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zcohen13

Location for AFF course

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Definitely price out the entire cost to get your A license at close enough Drop Zones. (You may end up making the drive quite frequently)

I just got my A at Skydive Spaceland in Atlanta - there are locations in FL and TX as well. Cost was $2400 I think AND after getting your A they will let you have FREE coached jumps where you can continue to pick up and refine your skills up to your 100th jump.

Good luck!

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I'm still having a hard time understanding.. I do want my A license, but my original plan was to take the AFF and then pay the 25$ jump fee afterwards until I got to 25 jumps. Some people are saying I can jump solo after the AFF and others aren't. So just to be clear, if I completed the AFF, the following jumps would all have to be with a coach or D license holder (meaning the cost would be more than a typical 25$ jump fee)?

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Lake Wales was hosting the Collegiate National Parachuting Championships when my wife and I passed through on a business trip last month. The young competitors raved about the warm reception they received from the staff, the facilities, and how well organized the event was.

Windline is the gear store/jumpsuit manufacturer located on the field. Their RW suits started appearing at our home DZ up north a few years ago. High quality and durable at an excellent price.

Billy and Trish measured us for new RW suits during our recent visit. (They make other discipline-specific suits, too.) Couldn't have been more welcoming or professional.

Good luck with AFF...have fun, fly fast, fly safe!
PS: Sebastian, ZHills, Bev/Michigan/Tony suits mentioned above are all perennial favorites.

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You can jump solo after your AFF. You will need about 9 solos AND 6-7 coach jumps to get your A license, not just solos. The coach jumps will cost more than gear rental and jump ticket.

9 solos = $450 ish
7 coach jumps = $700 ish.

AFF is around 1400
remainder requirements for A license is another 1100
So 2500 total

You should have 2500 minimum to do your A license, especially if you fail a level and have to pay for the jump again.

If you wait over 30 days between jumps, you will have to pay more money as well because you will no longer be "current" meaning you have to prove you remember everything. If you lose current status is AFF, I think you have to repeat an expensive jump but dont quote me on that.

To be safe, save 5k before you start LOL but seriously

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zcohen13

I'm still having a hard time understanding.. I do want my A license, but my original plan was to take the AFF and then pay the 25$ jump fee afterwards until I got to 25 jumps. Some people are saying I can jump solo after the AFF and others aren't. So just to be clear, if I completed the AFF, the following jumps would all have to be with a coach or D license holder (meaning the cost would be more than a typical 25$ jump fee)?



Yeah, not exactly. Some sites list the full cost, some do not. Zhills and Clewiston list the full cost, Sebastian and Deland do not.

After you "pass" your AFF and are allowed to jump "solo" (cleared for solo self-supervision, technically) there is still a list of requirements which must be met (these are performance-based objectives) in order to achieve an A license. Let's say these take 6-7 additional skydives - which is IIRC about average. Those skydives will also include an instructor / coach.

In general each of those jumps will cost you $95-100 (at least in FL). That includes: your gear rental, your lift ticket and the fee for the coaching etc.

Each solo jump will cost you ~$50: $25 for your lift ticket and $25 for your gear rental.

For example, here are the full prices at Zhills.

http://www.skydivecity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/PriceList.pdf

Dropzones don't just "instruct you" for 8 jumps and then unleash you to the world for $25 a pop.

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Almost all of them will be supervised. How many will vary from program to program. The more coached jumps a package includes, the more value it provides to you.

Since you obviously have a lot of questions, maybe you'd want to read through the SIM. Section 4 outlines what entails getting an A license. An AFF program will get you through Category E; an A license program will get you through the whole of Section 4, and will usually include AFF. You can find it at http://sim.uspa.org/

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zcohen13

I'm still having a hard time understanding.. I do want my A license, but my original plan was to take the AFF and then pay the 25$ jump fee afterwards until I got to 25 jumps. Some people are saying I can jump solo after the AFF and others aren't. So just to be clear, if I completed the AFF, the following jumps would all have to be with a coach or D license holder (meaning the cost would be more than a typical 25$ jump fee)?



This stuff is all in the USPA SIM.
Link: http://www.uspa.org/Safety-Training/SIM

Short version:

AFF is one way of reaching "self supervised student" status. It gets you to the point where you can do solo jumps, but you are still under an instructor's direction. You are also required to meet certain objectives and demonstrate certain skills before you get your A license. Much of this involves jumping with an instructor or coach. Best analogy would be a learners permit for a driver's license.

There is the A license progression card. (It's in the SIM). It needs to be completed to receive your A.

A license makes you a "real" skydiver. You can jump with others or by yourself. You can go to other DZs and jump there.

If you want an idea of what AFF and the A license progression is like, read the story of the Skydiving Duck
"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

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Interesting, in the UK it's 10 consols (consolidation jumps) after AFF level 8 hop n pop to get your A license if you're an AFF student, which is only for solo jumps. For group jumps with non coach or instructor rated skydivers you need your FS1 grade (formation skydiving). Do you have anything like that in USPA in terms of grades for different disciplines like FS, FF, CP, WS, sky surfing etc?

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radical_flyer

Interesting, in the UK it's 10 consols (consolidation jumps) after AFF level 8 hop n pop to get your A license if you're an AFF student, which is only for solo jumps. For group jumps with non coach or instructor rated skydivers you need your FS1 grade (formation skydiving). Do you have anything like that in USPA in terms of grades for different disciplines like FS, FF, CP, WS, sky surfing etc?



Not really. An A license is good to go for most normal jumps. No limits on who or how many other (licensed) jumpers with you, no rules on Freeflying, Canopies or cameras (recommendations, not rules), minimums for wingsuiting but that's about it. Special stuff like demos or high altitude jumps have requirements for advanced licenses. Helicopter and balloon jumps often have advanced license requirements, but those are put in place by the organizer/DZO, not USPA.

What's "Skysurfing"? :P
"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

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My advice. Fly to Tampa. Either rent a car or use your family members to drive you to the Wal Mart in Zephyrhills. Buy a $30 tent and a $20 sleeping bag, and toiletries if you care about hygiene. Drive to Skydive city. Tell family member to fuck off. Set up tent and drop the money for your FJC and first AFF jump ( or pay for all of your 8 AFF jumps in advance). Then relax and go with the flow.

All of your answers and wildest fantasies will manifest themselves in the next few days.

The crew down in Z Hills right now is awesome and you can thank me for the advice later. :)

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You are getting a lot of confusing information and some of it is just plain misleading.

Download and read the USPA SIM as mentioned above by wolfriverjoe. Most of everything you are asking is in Chapters 1-4.
Note that different dropzones do things somewhat differently sand even have different names for the training sequence.

You'll want to go to each individual DZ to get the lowdown on what THEY do and how they do it.

So...save yourself some aggravation by reading the SIM Chapters 1-4 and go visit the DZs you are interested in and ask your questions directly to them.

Of particular interest is the 'vibe' of the DZ. You should go to each DZ BEFORE signing up just simply to get a feel for the place, how it works, and how the people get along. You may find that you would enjoy the atmosphere of one place better than the others - and that is very important.

Good luck!

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Go with a local "home dropzone" when you are jonesing for a jump on a Saturday you aren't going to want to drive 100's of miles to a bigger dropzone. You will establish relationships with other skydivers that quite simply $$ can't buy. Quite simply there are things that $$ can't really buy that you will get at the smaller local DZ. Don't get infatuated with AFF either SL or IAD is just as a good of training method they all work towards your goal of getting your A license.

Weather sucks sometimes and there isn't any guarantee you will get this all done as quickly as you want. Winds and cloud ceiling you have to take into account.

Read the SIM and start driving to your local dropzones and check them out. Then read the SIM again, and again and again.

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