AFF L1 Completed

[dontbounce 0]

I did my Level one jump. I screwed up on my first try (brain freeze) and my Instructors had to pull for me @4500. After my main deployed, I had twisted lines. Three turns, so I spread my risers and kicked and it untwisted. Canopy control was good. Landing was a little rough, mainly because I forgot to PLF. Low speed "faceplant" in the dirt, 10 ft. from the grass target. (yay! my 1st flare)

After reading all the jokes about "have you thought about bowling" posted here, I had to make the decision to try again, or just hang it up.

I decided to give it one more shot. After a long wait (eloy is busy on the weekends) I got suited up with a new 280. On the second L1, My exit was clean, my arch was good. I did my practice pulls, and I was able to track for 5 seconds. I was all done with my moves at about 9000 ft, so I enjoyed the scenery for a second or two. Horizon, Alti, Horizon, Alti, and at 6500 I locked on to my alti. 5500 I arched and pulled. After what seems like an eternity, my main yanks me up and my instructors vanished below me. Checked my alti, checked slider, canopy, everything was good. Did controllability check (left 180, right 180, flare). I did a few turns and moved to the holding area. Maintained the area, avioding other divers, and started my approach at about 1500. Slow, easy landing. Came sliding in nice and easy on my ass, but what the heck, I was so pumped from not screwing up that I didn't mind.

For those of you out there who are going to do AFF level 1, here is what I learned:

1. Never take advice from somebody on the internet that has scarcely more experience than you. Read my experience, learn from it, but listen to your instructors more. They have thousands of jumps. I have 3 (one of which would have killed me if it wasnt for my instructors).

with that said...

2. The most important thing you will do on your dive is pull. That is your job. Don't forget that. Bonuses for pulling at the correct altitude, and double bonus if you are stable when you pull at the correct altitude.

3. MAINTAIN ALTITUDE AWARENESS. You old times can harass me if you want, but I can't stress this enough. Don't look at your alti like it is some sort of decoration. Look at it, read the numbers and make sure you actually read out loud to yourself what it says. Actually mouthing the alitiude out loud really helped me keep track of where I was. otherwise it didnt register. That was they key for me. Check it early, and check it often. I was told to lock onto my alti at 6500 feet and at 5500 wave off and pull. By actually calling out the altitude, it will register in your brain that it is time to lock on and it will be a lot easier to know when to pull if you have some idea of your altitude.

4. Take control of the situation. Your are responsible for your ride. Dont rely on your instructor to tell you what to do. They are just there to make sure you don't screw it up (like I did). If they do tell you to do something, listen, but if not, then just do your moves and do the routine they teach you on the ground. Remember, times a'wastin...

5. Don't let adreneline shut your brain off. That is what happened to me my first jump. I was ok until we were in free fall and I was so amped/scared/whatever that I couldn't even remember what the hand signals they were giving me meant. I couldnt remember my sequence, and after my "good" three practice pulls, my instructor gave me the sideways "peace sign" (legs out 6 inches) and I was like "what the fuck?" after that, I was totally lost. I looked at my alti, but it didnt sink in. I had no idea what my altitude was. That is a very very bad thing. Finally they looked at me like I was a dumbass, and pulled for me. (Note to self: I owe Phil at SkydiveAZ a case of beer. thanks Phil! I appreciate that!)

6. Be prepared to deal with problems I had some pretty good line twists when my main opened. It was twisted so tight, I had to fight to squeeze my head under the twisted part. They are right, it is just like a swingset, where you get swisted, the sensation is the same and you will know if it happens. I got myself untwisted long before I reached my decision altitude, but I could not have controlled it in the condition it was in. I (like to think that i) would have chopped it at 2500. (I decided my main was a "keeper" at 3300 or so) line twists are fairly common from what I hear (especially if you are not stable when you pull).

7. Know what to expect. You are going to be amped more than you have ever been in your life! I was calm and ok the whole ride up, but when the door opens, expect about a gallon of adrenline to hit your bloodstream. try to relax, Stay as calm as possible, say to yourself that everything is going to be OK! They do this all the time. Don't be surprised when the door opens and you get blasted with freezing wind. Don't be surprised when somebody jumps out of the plane. That what you are there for. Don't be surprised if you have a hard time remembering the sequence. practice on the ground on a creeper (like I should have).

And if you only remember one thing from this long winded post, dont forget to PULL.

Cheers,

On to level 2.

P.S. Second jump (L-1 do-over) was nearly perfect. Just minor issue with my legs pulled in too far. (70-80deg instead of 45deg) And I executed my entire sequence a little too fast. (I was done by 9000 feet, so I had a lot of waiting around to pull)

[gofast_ER 0]

i know you dont wanna take advice from people with more jumps than you but i find this works for me whenever i belly fly. Look up at the plane as you exit. For some reason they didn't tell me this till after i was done with all my aff jumps. It really does help though. Whenever im about to exit onto my belly i find myself saying "look up at the plane" over and over. (i guess this only works if you are exiting facing the front of the plane)

I may not agree with what you have to say but i'll defend to the death your right to say it.

[NWFlyer 2]

Please ... if every AFF-1 who had his/her instructor pull for them quit the sport ... well, there'd be a lot fewer skydivers out there today. You would have to screw up a lot more royally than you did today to get the "take up bowling" speech, trust me.

Level 1 *is* overwhelming; there's a reason they send you out there with two instructors. Good for you for getting back out there and giving it another try today ... getting right back on the horse can be the best way to push through challenges.

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Don't be surprised if you have a hard time remembering the sequence. practice on the ground on a creeper (like I should have).

This is going to become more and more critical as you make your way through AFF. The dive flows are going to get more complex, and you'll have more to remember. When I was a student, I did a lot of visualization, running through the skydive in my mind, in real time, over and over again ... in my head, on the creeper, with my instructor. Anything you can do on the ground and in the plane to "imprint" it in your brain will help you avoid "brain lock" in the air.

Congrats and welcome to skydiving!

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[dontbounce 0]

Thanks for the kind words..

Yes, it took a real gut check to get that suit back on. :)

I am glad there was a 2 hour lag between jumps. It gave me time to think everything through, identify my mistakes, and even to spend some time relaxing and cooling off.

I psyched myself out the first time. It was 0% fun (well, canopy ride was fun).

I was a LOT easier on the 2nd go. I kept my cool, and it was like 50% fun, 50% deadly serious. Maybe next time I will shoot for 60/40. ;)

[dontbounce 0]

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i know you dont wanna take advice from people with more jumps than you

Nonsense. I love all the advice I can get and I appreciate you posting it.

When I said dont take advice from people that have scarcly more experience than you, I was talking about me. I am as green as they come. I didnt want to come off as sounding like I wrote the book, and having some poor schmuck go in because of something I said that he took as the gospel.

I was just posting my obversations as an L1 jumper, because none of the 1000+ crowd even remembers the grip of blind panic, or the 10 gallons of adreneline and I hoped maybe I could help another person thinking about doing their L1 keep their cool by telling them how my jump went.

If I can help another diver, then great. I tried to stick the what I was taught and not to give any advice, except what was absolutely nessecary. You know, altitude, awareness, keep cool, pull. All good advice. Seems really silly to you 250+ and even more so to the 1000+ folks, but hey, for us L1s, these are things that brought me from doing terribly on try #1 to almost perfect on #2.

Cheers!

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[Icon134 0]

Congratulations!!!

Now get back out there for Level 2!!!
Scott

btw: Level 2 was my most difficult level... (I passed but it was the hardest for me.)

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[gofast_ER 0]

cool....one more thing. When your off student status and think the conditions might not be right for you to jump you really shouldn't. I made almost the worst mistake of my skydiving carrer last week. 20+ mph winds and i figured..."what the hell i drove all the way out here." My ankle still hurts but it could have been alot worse! First I almost landed in a pond. I avoid that only to see that im about to land in a tree! I managed to avoid that to but then hurt my ankle landing.

I may not agree with what you have to say but i'll defend to the death your right to say it.

[Icon134 0]

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I was just posting my obversations as an L1 jumper, because none of the 1000+ crowd even remembers the grip of blind panic, or the 10 gallons of adreneline and I hoped maybe I could help another person thinking about doing their L1 keep their cool by telling them how my jump went.

I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I let go of the door of a twin otter... and If I do I can always go back to my log book and read my Jump masters comments and relive it once again.

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[gofast_ER 0]

I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I stepped off the step of my twin otter... and If I do I can always go back to my log book and read my Jump masters comments and relive it once again.

[monkycndo 0]

I had brain lock myself on my first jump when it came to pull time. Wow, where did that canopy come from? I just went back and read my AFFI's comments for that jump. He put, "Assisted with pull". He has a gift with understatement. Each dive is a learning opportunity. The TUB speech is normally given to those who don't take advantage of those opportunities. It is obvious you learned so it was a successful dive.

Good on you for nailing it on the next jump. It just keeps getting better.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[papax17 0]

Damn I am so pumped to start AFF....

[dontbounce 0]

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cool....one more thing. When your off student status and think the conditions might not be right for you to jump you really shouldn't.

Yeah I will be extremely conservative for a long time. I have a wife and 4 year old son.

Now, if It were 10 years ago... Watch out below!

[dontbounce 0]

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I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I let go of the door of a twin otter...

Me neither. I still remember it like it was yesterday...

Oh wait... It was yesterday.

[countzero 7]

congrats. glad you stuck it out. i had a few seconds of brain lock on my level 2. luckily, i came out of it on the third practice touch signal. i still passed but i did'nt get to do the left turn. weather permiting- i'll be doing my level 4 this weekend. BTW level 3 is the least task oriented so enjoy the ride. cheers

diamonds are a dawgs best friend

[dontbounce 0]

Thanks! I feel a lot better about it now. 3 jumps and zero titanium/zero reserve rides. Good enough for me. I am glad I was failed. While I don't expect that the AFFI's ever "fudge" somebody and let them squeak by unless they are sure they are good to go, it was a great learning experience. I knew exactly what I had to do, I had the sequence down PAT, but when it came time to go, I had so much adreneline in my brain that I seized up (like running your mom's ford taurus on 120 octane jet fuel...) All the preparation in the world doesnt mean squat if your shit your pants on the exit.

At any rate, I was able to keep perfect awareness on my 2nd jump by simply calling out the altitude to my self every time I checked it. For the cost of a dry mouth and some lost gum, I did 1000% better on #2 (and even landed on the grass)... Everything was groovy... I wish I had paid more attention to my pilot chute, and properly performed a 5 count when I deployed it, but It opened and no line twists on #2, so what the heck...

Here it is the next day, and I still get a little burst of adrneline just thinking about it.
Will try to do l2 & 3 sometime this week (weather, wife, and budget permitting)

Cheers! Time to go party like its 1999.

[Jumpah 0]

Heck, my instructor pulled for me on my first AFF-A. I couldn't figure out why she was pointing at me
I remember getting cleared for solo's and thinking that once I had my A, I'd really know what I doing. Well, got my A and found out that I'm still a n00b. Its all good, tho, as every jump is lots of fun.

Enjoy your next levels. Don't beat yourself up over mistakes so long as you take a good hard look at why those mistakes happened and you are able to come up with a plan to keep them from happening in the future.