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Dumping when no JM's are around during AFF

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I was repeating my Cat D dive for the third time last saturday and for during each jump I had different instructors guiding me. For the first 2 jumps, both instructors had a harness hold on me and were just a few feet away during the freefall. For my third jump, I thought that the JM would be doing the harness hold as well but after riding the hill I was surprised to see no one around. I was stable and altitude aware at that time and did contemplate waving off and dumping as I was taught for AFF's 1-3. The JM appeared about 15 feet in front of me at about 8500 and I met the dive objectives from then on without any problems. :)

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>for which levels of AFF do you have to dump when you don't have a JM with you?

For my students, it's levels 1-3. From level 4 on, if they are altitude aware, stable and in control, they can continue the dive (with no actions other than falling stable) until pull altitude.

But every program is a little different, so ask your JM's what your program entails.

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Yep , I will check with them again when I head back. I was stable and altitude aware and didn't want to waste my $$$ by dumping that high. :P He told me he was behind me after we got back to the hanger, when I asked him why he wasn't with me for the initial part and told him I almost wanted to dump as I was still under the AFF's 1-3 mentality, he smiled and said "you're a skydiver now, why dump so high up?" That made my day. :)

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Good job! I repeated a few levels in AFF and now I teach AFF, funny world. Sounds like you’re doing fine. BTW: I’ve been on a few higher jumps where I was little more than feet from a student and they had no clue I was there until they finished their performance objectives and I few in front of their faces to give them a big thumbs up. :)
"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

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AFF has been quite a rollercoaster ride, when I was on my climbout for the first jump that day the moment I was out I told myself "shit, why am I doing this again?". Fell like a block of wood, couldn't relax and stop my slow spin on the turns. Was still pretty tense on the 2nd jump, this time I flipped on my back because I dropped a knee :o. Arched hard after the shock of seeing the sky, got myself belly to earth. AFFI was on my left and I could see him say RELAX and suddenly a lightbulb went off and everything clicked from there. :)

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Yeah, I know the feeling of being unable to relax in freefall...I think everyone has been there...if not...they're not normal! haha! Anyways Im new to the sport too...I have 21 jumps and plan on finishing the student program this weekend....Im so incredibly exicted! I started off pretty bad in freefall, landings, and everything but like you said about my 10th jump something just clicked and I learned to relax and take in the view and it's been incredible ever since! Well it's always been incredible but it's so much more fun when you can relax and really really enjoy freefall and when you start doing barrell rolls...(those are my fav.)
Good luck fellow skydiver;)
My only time of being at total peace is when im in freefall and flying my canopy safely to the ground! Skydiving has honestly and truly saved my life!

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Quote

I was repeating my Cat D dive for the third time last saturday and for during each jump I had different instructors guiding me. For the first 2 jumps, both instructors had a harness hold on me and were just a few feet away during the freefall. For my third jump, I thought that the JM would be doing the harness hold as well but after riding the hill I was surprised to see no one around. I was stable and altitude aware at that time and did contemplate waving off and dumping as I was taught for AFF's 1-3. The JM appeared about 15 feet in front of me at about 8500 and I met the dive objectives from then on without any problems. :)



As a Brit, not familiar with cat D, can someone explain what a Cat D jump is. Just being nosey I guess.

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I'm NOT totally useless... I can be used as a bad example

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There are 2 levels to a CatD dive, first you have to demonstrate ability to start and stop 90deg turns and 180deg turns if altitude permits. In the 2nd level one has to make 180 and 360 deg turns. Of course one also has to maintain altitude awareness and dump at the pre-assigned altitudes for the jumps. More info can be found in the 2006 skydiver information manual from USPA.

Off topic, weather outlooks ain't promising this weekend... :(

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