AFF Student: when do I stop being horribly nervous about the exit

[chemcat_ 0]

It's purely a curiosity question! I have 5 jumps under my belt and find it amusing that I'm still UTTERLY Terrified of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Obviously not debilitatingly so but still. Enough that it creates a bit of a stall between my jump days building up the courage to go back.

So I just wanted to know when it became more routine and less scary during your learning process as a skydiver?

[Westerly 61]

Depends largely on the person. It could be your next jump or in 50 jumps. Hard to say. It's rare that an AFF student is not nervous so you're not alone. I've seen guys with thousands of jumps who had to quit skydiving for a few months because of an injury get nervous on their first jump when they join back in. It will go away eventually, you just have to jump more. The more you jump the more likely you are to get used to skydiving quicker. If you only do one jump per month, I wouldent expect you'd ever really get comfortable with it. At least not for awhile anyway.

[countzero 7]

Humans are born with an instinctual fear of heights as a survival mechanism. Being scared is normal and the fear may not ever really go away. However, as you gain experience with knowledge and training about the gear you are trusting your life to, it will become something you recognize and can handle better.

As I was going through AFF I went from being scared to enjoying the thrill of jumping. Then in my early days of having my A it shifted again to- the playground is out the door, let's go have fun!

diamonds are a dawgs best friend

[massis 2]

I guess like said it really depends on the jumper. I've got a mild fear of heights, was terrified when the door opened on my tandem but felt fine jumping out.

Then on my AFF lvl 1 my stomach dropped again when the door opened, and I didn't jump out as much as just pulled in my legs when the instructors basicly tossed me out. Felt fine the second my feet left the plane.

But ever since that jump I haven't had a problem. Jump AFF lvl 2 felt perfectly fine, didn't have any nerves until my first solo, which I solved by doing a cannonball out the door (squat, grab your knees, roll forward).

Any first gives me some nerves (first floating exit from outside the plane, first hop'n pop, ...) but nothing really uncomfortable, more excitement :)

[shorehambeach 9]

Ha ha that sounds like me so here my input to add to the others:

For the whole of my AFF my heart dropped when we got to altitude.

The door was a blur that I somehow managed to exit (thanks to my instructor)

During my consols (there's less pressure as you've no instructor exiting with you) it became easier.

At about 50 jumps the door monster had quietened down - it came back each time i was learning something new though but I had more coping skills to deal with it.

You learn to channel the fear into focus.

For me i've found that the people who have struggled with AFF and persisted have been the ones who have stayed in the sport long term.

I was laughing to myself last week in Switzerland when I was in a helicopter jumping out thinking back to the door monster and how its now my best friend. (until i learn something new !)

Good luck. Keep on keeping on.

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

For me, it took a while. There are a lot of factors.

Your own self confidence (sometimes misplaced, in both directions).
Your understanding of the gear.
Your physical abilities, primarily 'body position awareness'. Often gymnasts and ballet dancers do very well because they are used to knowing exactly where their arms & legs are and are good at putting them where they want.

Keep in mind that if you aren't nervous, then you are either nuts or don't understand the risks you are taking. I had a very experienced camera flyer tell me early on that, even after a few thousand jumps, he was still a bit nervous in the plane. And that if he ever reached the point that he wasn't, then he would very seriously consider calling it quits because he wouldn't be taking the risks seriously enough (complacency).

And, of course, there's the Duck.

A light hearted, but uncannily accurate portrayal of the AFF process. Including the "Freak-Out-O-Meter" and the best depiction of the "Door Monster" I've ever seen.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[dthames 0]

I had more problems with the waiting to go up and the waiting to get out, than I did actually getting out. Many times someone would get out on a low pass and I just wanted to get out rather than wait for the ride to the top.

How many people would ride a ski-lift to the top of the mountain and not want to get off the lift to ski down the slopes?

Learning to trust yourself to perform safely is pretty important. Be a good student and that trust should come soon. Don't fail to study.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[Capermel 0]

I was completely scared shitless up until about my 10th jump. I'm new too, just have 21 jumps but it def got easier for me after the 8th-10th.

[JamesBond 0]

dthames

Many times someone would get out on a low pass and I just wanted to get out rather than wait for the ride to the top.

LOL I hate when there are hop n pops on my load. I hate heights and tiny planes, so the climb-bank-power down-climb-bank cycles I resent big time

[Anachronist 2]

For me it took about 40-50 before the very scared/terrified feeling went away. If I go a couple months without jumping now I still get some pre flight jitters. A little bit of fear is healthy and keeps you aware and double/triple checking.

The biggest thing that will change over time and <100 jumps will be what you're afraid of. In the beginning, at least for me, it was silly things like harness structural failure (virtually unheard of) or catastrophic canopy failure (also very rare and usually "shoulda retired that thing 500 jumps ago"), or reserve failure (extremely rare). But now it is mostly collision in freefall, canopy collision, poor landing in a bad or off spot.

Climbers have a similar thing in the beginning "gear fear" as they call it.

As for the door/exit specifically, I still get very "alert" when it opens and it is exit time, a lot is happening and it makes sense to be. But again, quieted down after about 50 jumps, now I'm glad when the door light comes on, it is like "finally I can get out of this plane."

To help with it some, try some hop and pops where you're the one holding the door open with your knee, and try climbing out on the step before exiting (assuming you're in a Caravan or something with a big side door). Will kind of habituate the fear out of you some.

[Westerly 61]

After about 10 jumps some of the fear went away. I was still nervous, but not really 'afraid' like I was earlier in AFF. After about 50 jumps the nervousness dropped to the point that it was mostly just a background emotion. After 150 jumps it went away almost entirely to the point that my resting HR was probably around the same on the plane as on the ground (maybe slightly elevated, but not enough to notice). That said, just because I dont really get afraid in the airplane doesent mean I wont ever get afraid. I havent had a cutaway yet and I am sure that when I do it will be a bit scary. I have hit some pretty gnarly turbulence under canopy and that's scary. I have certainly been comfortable on the exit then been wishing I was on the ground under canopy because I was getting rocked around like I was in a sand storm.

Keep in mind currency plays a big role in how comfortable you are. I've talked to guys with several thousand jumps who took several months off that admitted they were scared on their first jump getting back into it.