Help!! I screwed up my level 1 AFF..

[sammielu 3]

The "beer rule" is less about alcohol than a gesture of camaraderie. Pizza, cookies, popsicles, root beer floats, ice cold water on a sweaty day, back rubs, homemade whatever - anything is appreciated. The tradition is to contribute something after a First, or whenever you want to discuss something. Our lives are busy! Experienced jumpers have already done all/most of that stuff! But if you offer a beer or lemonade or a slice of watermelon, they will happily hang out for a few minutes to hear about the first time you did ______ or your questions about _____. Within reason. An hour long conversation with a rigger about purchasing gear
is worth more than a beer.
After a reserve ride that saves your life, there is a tradition of gifting the rigger that inspected and packed that reserve a bottle of nice liquor - but I've also seen people make a nice donation to a food bank or charity as a substitute for the booze. Again, it's the gesture, and the camraderie, not the hooch (and just be up front about what works for you, we'll love you anyway).

[TEB6363 0]

I like that "Woops" photo.. Here is a grab that shows - Sometimes things don't go as planned...

And, these guys completed AFF training a while ago

Once the plane takes off, you're gonna have to land - Might as well jump out!!

[FatTangerine 0]

Hi OP

I totally know how you feel. I botched the first jump badly, forgot to do the practice pulls and my instructor pulled for me. I was just overloaded. No biggie. Then I botched level 3 and am doing remedial wind tunnel work. Again, no biggie. I'm having fun. Are you? That's all that matters. :)

[cassieaf 0]

Cool ass tradition, I'm loving the culture. I also love food, so I would have no problem bringing it in :D Hell, I even find solace in baking once in awhile if I'm not working or studying. Back rubs, well I'm crap at them anyways.. my other tells me my hands feel like daggers on his back..

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[cassieaf 0]

I got some folks on here who advised me to check out the wind tunnel here in Orlando, I booked 5 minutes two days before my next jump.. which is Saturday.. oh crap haha

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[JohnMitchell 14]

cassieaf

I saw some families that were just going tandem for the day, a few women there.. but no recreational jumpers are students that were women, maybe it was the time of day??

Wow, come to our DZ in WA state. I'd say 35-40% women, quite a few AFF instructors and TI's are women.

Hey, as far as your jump...
1. Practice the dive flow on the ground until it becomes automatic, without thinking.

2. In the airplane, spend your spare time visualizing the PERFECT jump, over and over, slo mo, full speed, whatever. Don't fill your head with a bunch of negative "what ifs" on the way up.

3. When you exit, ARCH, breathe, smile, relax, then do your circle of awareness. You have plenty of time. Don't rush.

Good luck.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

cassieaf

I got some folks on here who advised me to check out the wind tunnel here in Orlando, I booked 5 minutes two days before my next jump.. which is Saturday.. oh crap haha

Yeah, I got the same thing out here in Colorado. I'd never heard of the wind tunnel before. I did 6 minutes there after my first AFF jump and was sore for three days. It did help with the flying, though. I think I ended up putting in about half an hour before getting my A license.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[tred 0]

you will wish you booked more than 5. ask about there overnight camps they are a great deal, and if they give you any info post it on here I emailed them asking about the next one with no reply

[cassieaf 0]

I called ifly Orlando, next overnight camp will be on June 27the, she said it will start between 11-12 at night. 15 minutes with coaching for reduced rate, I will be there that evening.

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[tred 0]

thanks for the update.

[Tela 0]

How could you screw up after having a whole 60 seconds of practice??? Every jump is different and there is so much to learn. My first 20 jumps everything seemed to be happening at light speed, I bet it's the same for you right now. Relax and try not to let your head be your worst enemy.

I redid my level 1 after having both instructors with their hands in my face (giving me legs out) and me doing nothing. The retry, freefall went ok, but I landed in a tree. DOH. I went on to redo level 4, level 5 took me three tries. One of my instructors (who has thousands of jumps and is an incredible flyer) told me he almost quit after redoing level 4 SIX times. You're going to learn more from your mistakes than your successes. I made it harder and take longer to get my A because I was so hard on myself mentally. Relax, relax, relax.

A videographer sat me down and explained that even if you passed all seven levels and did all your solos/coach jumps perfectly, you would still have had less than a half and hour of practice in freefall. Did your high school gym class make you an Olympic basketball player or archer? See my point? You are going to make mistakes, screw up dive flows and redo some levels/jumps. The more you get mad at yourself the more you'll redo. Tunnel and dirt diving are great practice for the physical part of the jump, but (for me) the hard part is getting the head to relax and quit freaking out.

You sound like you've got the determination to do it. Be determined to allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them. The more you jump the easier it seems to get. I was a mess all the way through finishing level 5 (on my 11th jump), then all of a sudden my head quieted down, I smiled and levels 6 & 7 were easy. There are a ton of us who know how you're feeling and have been there. You'll be fine. Keep trying, relax and smile.

"The lizards were a race of people practically extinct from doing things smart people don't do."

[bobsmith 0]

JohnMitchell

1. Practice the dive flow on the ground until it becomes automatic, without thinking.

2. In the airplane, spend your spare time visualizing the PERFECT jump, over and over, slo mo, full speed, whatever. Don't fill your head with a bunch of negative "what ifs" on the way up.

3. When you exit, ARCH, breathe, smile, relax, then do your circle of awareness. You have plenty of time. Don't rush.

I second this. I find that visualising your jump over and over again both on the ground and on the plane ride up really helps a lot because then you don't have to think about what you need to do next and you can concentrate on getting things done one by one during the jump :)

Don't be worried about messing up a jump or a few! Even in my limited time skydiving many of the people I've met had to repeat some of their AFF jumps and some needed some time in the tunnel to sort things out. Heck, we don't even have a proper tunnel here in NZ so that means an overseas trip to Sydney, Australia for us.... (looking forward to my first tunnel session at the end of the month!!!) Consider yourself lucky!

[EDIT] Oh and keep us up to date on how your next tunnel session/jump goes!

[cassieaf 0]

Thank you :D

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

cassieaf

Thank you :D

Heh heh. We all start out in the same place. Here's my first 7 minutes in there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0NCznXZG0o

I also still get a chuckle over my exit on my AFF 5 jump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHdsUICa7zY

Here's my most recent tunnel session. I've never been terribly interested in freeflying, so I mostly just stay on my belly and have fun in the tunnel anymore. This is like 340 jumps and several hours in the tunnel after the earlier videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zXwpysPy6A

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[cassieaf 0]

The tunnel went well!!! I got it towards the last two.minutes,at first it was difficult arching properly. I kept arching my chest or butt out more so than the my lower midsection.. and honestly part of that comes from the modeling I've done, they tell us to arch but not in boxman haha. I feel way more prepared for my jump on Saturday. My tendancy however is to focus on correction rather than relaxing and being "teachable", a trust thing.. I sort of react rather than respond, I'm naturally a very intense and jumpy person . As soon as I had perfect form everything went so much smoother. I will probably be doing another session in a week and a half before AFF3, then the overnight camp on June 27th. I couldn't upload the whole video of my training via mobile, will do that later from my pc and link in this thread. I put a short bit on my instagram in the interim, the fun part.. @cassieaf

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[cassieaf 0]

And your videos are amazing. Your tunnel suit looks better than mine..

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

cassieaf

And your videos are amazing. Your tunnel suit looks better than mine..

That's just the cheap $150 walmart suit off the rack at the dropzone. I go through one about every 150 jumps or so. Usually by then they also have a couple hours of tunnel time on 'em.

You saw where I came from, though. You don't just get that way overnight. Takes practice. And I'm still not a great freeflier, mostly because I don't practice it at all. Friend of mine has maybe a quarter of the tunnel time I do and is already better in the other orientations. She's working on sit flying now. I'm clearly much more comfortable on my belly and she admires how smooth I can be, but it's all just practice. Given a few more hours, she should be as smooth in all the orientations as the instructors are.

Sounds like the tunnel did you some good, so just keep at it. You don't have to rush headlong into freefly at the first opportunity unless you want to. If you stay on your belly for an hour or two, I think you'd be surprised at what you can learn in "boring old belly!" I feel like the tunnel time on my belly really helped when I started to fly the wingsuit. I doubt I'd have been ready at 200 jumps if I hadn't had a few hours in the tunnel by then too. I still opened into more line twists than I'd ever seen before on my first one, but that hasn't happened again since then!

I'm still flying a comparatively huge canopy, too. But I like that. It's got some decent glide, and I'm getting really comfortable with how it flies now. I may never actually downsize below 230, just because I don't see the need. I could definitely see just buying another Safire 230 whenever my current one gives up the ghost (Should be at least a couple thousand jumps left in it though.)

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[cassieaf 0]

An update: I completed AFF level 2 successfully this morning, didn't miss a thing. What an amazing difference relaxing made :-) I think the wind tunnel gave me some more confidence in the air too.. just maybe. Thanks to everyone for you awesome advice & responses!

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

cassieaf

An update: I completed AFF level 2 successfully this morning, didn't miss a thing. What an amazing difference relaxing made :-) I think the wind tunnel gave me some more confidence in the air too.. just maybe. Thanks to everyone for you awesome advice & responses!

Congrats.

Yogi Berra said it about baseball, but it applies here too:

90% of baseball skydiving is mental, the other half is physical.

"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

[bobsmith 0]

cassieaf

An update: I completed AFF level 2 successfully this morning, didn't miss a thing. What an amazing difference relaxing made :-) I think the wind tunnel gave me some more confidence in the air too.. just maybe. Thanks to everyone for you awesome advice & responses!

Awesome job!

IMHO nothing wrong with visualising things going wrong. Then you can practice what to do when they do!

@FlyingRhenquest - lol awesome video. I had a flailing leg on exit well past my AFF and only manage to get rid of them after 15 jumps or so.

[JohnMitchell 14]

cassieaf

I sort of react rather than respond, I'm naturally a very intense and jumpy person .

You could benefit, then, by lots of ground practice (it's free!) and lots of positive visualization on the plane. I know it's hard as a student, but you'll want to control your emotions thru breathing, relaxation techniques, etc. There's an optimum "arousal status" for any task.

Quote

As soon as I had perfect form everything went so much smoother. I will probably be doing another session in a week and a half before AFF3, then the overnight camp on June 27th.

Tunnel time is the BEST tool, IMO, for training new skydivers. I think you'll be happy with your investment.

[cassieaf 0]

Yes visualization on the plane was super helpful for me. ADHD is why I cannot relax or meditate, I swear haha. I'm confident that I'll do well for the freefall portion of AFF3, especially with the tunnel time.. now I go to ground school on Wednesday and learn all about the canopy. My heart stopped a bit when another guy on this thread said he landed so far from the dz that someone had to pick him up in a truck.. anyone else have interesting landing experiences?

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

cassieaf

Yes visualization on the plane was super helpful for me. ADHD is why I cannot relax or meditate, I swear haha. I'm confident that I'll do well for the freefall portion of AFF3, especially with the tunnel time.. now I go to ground school on Wednesday and learn all about the canopy. My heart stopped a bit when another guy on this thread said he landed so far from the dz that someone had to pick him up in a truck.. anyone else have interesting landing experiences?

Not really, but I've done some hot air balloon jumps. Those are fun, and actually require you to do your own spotting. On those, I've landed in a school football field (School was out at the time,) a field surrounded by an electrified fence (That was fun,) in the field we launched the balloon from and in the middle of a big field full of mud. On that last one, I foolishly followed the first guy out, despite being more than a little tempted to bail for the school football field again.

Night jump landings are usually fun as well. I'm dreading night jumps this year, though. It's been so wet, the mosquitoes are pretty bad during the day. If we go out to that field for night jumps, they might find nothing but bloodless husks the next day...

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[cassieaf 0]

Haha- imagine if school wasn't out, football practice in session when you land..Come do a night jump here in Florida, the mosquitos will literally devour you is

I like planes almost as much as jumping out of them.

[chips26 0]

cassieaf

Yes visualization on the plane was super helpful for me. ADHD is why I cannot relax or meditate, I swear haha. I'm confident that I'll do well for the freefall portion of AFF3, especially with the tunnel time.. now I go to ground school on Wednesday and learn all about the canopy. My heart stopped a bit when another guy on this thread said he landed so far from the dz that someone had to pick him up in a truck.. anyone else have interesting landing experiences?

I just did my AFF cat A today and was grounded because of winds before I could make my cat B jump. We exited pretty far from the DZ and I had to crabfight the wind all the way back just to get into my landing pattern, burning up shitloads of altitude in the process. Ended up landing crosswind instead of doing my final and had a less than graceful landing but no broken bones, and demonstrated a PLF to my instructors

Needless to say, landing did not go as smoothly as planned, given the same exit spot and winds, I wouldve done a right hand pattern instead and wouldve risked crossing the runway on my base leg. But at that point under canopy I was just reverting back to training and what we had discussed on the ground.

I had some troubles with body position as well, but mainly because I would be focusing on memorizing my dive flow. Once you get the dive flow down you end up doing it automatically, and you can work on the body stuff from there. But dont sweat it, the more practice and repetition you do the easier it will come!