Failed AFF 3

[cesslon 0]

failed today , never thought id see the day
I felt squashed when my instructor pulled my handle at 5300 feet
thats my favourite part

can poeple write here how they also failed so i can feel better

ill write the full story up latter tonight
i just got home

M@

[Miami 0]

It's better to look at it as an opportunity to do the dive again.

I did level 2 three times way back when I started. Don't sweat it, it will come.

Miami

[lopullterri 0]

I prefer to say, "You need to repeat this level". Some of the best skydivers I know, had to repeat a level. Sometimes, more than one.

~"I am not afraid. I was born to do this"~

[Ruffles 0]

I had to do 5 twice.... and my A license hop-n-pop twice, if that makes you feel better. I started my 180 turns on level five and it turned into about 25 360's before my instrucotr stopped me. That was fun... I almost quit that day. Glad I didn't.

[dzdiva 7]

No worries.

"It's not just a daydream if you choose to make it your life..."

[vonSanta 0]

At least yopu didn't land in a tree on yuor first jump.

Most fail a few levels. Don't worry - see it as an excuse to do another jump
In no time you'll be a Shit Hot 100 jump wonder

Santa Von GrossenArsch
I only come in one flavour
ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

[kai2k1 0]

Dont sweat it dude, Its very unusual for someone to make it through AFF without having to repeat a level.

I had to repeat levels 2 & 3 when I was going through AFF.

There's no truer sense of flying than sky diving," Scott Cowan

[Nightingale 0]

my instructors told me that only 1/10 will make it through AFF with no repeats, so you're definitely not alone.

[Stacy 0]

I failed level 4 gloriously, only once though.

Apparently I wasn't turnign correctly. err, at all. I sat there the whole dive and looked at my JM with a blank stare. I was stable, but couldn't turn or move at all. teehee. I pulled and landed fine. Went up again and passed.

I worked manifest at Cross Keys. You would be suprised at how many people fail levels multiple times. Pretty common.

__

[Synapse 0]

I also had to repeat level 3 after getting into one hell of a spin when my JMs released me and loosing altitude awareness until around 4,300 ft. For a while I thought that skydiving may just be beyond my capabilities, but after deciding to stick with it and getting some in a tunnel everything went great. I'm sure you'll get past the bump in the road and success will be all the more sweet once you've had a small taste of defeat.
-syn

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain
a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty
nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin

[skyyhi 0]

I failed AFF 3 the exact same way. I did everything perfectly except the pull. . .JM had to pull for me. . .I was crushed. . .But let me reassure you that you will never do that again. . .You will remember that for the rest of your career. . .Relax and enjoy the redo. . .then move on. It is just WAY too much fun to get defeated over a minor thing.

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[flygirl03 0]

i will make you feel better. i PASSED aff 3 on two tries.
I FAILED AFF 4 so many times... they put me back to Level 3 with one JM.
I FINALLY PASSED aff 4 last week after 3 more attempts. It was my 16th jump.
I jumped one more... an attempt at aff 5, the next day.
I needed to do the 360° turns and forward movement. Oh, and jump out of the plane ALONE...with the JM behind me. Well, I made the jump and the turns ok, ran out of time to do the forward movement. I can't jump again until the 18th.
I don't care how long it takes me IWILL DO THIS!! I WILL GET MY A LICENSE.
Dont think you Failed.... You just are getting in a little Extra Practice
Im sure you will NOT have the difficulty I have had.
YOU WILL be licensed long before me..
Have fun!!
Blue skies
C

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
earthbound misfit

[EdC 0]

It happens, learn from it and move on. I had to repeat level 7 (turns). It will come to you, stick with it, the reward is incredible.

Big Ed

[JeffD 0]

I dont understand. Why did he have to pull for you at 5300? did you lose control, panic?

I almost stopped jumping because of a scare I had on my Aff2. The jump went fine, had some industrial haze at around 6k, then at 5k waveoff and pull, and at 4.5k I looked over at my JM and started to freak when the bag came off my back at 4k and deployed (I had pc hesitation) the JM said he had to pick the bag off my back to get it to deploy. Then I had probably 3-4 line twists. Remember why you jump out of planes? For FUN!

[cindee 0]

Don't feel bad. It happens. I failed on my release dive. I started to spin and my JM had to redock to stop it. Then when I landed, I broke my leg. I'm still waiting to redo that level. Hopefully by July

__________________________________________________
"If happy little bluebirds fly above the rainbow, why oh why can't I?"

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Quote

failed today , never thought id see the day
I felt squashed when my instructor pulled my handle at 5300 feet
thats my favourite part

can poeple write here how they also failed so i can feel better

ill write the full story up latter tonight
i just got home

M@

I found I couldn't relax like many other students and spun out of control shortly after I was let go on level 3....I even kicked my JM in the face, breaking his face mask. He did tag back on me, tried to get me to relax, but I realized it was 5500, so I pulled. I had to repeat that level. Once I was exiting on my own, I spun out of control on a later level (#9) because I tensed up again - the spin started right at 6G and it was the worst spin I had yet....everything I did made it worse, so I just pulled....I completed a full rotation from the time I let the PC go, and spun to a head low attitude. It took me a few weeks to recover from the whiplash of that opening.

Relax, don't beat yourself up - it happens to the best of us. Now, go back and talk to your JM on ways to fix this.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[FrenchyDiver 0]

Hey, nothing wrong with that
It's part of the learning process. Most skydivers had to repeat a lovel or more during their learning process, me included. Take it easy on you, relax and go for it again

Hispas Brothers President
HISPA #2,

[skyslammer 0]

Don't worry about failing, if it's something that you really want then don't let anything hold you back. I failed level 4, 3 times, and level 5, 10 times, and I still want more. I've done 21 jumps and am still working out all the little things that cause me to turn but i would have quit long ago except for how much fun each jump is. Sometimes it's a little disappointing that i wasn't progressing but i am determined as should you be if you really want to skydive.

[cesslon 0]

Well this is what happend
I hadnt jumped since november
cos of weather and the xmas break
I finally was told the weather was good for me to jump i sat around all day then they said im up on the next load
and said "you have done the ground training havnt ya?"
and i said "no i have no idea whats involved in this level"
as with level 1 and 2 i grabbed the instruction papers and took them home with me and went over it in my head a million times and on the floor but they were out of level 3 papers

so anyway we went through the drill and then i got on the plane exit at 10,000
and my exit was perfect but as soon as i let go i didnt feel right
(probably cos of the time off)

1 instructor shook so i arched harder then i did a PRP and thought i did it to quick , so i did it again then when i looked at main instructor to ask about my hands
he pointed and grabbed my handle so then i did another practice look reach pull , this made me all the more confused but he was happy with it then
so then he got me arms where they were meant to be
then i looked at me reserve instructor
and was thinking of me legs and moved me arms out of position
i was meant to have me arms held futhur back and be looking under my arms at him
instead of was looking over me arms
and I had no idea what signle's he was giving as he had his hand on my arm and was giving them and although i seen him put his gloves on before we exited i expected to see finger signle's and not glove signels I couldnt make out what his fingers were doing ,
so then i looked at my main side instructor and i had no real idea what he was signleing , it was like they were having a game of tug of war and i was the rope
then i thought shit i should look down at my alti
so i did and i was at about 6'4
so i looked back around quickly still couldnt work out if the gloves were giving me signles or just latching onto me arms
so then i thought "main goal is always to pull the rip chord"
so i looked down at me alti at 5600 watching it to get ready to wave at 5 and pull
and at 5300 all of a sudden me handle was in the instructor's hand and im thinking "hey thats my handle give it back" then they disapeared and i was under canopy at 4800

I was 100% sure i was gunna pull , i never panicked as the last few seconds i made sure to forget about the rest and focus on the pull
but that ended up being done for me
so i flew around for a while as the instructor's said no1 will be on the arrow so just circle around above
so i did till they guided me in and i did my first stand up perfect landing

But all the way down i was wondering why he pulled my chord.

then i was told since i didnt put me hand on the handle in the first 2 PRP i did he decided to do it for me even though i got the 3rd 1 right as i should have got the first 1 right
which was fair enough

But i go over pulling me chord in me head that many times and doing the canopy check in the taught sequence that when he pulled my handle it was about 10 seconds before i even looked to see if my canopy was flying normal
as i was looking down at them flying wondering what had happend
i grabbed me toggles and started flying before i even looked at canopy
which it obviously flew alright but i should have checked the canopy straight away
it was just him pulling through me out of order

then when we were chatting on the ground after wards about my PRP, i rememberd not being able to see the handle thats why it wasnt done correctly
I was useing a diff brand rig to last time and the handle was a little bit lower

so i was naturally putting me hand where the handle should have been and not actually looking for it more ,
I put the failure of this jump down to 3 things
1. the long time off (well long time for a student)
2.the different rig and not practicing look reach pull on the ground physically and only going over it in my head and having done it physically without the rig on.
3. expecting to see finger's below my arm and not instructor's gloves on my arm



the main way i will over come this will be to get back out there as soon as im capable of jumping again (when my useal bad bruising and sore hips disapear)
and practice this jump a lot at home now knowing what is involved.

It might sound wierd but I had diff instructor's to last time and before on my second jump looking out on the wing and seeing the same instructor as the first time it seemed more natural sequence then this time
but my second jump was 2 weeks after my first.
but it would be good to have had the same instructors but thats just luck of the draw.

the reason for the rig change was i get bad brusing that really rams me legs up into me hips, but the brusing is still there so next time im gunna go back to the other rig where the handle is a little high and can actually be seen.

I think this jump was a little to rushed and i felt a little to casual about it , but i did learn some things which will help me out , like canopy control experience
it might sound a bit over the top but it feels like i have masterd my landings now
as we spoke about it on the ground before hand and i was told to lift my legs up as i can bring my feet together more easily and it worked wonders
as the last few times id be like almost standing up then fall over.

anyway main part of the jump (getting to the ground safley) worked out fine , so i know what i have done wrong and how to improove on them , now its just a matter of getting back out there although i dont want doubt that i may fail again going through my mind as i step out the d00r

anyway enough of my rambling hopefully poeple can understand the way it went .
M@

• Quote

[bkdice 0]

i failed my level 4 once. i couldn't stop my slow spin.

did that make you feel better?

don't get discouraged. just get back up there and prove to yourself you can do it - which you KNOW you can.

i've heard stories of people failing over and over. when i failed my level 4, so many people at the dz told me their stories of failing levels. some several times - some even failed level 7 (which seems like the least likely level one would fail). you are not alone at all!!

[noname 0]

Don't be so hard on yourself!!!!

I did about 4 or 5 repeats of doing almost nothing but spinning. JM would stop my spin, let go, and there I go ... spin spin spin. I made zero progress, just the same dive over and over. I felt like the biggest dork on the planet.

You only get about a minute to practice at a time. Its not that surprising that people don't get everything right the first try.

Talk to your instructors, look at your video, get back the air and you will be fine!

[nightjumps 1]

While developing the lightbulb, Edison went through 10,000 attempts at getting it to light. With numerous inventions under his belt, a reporter asked if he was going to give up on the light bulb since he had failed 10,000 times.

Edison replied, 'I didn't "fail" 10,000 times, I learned 10,000 ways that don't work."

[cruzit 0]

It absolutely astounds me that anyone can complete the AFF program with the minimum number of jumps. Think about it. You have approximately 8-9 minutes to MASTER this skill. I can't think of any other skill where you spend that little time and are then expected to be competent.

Hey...hang in there. You will do this. Don't be discouraged. Your time off may have indeed effected your performance. Or maybe, you just had a bad hair day...either way you'll get it.

Good luck...and keep us posted.

[sducoach 0]

No Biggie!!!
Who besides Bill on DZ.com is perfect!!!!!!!

I had to pull a cat d saturday after a perfect exit, perfect turns, locked on at 6000 and stayed locked on right past the wave off and pull signals. Didn't wake up until his PC was flying away and then the look on his face said it all!!!!

Repeat dive the exit was unstable but recovered real quick and completed the cat.

Hang in there, dirt dive the heck out of them and visualize!!!

Blues,

J.E.

James 4:8

[Rdy2skydive 0]

I failed level 3 six times and passed it on my seventh try. A friend that started AFF at the same time as I did, had his A-license and I was still struggling to pass L 3. Don't be discouraged, it's very common for students to repeat at least one level. Don't give up, the hard work is worth it.