3 courses at once? i have a few questions

[airborne82nd 0]

I am signing up for the Coach course, Pre-Aff, and Aff-i.

all in a row.

My question is if you do that i heard tthat the dourse director will make the entire course dedicated to AFF-I.

A friend of mine took a coach course from some one else then did the aff-i. he failed the course.

Years later he took the coach, pre and aff course and he said from day one till the end it was all for the aff-I

he said it was like a tend day aff-i course instead of a 5 day course.

Is this a good idea get it all at once keep it in your mind fresh and stay in that learning mode or is it best to take a break.

Also any tips on covering the ground school prep?
do i have to memorize something and teach a whole block of instruction???

any tips with dealing with evaluators how to make them happy?

I have another friend that says he passed the course but a few didnt who he jumps with. he said they are better jumpers then him but their evaluators can make or break you.

thats scary to me.

i have a side mount freefly camera set up can i fly it during the course and use it as a debrief for my evaluators????

thank you for all who have helped me out with this.

The more prepared I am, the more pre knowledge i have, and the more i understand the course, will allow me to learn more form the course and come out of it a beter instructor.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

It takes more than a good jumper to make a good instructor. Personally I think you should take the coach course and then spend a season doing nothing but coaching. When you are an accomplished coach, then you should think about becoming an AFF instructor.
Depending on what kind of aircraft you have, an AFF jump contains between thirty-five and sixty seconds of freefall; if you have to think about what your move should be in response to your student's actions are, you have just wasted their money. While it is more problematic to be wooden and halting in your flying, being hesitant and stilted in your skill assessment and corrective communication is also a disservice to your student.

[BIGUN 1,053]

This is your second post of concern. In your first post, I was left with the impression that you already had your Coach rating.

Personally, it sounds like you're more interested in getting the AFF rating than it does your becoming a good Instructor.

You mind if I ask what the rush is all about? Moving fast isn't the same as getting somewhere.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[airborne82nd 0]

if i got a coach rating say a year ago i would have not used it like several others at my dz.

not many opportunities to do any official coaching nor teaching anyof the sim for the aff instructors.

Now unofficial coaching new jumpers at the dz is a full time job ( kidding ) and just going jumping with younger jumpers and saying whhat do you want to work on ect...

and also constantly unofficaly caoching jumpers on landing ect..

so the coach rating isnt very useful.

so this has been a long time commming to me.

Yes the ultimate goal is to be an AFF-I instructor, that is the desired out come.

So the implication i just want my rating isnt not on my mind at all. I first need to pass the rating to be an instructor.

my instructor ability and development does not end at the end of the course, it is just the begining. so my education and self improvement doesnt stop when iget my rating it begins.

the rating would establish the min needed to teach others, i wouldnt stop there nor could i.

we all have to start somewhere and al have to have an objective or goal.

mine is aff-I instructor.
it is not pride - its empowerment, to teach people and to take care of them.

can anyone answer some of my other concearns?

[tdog 0]

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Also any tips on covering the ground school prep?
do i have to memorize something and teach a whole block of instruction???

Our evaluators told us specifically what they wanted us to teach and required us to plan ahead with a written plan or notes to teach from. We showed up 30 minutes early and put together the plan. No memorization required. If you are teaching canopy landing emergencies, you can read the section out of the SIM, put together a lesson plan, and teach it. (One word reminders or outline in the plan - don't read from it - just use it as a road map.)

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any tips with dealing with evaluators how to make them happy?

Confidence. Treat them like you would treat a real student the day you get your rating. Go slow and accurate. Silly stuff might get you - like they might teach "SHAGGR" as an acronym for gear checks - then you follow it to a tee, but A (altimeter) is before G (gloves) - so having a student put on the gear in the wrong order using their acronym makes you feel clumsy when the student has to take off the altimeter to put on the gloves. I simply acknowledged my mistake in character, "oops, I guess we have to take your alti back off, most students use the DZ issued wrist mounts, but since you have a hand mount, it has to be put on after your gloves, my bad", and moved on.

When in doubt - ask questions - don't guess.

Hear what they want you to do, then prove to them you can do it. If they have advice, try it.

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I have another friend that says he passed the course but a few didnt who he jumps with. he said they are better jumpers then him but their evaluators can make or break you.

thats scary to me.

Some might try to play mind games. Don't be caught off guard, they are just testing you. Out mind game them by smiling and laughing and staying focused on the tasks. It might be they were better jumpers, but worse teachers?

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i have a side mount freefly camera set up can i fly it during the course and use it as a debrief for my evaluators????

I used my FF2 cam helmet. My friend had a similar helmet. We videoed all our jumps. Our evaluators agreed to review our footage with the same rules as outside video, should it be needed - it could only help. They even took our footage and reviewed it behind closed doors to self critique their own testing of us - to see if they felt they were giving us realistic challenges. Now they did not tell us why they took our cameras for an hour, we thought for sure we screwed up real bad, but we asked when they came out and they laughed, "no you are doing great. The evaluators have to be evaluated too, to keep their evaluation ratings, so we were just debriefing what we were doing from your perspective."

They wanted to make sure nothing (and I mean nothing) was sticking out of the side of the helmet that would damage a rig, skin, or worse... They said that small screws or ring sights have actually poked thru rigs on tough evaluation exits and strongly suggested that this rule apply to real students too. Does your camera have a box, or is there a metal plate that is exposed???

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thank you for all who have helped me out with this.

The more prepared I am, the more pre knowledge i have, and the more i understand the course, will allow me to learn more form the course and come out of it a beter instructor.

We asked a lot of questions before and during the course. I think most of the questions you are asking us - you should ask them too. "What do you want to see out of me? What tips do you have to make us successful? Can I jump my own freefly camera helmet?"

P.S. The week of my AFF course was one of the most rewarding and fun weeks skydiving I have had yet. I would actually go back and do it again for the fun of it. If you find a course director who is great, and you go in with the right attitude, it can be real fun and challenging.

[packerboy 3]

Make sure you talk to your DZO first, because if he/she feels the same way as Andrewwhyte (sp?) you may be wasting your money.

--------------------------------------------------
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

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i have a side mount freefly camera set up can i fly it during the course and use it as a debrief for my evaluators????

There is nothing stating that you cannot wear your camera in the course. I use mine on every single AFF jump (with a .3 lens) and it gets everything I need for debriefing.

[riggerrob 558]

Is this a good idea get it all at once keep it in your mind fresh and stay in that learning mode or is it best to take a break.

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Three course in a row sounds exhausting!
At a minimum take a day or two off between courses.

Far wiser would be to follow Andrewwhyte's advice on coaching for a year before attempting an AFF Evaluation Week (my spelling). A year of coaching will consolidate (make second-nature) all the briefing, proximity, observation, debriefing and corrective instruction skills before you "take it to the next level" with AFF.

[riggerrob 558]

Also any tips on covering the ground school prep?
do i have to memorize something and teach a whole block of instruction???

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Straight memorization is a bad idea.
Most evaluators expect you to use cue cards, notes or a formal lesson plan during practice teaching exercises. I have even seen an evaluator "fail" a well-delivered lesson because the candidate did not bring notes.
Later on, you will use your lesson plan more like a check list. (i.e. Deliver lesson, then scan lesson plan to confirm that you covered all the major points.)

[riggerrob 558]

I have a side mount freefly camera set up can i fly it during the course and use it as a debrief for my evaluators????

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Just remember that evaluators expect you to debrief - from memory - before looking at any video.

[airborne82nd 0]

thanks everyone ill take the coach coarsenow and the aff in january

thanks everyone for their advice

very helpful