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chalz

Howdy, AFF fail on first level 2x

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Started AFF, thinking it was going to be a breeze, always knew I had the gusto to jump, that was never the problem. First jump went terrible, tumbled out of the plane over ten seconds to get level Or at least that's what it felt like. Hand signals on the ground went perfect, looking at them while falling to the earth not so much. On both jumps given (the finger) to pull chute and it was like huh? What are you pointing at? I feel like my brain overthinks the simplest of concepts. Hey, it is what it is. Anyways...jump two went I'd say 30% better than the first... Got out the plane, leveled quicker, still not a great arch, four second count, check, circle of awareness, check, missed first practice pull, got the other two, circle of awareness and instructor pulls chute, forgot to lock on to altimeter and when I checked we were coming up on 500 hard,  first time was around 4500 feet (I believe). I'm relatively intelligent and watched people fail the ground course schooling which I had no problem with but they killed it in the wind tunnel, I was terrible in the wind tunnel but tested well, prefer to be the former....

 

Kinda looking for a mentor if that's a thing, got some good advice on Perris' experienced skydiving facebook page, off to hit the wind tunnel next week to hone that arch.

 

Any tips, advice, locals, etc... 

 

 

any and everything helps, feeling a bit overwhelmed, but rather feel overwhelmed than underwhelmed and risk my safety one day.

 

Cheers

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If it's any consolation, what you're experiencing is very common. At a glance it could seem like gravity does all the work, how hard could it be? B|

Truth is it's overwhelming for many people. Some of us failed an AFF level multiple times and went on to make thousands of jumps. We all start out at "square one". Best advice I could give is to lean on your instructors for tips and help. They are the best equipped to talk you through it all. And the wind tunnel, in my opinion, can help a lot.

Best of luck! Welcome to the sport!

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(edited)

Remove the word fail from your vocabulary.  Did you learn something? Then you didn't fail. Were there things you did right? Then you didn't fail. Are you alive?  Then you didn't fail. 

Student jumps can be way overwhelming. There are lots of people who have to repeat a category or three and yet go on to be excellent skydivers. Just keep at it. 

You can only fall if you don't try. :)

Edited by skybytch
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(edited)

I had 4 Cat D jumps.  My instructor pulled for me on my first Cat D at 10 grand.  AFF has it's frustrating moments, but try not to let it get to you.  You're gonna feel like you just wasted $200 on a jump that doesn't count for anything, but remind yourself that it counts for your learning.  I started AFF memorial day weekend 2018, got my A license at 25 jumps on Labor Day, B License about 3 weeks ago, and just hit 100 jumps on Sunday and I still get frustrated when I have a jump that doesn't go the way it was supposed to (which is like, every jump, btw).  I'm working on reframing it in my head that there's always something you can take away as a learning experience from any jump as long as you don't die.  Welcome!

Edited by yobnoc
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Like SkyBytch said... If you learn something, then the jump was not a failure.  My first AFF jump my instructor had to pull for me because I could not get stable. It takes time, but you will get it as long as you don't give up. In my experience, I went to the wind tunnel for 30 minutes w/coaching and was able to iron out my stability issues for AFF. Welcome to the sky!

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One way to think about it is you have all of 2 minutes in the sport (i.e., freefall). Think about how many hours of practice other activities require to achieve basic proficiency, let alone excellence. Spending more time in the tunnel sounds like a good idea to me. As others have said, don't be too hard on yourself. It's easy to do because everything is so time-compressed & every jump feels precious. Enjoy the ride as much as you can & just keep jumping! It's hard not to get better as long as you keep at it & learn something from every jump.

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New to skydiving, but old guy here. Worked multiple fields. I truly think it is better to struggle at the beginning, especially with difficult and dangerous things.

I've seen people in other occupations/pursuits who seemed to lead a charmed progression.

Until they hit a real problem.

Then, although they are undeniably technically proficient and possess the physical skills, they freeze in the moment because they never 'struggled' with it before. 

They have the knowledge by rote, but never had to rapidly think their way out of a box.

Also, bilbliwho makes an outstanding point. You only have a 2 minute window to learn. Sort of like never even hearing of chess, then learning by playing the best speed hustler in Central Park at 200 bucks a game.

jmho

ymmv

 

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