couple of solo jumps first. But it's hard to determine how many jumps, or what skill level you really need to start with those TRIP jumps.