AFF Instructors

[skylord 1]

While surfing the internet, I found a video of a guy who was on his seventh jump, with one instructor. Something happened during the jump and the student went over on his back, and then folded in half.

I was REALLY impressed with the instructor who had a death grip on the student and did not let go until he recovered stability and pulled. The cameraman did a good job too.

That really is a different line of work. Do you have to pass a physical test, like firefighters, to be instructor qualified? The AFF instructors I've seen could all kick my ass without even thinking about it. The women included, but no need to go into my little fantasy world on this forum.

Someone should do a documentary about you.

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[Shark 0]

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That really is a different line of work. Do you have to pass a physical test, like firefighters, to be instructor qualified? The AFF instructors I've seen could all kick my ass without even thinking about it. The women included, but no need to go into my little fantasy world on this forum.

There are basic qualifications; 6 hours of freefall time, D license, and the AFF Proficiency Card completed. There is also a requirement to attend an AFF Instructor Rating Course in which there will be a couple of days of classroom instruction, then the practical portion which consists of 6 skydives; 2 are practice jumps with the evaluator, then you have to earn satisfactory scores on a Cat. C jump from the main & reserve side, and a Cat. D jump. You have 4 jumps to get 3 satisfactory jumps. The actual training leading to the course evaluation jumps were more difficult. Those prepared me for the course and for some real skydives. I've attached a photo that exhibits the level of difficulty one might encounter on such a skydive.

[billvon 2,413]

> Do you have to pass a physical test, like firefighters, to be instructor qualified?

When I took the AFF JCC, it was a seven day course, with six eval jumps and a slew of ground evals. You had to get a certain score total out of all the jumps to pass. The 'students' were evaluators who would purposely mess with you.

[skylord 1]

Shark,

Yikes! Great photo. The instructor on the video went full head down following his wayward student. Thanks, that gives me a lot more confidence in the AFF program. I still think someone may have to push my ass out of the airplane the first couple times.

Bob (only until I get a cool nickname)

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[skylord 1]

That sounds like a pretty thorough course to me. So the "students" actually do a bunch of destabilizing stuff? What if I start to cry on the ground?

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad to see the training is so rigorous! Are these requirements set by the FAA (like Certified Flight Instructor ratings), or is it like a professional standards committee that works this through USPA?

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[Perky77 0]

Bob,
As a graduate of the AFF program, I can't say enough good about the instructors. Most are in extremely good heath and physical condition because of their mindset, attitude and lifestyle. It definately takes a certain type of person to be an AFF instructor. It is the toughest rating to get, from the USPA, and rightly so, I have seen videos of some students that would have died if their instructors wouldn't have been able to fly as good as they can for an entire skydive and then be able to calmly discuss it afterwards with them on the ground, when they thought it was perfect.
As I tell all of my wuffo freinds that want to skydive, I recommend doing a tandem first, most people get ground shock the first time they look out of a plane door 13000 feet above the ground, with a tandem instructor hooked to you, you are that much easier to handle, see if you like it, then pursue going solo. Then you will have been around the DZ and some of the AFF instructors to get to know and comfortable with the people that will be there if you do "start to cry on the ground and need to be pushed out the door"

(I don't know if you have jumped yet, so if you have congrats, if not this is JMHO about doing a tandem 1st)

Perky

"Sacrifice is a part of life. It is supposed to be. It's not something you regret . It's something to aspire to." Mitch Albom

[Shark 0]

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The instructor on the video went full head down following his wayward student.

That's one of my work-up jumps prior to the AFFIRC. The student is Jay Stokes, the evaluator and course director. Although stressful, the training was a lot of fun.

[JamesNahikian 0]

Difficulty schmifficulty. I'd swear that photo is from my first AFP sitfly with Roger well too long ago. That's what instructors get paid for .

D. James Nahikian
CHICAGO

[skylord 1]

Perky,

Yes, I did a tandem jump at the end of May. It was a great experience, and now I plan my weekends with a visit to the Elsinore DZ if I can.

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[CloudOnMyTongue 0]

This post reminds me of my first solo jump durring my program. I exited the plane with an instructor on either side of me, I commenced to tumble for 6000 feet, and the whole time Scott was there with me fighting to get me stable.

When we were on the ground I was so impressed that he never gave up on me.

Don't worry, I'm much better now.

[ZoneRat 0]

A couple friends and I ("Heftee" and Todd) were at the DZ. It was an off day and there weren't many jumpers around.

Todd was demo'ing a new canopy and was considering a Hop N' Pop, leaving us stuck with a 2-way. Which is fine, but I just wasn’t in the mood for a drill dive.

Instead, I talked Todd into letting Heftee and I pretend to be his instructors and he an AFF level 1 student.

We were surprised to discover that we had no idea how to launch this kind of three way. As students go out last, we'd never actually seen it done.

A little ground instruction from a real instructor and up we went.

"Are you ready to skydive?"

It's a fun exit, and we managed to launch it. (It's still a little tricky even with a "student" with a 150 some odd jumps under his belt).

Todd did well. Too well, completing his first COA on the hill. So we did the practice touches. It was fun guiding his hand to the hackey. A second COA was completed and now were at 10k... Sorta staring at each other with not much left to do. So we did what any good friends would do. We messed with him.

Heftee and I made him potato chip like crazy, spinning the formation and giving bogus hand signals to see what he would do. He flailed his arms and kicked legs, acting all scared. (I guess he was acting...)

At 6k we stopped all goofiness.

At 5k we deployed him as per plan (I somehow resisted the urge to spin him as I pulled him), We turned onto our backs and watched his opening. I flipped back over catching Heftee's eyes just prior to our track. She was grinning ear to ear.

That was a cool jump. If you haven't done it, I recommend it.

I'd like to do it a few more times with a more rambunctious student to get a better appreciation for what the real instructors go through.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

[SkydiverRick 0]

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A couple friends and I ("Heftee" and Todd) were at the DZ. It was an off day and there weren't many jumpers around.

Todd was demo'ing a new canopy and was considering a Hop N' Pop, leaving us stuck with a 2-way. Which is fine, but I just wasn’t in the mood for a drill dive.

Instead, I talked Todd into letting Heftee and I pretend to be his instructors and he an AFF level 1 student.

We were surprised to discover that we had no idea how to launch this kind of three way. As students go out last, we'd never actually seen it done.

A little ground instruction from a real instructor and up we went.

"Are you ready to skydive?"

It's a fun exit, and we managed to launch it. (It's still a little tricky even with a "student" with a 150 some odd jumps under his belt).

Todd did well. Too well, completing his first COA on the hill. So we did the practice touches. It was fun guiding his hand to the hackey. A second COA was completed and now were at 10k... Sorta staring at each other with not much left to do. So we did what any good friends would do. We messed with him.

Heftee and I made him potato chip like crazy, spinning the formation and giving bogus hand signals to see what he would do. He flailed his arms and kicked legs, acting all scared. (I guess he was acting...)

At 6k we stopped all goofiness.

At 5k we deployed him as per plan (I somehow resisted the urge to spin him as I pulled him), We turned onto our backs and watched his opening. I flipped back over catching Heftee's eyes just prior to our track. She was grinning ear to ear.

That was a cool jump. If you haven't done it, I recommend it.

I'd like to do it a few more times with a more rambunctious student to get a better appreciation for what the real instructors go through.

The real fun starts when you let them go.

never pull low......unless you are

[ZoneRat 0]

I can believe that, Rick.... Stopping the perpetual spin. Fall rate all over the place. I have no idea how you'd get a student in a decent deployment position if he or she were spinning on their back in a fetal position...

How difficult is it to guess which students might zone out?

and, If I may ask... What's the trickiest moment you've had as an instructor?

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

[SkydiverRick 0]

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I can believe that, Rick.... Stopping the perpetual spin. Fall rate all over the place. I have no idea how you'd get a student in a decent deployment position if he or she were spinning on their back in a fetal position...

How difficult is it to guess which students might zone out?

and, If I may ask... What's the trickiest moment you've had as an instructor?

Instructiors like to think that they can judge someones performance by how they act on the ground, but you can't. Practice,practice,practice then hope for the best but be ready for the worst. None particularly stick out as the trickiest, but a couple stick out as the funniest.

never pull low......unless you are

[SkySlut 0]

You may or may not be able to predict it (certainly not everytime), but its how an instructor conducts themselves with the student that can really keep them calm and confident in the plane.

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[Joellercoaster 6]

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Practice,practice,practice then hope for the best but be ready for the worst.

I've seen video of an AFF 1 student who apparently got his practice pulls right all through the FJC and did both PRPs correctly - then went for his (SOS) reserve handle when it was time to deploy.

Main side instructor was too fast for him though, stopped him and pulled his main.

I'm glad they don't trust us even though we do it right all the time on the ground!

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Anyone who thinks AFF, or any other teaching method for that matter, is a "game", then you are sadly mistaken. You would not believe the shit that I have encountered with REAL AFF students. The course is tough for a reason. Lackadaisic instructors will get their asses handed to them if they don't watch it. Your switch must be "on" at all times; especially on release dives.

Chuck Blue
AFF-I (among other things)

[ltdiver 3]

Whoo Hoo!! Thought I recognized your jumpsuit there, Shark!

Great capture by your cameraflyer! Who took the shot?

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[Kris 0]

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Anyone who thinks AFF, or any other teaching method for that matter, is a "game", then you are sadly mistaken. You would not believe the shit that I have encountered with REAL AFF students. The course is tough for a reason. Lackadaisic instructors will get their asses handed to them if they don't watch it. Your switch must be "on" at all times; especially on release dives.

Absolutely agreed. I'm only an IAD-Instructor, but my evaluator did some positively evil shit to me and the other candidates during my JCC/ICC a couple of years back. I was a nervous wreck at the end of some of those jumps. Then he dropped the bomb, "Real students will do things that you can't prepare for in your worst drunken nightmare."

I didn't think it was possible, but two years and a few hundred students later, he was right. You can't let your guard down for a second. Once that rig is on their shoulders, and depending on the student sometime before that too, you need to be on the ball and balanced.

I've caught students that have completely disloged their PC's in the airplane, a few who tried to re-arrange the flap switch, and a couple who tried to grab my rig as I'm walking them out on the strut.

The routine?...It never changes...constantly scan and try to predict what their next move is going to be before they know it sometimes.

It's busy, it's tedious at times, but I love it.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[Shark 0]

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Whoo Hoo!! Thought I recognized your jumpsuit there, Shark!

Great capture by your cameraflyer! Who took the shot?

ltdiver

Tod Hendricks. I think he's in Idaho for the summer.

[Tonto 1]

My switch is on - and I LOVE those release dives.
When we watch the video afterwards of a "live one" and someone asks, "F*ck t, how the hell did you do that?" its usually while I'm thinking "F*ck t, how the hell did you do that?"

Love it. Really love it.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[usskydiver 0]

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Anyone who thinks AFF, or any other teaching method for that matter, is a "game", then you are sadly mistaken. You would not believe the shit that I have encountered with REAL AFF students. The course is tough for a reason. Lackadaisic instructors will get their asses handed to them if they don't watch it. Your switch must be "on" at all times; especially on release dives.

Chuck Blue
AFF-I (among other things)

Chucky is right on. I got my USPA AFF rating in 1991 with 4 hrs, 3 min of freefall (and luckily, great mentors and coaches). When I went to the British Parachute Association course in 1997 I got my butt handed to me again with 11 hrs, and 1,000 jumps (and passed). I keep both ratings current for travel and professional reasons.

Tim