AFF or SL

[Punky_Monkey 0]

S/L might breed devicice dependence...

I learned by S/L and hated the damn thing...I actually never trusted it. Control issue? Things can go wrong with a S/L jump and you need to be on top of your game. I still cringe when I see other S/L jumpers...

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Punky Monkey
You may never get rid of the butterflies, but you can teach them how to fly in formation

[grue 1]

Achtung: Newbie post pending.

I'm a static line student, and besides the financial aspect of it, I'm glad I'm going through this way, for lots of reasons:

1. Builds confidence, one step at a time, without being overwhelming. On my first two jumps, my only responsibilities between exit and deployment time were: arch, arch, arch, and arch.

2. Slowly introduces new things. On the next four jumps, it was very similar to the first two - arch, but pull the bright orange thing on your hip. The 4th of these, nothing is changed in terms of perception, except that the static line isn't doing the work any more.

3. Get low first. A static line student, as mentioned, is used to getting out low, and doesn't have problems with this. I think this is an excellent trait, because where are most likely going to have an "oh shit get out of the plane" situation: 10,000 feet, or a couple minutes after take off?

4. EARN your freefall. I like challenges, and I don't like having things given to me on a platter. I love the aspect of knowing that for my first few jumps, I was not a skydiver, I was a parachutist, and that if I wanted to change that, it was going to take hard work and I'd have to earn it.

5. Canopy skills: Our first several jumps have little or no time before we're under canopy, so being under canopy is the foremost thing on our mind, and we train a lot to make sure we know what we're doing. I'm not hitting the peas on every jump, but I stand up the vast majority of my jumps, and I come down within 15-20 metres of where I plan before I even get in the plane most of the time (though this stat is getting fucked up for me, the 7 cell canopy I'm jumping now doesn't have the drive of the 9 cells that I learned on!)

6. I said "besides the financial aspect", but I'm going to bring it up anyway. My drop zone doesn't offer AFF, but even if it did, I'd probably have gone static line anyway. Why, you might ask? Assuming I get my A in 25 jumps, I'll have paid a grand total of:

First jump course, inc Jump #1: $165
Next 4 static line jumps: $40/each, $160 total.
20 freefalls: $25/each with rental, $500 total.
USPA membership: $51.
$20 license fee.

$896US total for my A license.

From what I understand, one should expect to pay $1,500-2,000 or even more for an A license through an AFF programme.

Downsides? I don't get as much freefall time, and that's the only one that really comes to mind.

cavete terrae.

[kelpdiver 2]

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4. EARN your freefall. I like challenges, and I don't like having things given to me on a platter.

The AFF students have challenges too, and they have to earn their progression - their first release, their first solo exit, etc. If they don't meet the TLOs, they work on it some more.

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20 freefalls: $25/each with rental, $500 total.
$896US total for my A license.

From what I understand, one should expect to pay $1,500-2,000 or even more for an A license through an AFF programme.

If you're getting jumps for $25 net, then certainly your numbers will make SL look cheaper. The lowest rental available to me was $20, coupled with a $15 lift to 13k. The high was $30 and $20, though I could pack all but the last and save $5/jump.

Also, I don't believe SL precludes you from the coach jump requires, and will add to the costs on 4-5 jumps. There should ultimately be a savings, but I don't believe it's half the price.

[jazzabelle83 0]

I went through both courses. Actually, I've done some of everything. My first jump was a tandem. My next 7 jumps were static line, where I did all of my PRCPs and then the guys decided they wanted me to go through the AFF course instead. This was nearly five years ago now and I know the rules and such have changed a bit since then, but I like AFF so much better. I always had someone in the air with me to tell me exactly what I was doing wrong or right. I also had video, but then again I had video from my first jump on until I had my license ( goes with being the dz's little girl)
As far as the financial part of it goes, I don't know which way would be more expensive, it depends on the person. I had to repeat my level 3 a couple of times. I don't know if I had gone with the static line if I would have to repeat more of my jumps or not.
I don't think it would hurt to have a couple of statics.

[Ron 7]

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Things can go wrong with a S/L jump and you need to be on top of your game. I still cringe when I see other S/L jumpers...
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You should see an AFF level 3 or 4 go bad.....

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

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Things can go wrong with a S/L jump and you need to be on top of your game. I still cringe when I see other S/L jumpers...
*******

You should see an AFF level 3 or 4 go bad.....

Threes (C1) can be bad, but a nice E can be a real thrill as well. If something can possibly go wrong in the air (AFF or SL), I have seen it and had to deal with it.

[Orange1 0]

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4. EARN your freefall.

Like some of the other posters here I did bits of both. And I have to say, my first freefall (off SL) was a much bigger "deal" (big ceremony at the DZ!!) than graduating AFF (though that was a different DZ)

I like the SL idea of getting gradually used to everything, but when the "gradual" bit got too much for me I switched to AFF. Having the video to self-evaluate is incredibly useful. But, I have a niggling feeling that AFF is a bit "too" accelerated but hey, it's been around for long enough that I'm probably wrong on that

Downside of the way I did it... I have 27 jumps but have yet to get my A licence (still doing ISPs at the moment). That aside, I did learn something on every jump... and I suspect that if I'd gone straight into AFF, it would have been too overwhelming for me and I wouldn't have continued... but that's just me.

At the end of the day I find that people tend to "defend" whatever it is they happened to do.

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.