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SpeakLife92

Your AFF Length

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New member here ! I'm really enjoying the site and all the great topics and information presented. I live in North Carolina, and am so blessed to have some awesome drop zones within a few hours drive.

My question for everyone is: how long did it take for you to complete your AFF. I have heard of some people doing a jump every few weeks, however this seems like it would be really difficult to learn all the skills and concepts needed to succeed in this sport. Not to mention the learning curve would be steep !

Thanks for everyones contribution to this site, and for making it a great place to ask questions and gather as one skydiving community.

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I completed mine in about 4 days of jumping, over a week long span. Didnt jump every day as the DZ didnt have enough to do loads every day (slow time of the year).

Every weekend would be fine, every other weekend probably less ideal. They usually have a time limit between your levels, a month I think. You probably dont want to space it out that much.

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SpeakLife92

New member here ! I'm really enjoying the site and all the great topics and information presented. I live in North Carolina, and am so blessed to have some awesome drop zones within a few hours drive.

My question for everyone is: how long did it take for you to complete your AFF. I have heard of some people doing a jump every few weeks, however this seems like it would be really difficult to learn all the skills and concepts needed to succeed in this sport. Not to mention the learning curve would be steep !

Thanks for everyones contribution to this site, and for making it a great place to ask questions and gather as one skydiving community.


two days of jumping back to back weekends
BASE 1519

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Mine took a good 3-4 months!!! Busy DZ in Dubai... lots of students!! And by some reason I used to bring the bad weather to the DZ... can't count how many days I couldn't jump due to strong winds and how many plane rides I had during my AFF progression...

Not familiar how does it work across US but here, students can't jump with low altitude winds higher than 15-16 knots..

Yeah It would be better if I had completed my AFF in a shorter period of time, but that doesn't necessarily means that your progression or even skills will be better or not.. you just need to figure it out by yourself!

Having more time also means that you can study more, maybe have some tunnel sessions between jumps, etc.. again, it really depends on you..

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Hmm first AFF jump was Jul 7 2012. Cleared for solo on jump 10, Aug 4 2012. I also did 6 minutes in the tunnel on Jul 11 and again July 16 that year. Fortunately I opted to get video in all my tunnel sessions, so I can go back and watch the progression of my flying from 4 days after my first jump to 4 months in when my sister came to visit. I took her and her daughter for 10 minute chunks of tunnel time, and then tandem skydives.

So far I've been pretty consistently posting a new tunnel or skydiving video to my YouTube Channel every month or two since then. It's fun to go back and realize how far I've come since my first jump a couple years ago. It's boring footage for just about everyone else, though I do like to bust out a couple of my early videos as proof that everyone has difficulties starting out and that it takes a while to learn to fly.

It's been interesting to see how differently everyone handles the training. I know a fellow who's taken a couple of years to get to his solo jump, and have only seen one other person from my AFF ground school after the 1 year mark (12 of us started that day.)
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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For your benefit, don't try more than 3 jumps per day. Any more than that usually are wasted jumps (I know some do it faster than this). Spacing between jump days, try to keep it to no more than a week. Spreading thing out too far or cramming in too many too fast will just slow your learning.
This is based not on my training but rather what I see in students and their performance when I train them.
I would question the motives of any place that would have a student do 6 or 7 jumps in one day.
This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

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ufk22

For your benefit, don't try more than 3 jumps per day. Any more than that usually are wasted jumps (I know some do it faster than this). Spacing between jump days, try to keep it to no more than a week. Spreading thing out too far or cramming in too many too fast will just slow your learning.
This is based not on my training but rather what I see in students and their performance when I train them.
I would question the motives of any place that would have a student do 6 or 7 jumps in one day.



Great advice ! Thanks so much for that. It seems that 2 jumps once a week is a good pace to travel at. I also have found it helpful to purchase the USPA SIM as my main study guide.

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First 3 AFF jumps took 4 months. Next 4 AFF jumps took 2 days.

Bad weather in MA that summer and bad timing on my part. Heck my first AFF jump was because the DZO felt sorry for me and sent the Otter up with me and two instructors on it.

Then I went to Z hills and, well, it's a very jumpable place in November.:)

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Trafficdiver

First 3 AFF jumps took 4 months. Next 4 AFF jumps took 2 days.

Bad weather in MA that summer and bad timing on my part. Heck my first AFF jump was because the DZO felt sorry for me and sent the Otter up with me and two instructors on it.

Then I went to Z hills and, well, it's a very jumpable place in November.:)



Definitely jealous you went down to Z Hills ! You lucked out on your first AFF. Don't know too many places that would have done that.

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FlyingRhenquest

Hmm first AFF jump was Jul 7 2012. Cleared for solo on jump 10, Aug 4 2012. I also did 6 minutes in the tunnel on Jul 11 and again July 16 that year. Fortunately I opted to get video in all my tunnel sessions, so I can go back and watch the progression of my flying from 4 days after my first jump to 4 months in when my sister came to visit. I took her and her daughter for 10 minute chunks of tunnel time, and then tandem skydives.

So far I've been pretty consistently posting a new tunnel or skydiving video to my YouTube Channel every month or two since then. It's fun to go back and realize how far I've come since my first jump a couple years ago. It's boring footage for just about everyone else, though I do like to bust out a couple of my early videos as proof that everyone has difficulties starting out and that it takes a while to learn to fly.

It's been interesting to see how differently everyone handles the training. I know a fellow who's taken a couple of years to get to his solo jump, and have only seen one other person from my AFF ground school after the 1 year mark (12 of us started that day.)



Excellent point ! Everyone has difficulties starting out. I think so many students see the awesome GoPro footage with head down flying at Sebastian and think it looks easy. Thanks for posting up a link to your youtube channel, gonna check that out.

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I am in NC as well. I drive down to the Chester SC DZ, SkydiveCarolina. Great people there.

It took me 4-ish months. I did 3 tandems, then immediately went into AFP that 4th week. I went 3 weeks in a row to jump tandem, LOVED it immediately.
Weather was crappy during my AFP. Constant rain, low clouds, and days of high winds complicated my jumps. I could only jump Sunday, usually, so that limited my days.

I was determined to finish though. I jumped in FREEZING cold weather and loved every minute of it!! Once I was in freefall I felt no cold at all. I am a freshly minted A license holder. :)
Try not to focus on "Hurry up", focus on your skills. You will make it, it is not a race.

Skydiver Survivor; Battling Breast Cancer one jump at a time. DX June 19th 2014
I have been jumping since October 5th 2013.
https://pinkribbonskydiver.wordpress.com/

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Depends when you start counting, lol.

I did my first AFF jump 2 weeks after my ground school due to weather and high winds. I only managed one jump in 2.5 days of being at the dz that weekend. The following weekend I was at the dz 3.5 days - I did 4 AFF levels on one day, then 2 more AFF levels the next day. A week later, I did one solo jump the first day, then a solo jump, AFF level 8 (hence finished my AFF levels), another solo the second day and a couple more solos the day after that. It took me another 2 weekends to finish my consolidation jumps (10 in total) and get my UK A licence.

So 6 weeks from ground school, I qualified. My AFF jumps took approx. 2 weeks and finishing my A licence took approx. 2 weeks but I was literally camping at the dz every weekend from Friday night to Sunday night and also took a few days off work to make that happen. If you have better weather conditions, it can happen a lot quicker - whilst I was in Spain, one guy passed all 8 AFF levels in one day.
I know several people from the UK who have gone out to Spain to do their AFF / A licence just because the weather conditions are more reliable.

Spacing them out isn't necessarily a bad thing - I passed all 8 levels first time - but I would have preferred to have done it a bit quicker. I spent about 18 days at the dz to get those 18 jumps done and was only able to jump on 9 of them. If you can find somewhere that has consistent weather conditions, that might be a better way to qualify :)

A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

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FreefallingCari

I am in NC as well. I drive down to the Chester SC DZ, SkydiveCarolina. Great people there.

It took me 4-ish months. I did 3 tandems, then immediately went into AFP that 4th week. I went 3 weeks in a row to jump tandem, LOVED it immediately.
Weather was crappy during my AFP. Constant rain, low clouds, and days of high winds complicated my jumps. I could only jump Sunday, usually, so that limited my days.

I was determined to finish though. I jumped in FREEZING cold weather and loved every minute of it!! Once I was in freefall I felt no cold at all. I am a freshly minted A license holder. :)
Try not to focus on "Hurry up", focus on your skills. You will make it, it is not a race.



Awesome to see another carolinian! I'm glad to read you did quite a few tandems before you started AFF. I'm doing the same thing. What part of the North Carolina do you live ?

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2-Minutes Wind Tunnel: March 30th 3013
Tandem Skydive: March 30th 2013
First Jump Course: Sept. 21st 2013
AFF-1: Sept. 22nd 2013
AFF-2: Nov. 18th 2013
AFF-3: Nov. 24th 2013 FAILED
15-Minutes Wind Tunnel Instruction: Nov. 26th 2013 (PASS)
AFF-4: Nov. 27th 2013
AFF-5: Dec. 23rd 2013
AFF-6: Dec. 23rd 2013
AFF-7: Dec. 28th 2013
AFF-8: Jan. 11th 2014

Doing #18 this weekend

College student living paycheck to paycheck.
Don't have the 3.5k cash for a two week crash course.
The sport just keeps getting better and better
<3 Skydive Elsinore <3

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Conspiracy

2-Minutes Wind Tunnel: March 30th 3013
Tandem Skydive: March 30th 2013
First Jump Course: Sept. 21st 2013
AFF-1: Sept. 22nd 2013
AFF-2: Nov. 18th 2013
AFF-3: Nov. 24th 2013 FAILED
15-Minutes Wind Tunnel Instruction: Nov. 26th 2013 (PASS)
AFF-4: Nov. 27th 2013
AFF-5: Dec. 23rd 2013
AFF-6: Dec. 23rd 2013
AFF-7: Dec. 28th 2013
AFF-8: Jan. 11th 2014

Doing #18 this weekend

College student living paycheck to paycheck.
Don't have the 3.5k cash for a two week crash course.
The sport just keeps getting better and better
<3 Skydive Elsinore <3



I know exactly how you feel. I'm a 21 year old college student living paycheck to paycheck too. That has been the biggest challenge so far, finances. Glad to see your thriving in your skills even with your jumps being spaced out so far.

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JohnMitchell

My son did AFF in 5 jumps over two days. I think growing up on a DZ and being a packer and tunnel instructor helped.:D



Is he the guy in that tunnel rat AFF video? A lot of people seem to want to dismiss the value of the tunnel as a training tool during AFF, but the extreme example seems to work pretty well. (I love the expression on that guy's face all through his AFF)
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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