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angrypeppers

AFF Level 7, passed!

By angrypeppers, in General Skydiving Discussions

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angrypeppers    1

angrypeppers
I woke up this morning, happy that Level 6 was out of the way, and looking forward to catching up on things I put off during the week: cutting what's left of the grass and leaves on the lawn, changing the oil in my truck, shopping for a new car to replace said truck, etc. I went out for breakfast with some friends, and headed home. I decided to call my jump buddy to see when she could do Level 7 next weekend. "I'm heading up to Longmont right now..." was the answer. Crap!

She decided to head up there to hang out and check to see if she could get on a load, and said I should head up there too. I wasn't really thinking about jumping until that moment. But I found myself gathering up my gear, picking up a flyer for a car I wanted to look at, and heading out the door. She said she'd call from the DZ, that would give me time to look at the car, while she verified that we could get on a load. Sure enough, she called back and said that we should be able to get on a load. I was at the dealer's lot, and had already looked at the car (nice!), and besides, I really didn't feel much like doing house stuff. The weather was perfect for jumping, and after yesterday's Level 6, I kinda just wanted to ride that wave and get Level 7 finished too. So I found myself driving up to Mile Hi.

I called them to verify I could get on a load, but I was already half way there. Even if I didn't jump, I could watch Kristen's jump, right? Actually, I was really stoked about doing my Level 7. I arrived at the DZ, checked in, and found Kristen talking to Trae, another AFF classmate who was doing his Level 6. Since we hadn't scheduled our jump, we had to wait a while, but eventually, our instructors found us, and we did the briefing and dive flow review. That went well as
usual. We were assigned to Otter 8, which was still about 40 minutes away. Time to hang out, and get even more nervous! Kristen and I were both assigned to instructors we hadn't jumped with, which added a bit to our self-induced tension, but it was non-event in the end. I kinda like flying with different instructors. Everyone has their own little differences in how they do things, and for a student like me, that's good info to have.

The plane ride was great. I don't know why, but I was less nervous and stressed about this jump than my previous ones. I think that was due to my instructor...he helped me feel at ease, and stressed that I should have fun on this jump. We'd be doing front flips, figure 8's (360s in each direction), and tracking. I had asked if I could do my flip on exit,
and he was cool with that. This would be fun! Before long, the plane was at altitude, and folks started leaving. When it was my turn, we hung out and spotted for a few seconds, then it was time to go. The front flips were fun! I did two of them, then got stable. Billy caught up to me, I did the COA, the 360's, and the tracking. Holy shit that was fun! We still had some altitude, so Billy flew over to me, we docked for a second or two, then it was time to pull. Billy had
this huge grin on his face! I think I did too!

The chute opened up fine, and I did my checks. I was hanging out, just doing some turns and stuff, trying to stay near the landing area. Eventually, I got down to pattern altitude, but started getting off course. I tried to correct it, but my sloppiness bit me. I landed short, but safely. Damn, that's not what I wanted to do on this jump! I packed up, and headed off to the trailer. Where's Kristen? Turns out, they had to go around before she could jump...second time in a row that happened! I watched her land, excellent as usual.

Once back at the hangar, we debriefed, and I got my logbook signed off: "Enjoy the ride, passed Level 7"! Since it was late in the day, I didn't get to do another jump, but that wasn't a big deal. I passed! What made this jump extra fun was that there were three Level 7's on our load, and we were all in the same AFF class back in September. All of us passed too, which is nice. So, while AFF is finished, the learning is about to begin. I know what I need to work on in the next jumps, but I feel a huge sense of accomplishment too! I've been on a cloud since I got on the ground. Too bad I have to wait till the weekend to jump again. Thanks to everyone at Mile Hi...I couldn't be happier with the instructors I flew with (and DJan for the ground school!). I know I'm just a newb, but I feel like I have a great foundation to build upon. Stay safe...

Chris
Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.

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siddacious    0

siddacious
Dude, excellent! I totally know how you feel; I just finished AFF and find myself feeling like the skydiving world is my oyster, waiting to be shucked. Congratulations!
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Eule    0

Eule
Congratulations!

But I don't understand something:

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I was at the dealer's lot, and had already looked at the car (nice!),



Most people at this point would want to sell the truck, forget buying another car and buy a bicycle instead, and put the proceeds towards more jumps. Are you already through that phase or did you hit the lottery? :)

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and besides, I really didn't feel much like doing house stuff.



It's a good thing that it gets dark late in the summer and that the local DZ is only open on the weekends. Otherwise I'd have been knee deep in "Cut your d-mn grass" notices from the city last summer...

Eule
PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

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