Best Way to Prepare For AFFI?

[Deisel 35]

After seeing all of the different views of the AFFI course, I'm left with several questions. If a young, good looking, studly guy (like me ) was considering taking an AFFI course in a few months what would be the best way to spend the time prior to the course? I anticipate doing another 100-150 jumps between now and then.

Thoughts, anyone?

Lou

The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

[c10edges 0]

This would defiantly help. Two new instructors that i know very well said this is the only reason why they passed.

http://www.theratingscenter.com/

[c10edges 0]

Probably should have stated that DJ does pre-courses. This is what i recommend.

[Skydivesg 6]

I've talked with several evaluators and they all say that the biggest mistake they've seen, is people who came to the course without good belly flying skills.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[djmarvin 2]

4way size jumps. They really sharpen your slot flying skills. Too big and you end up spending time waiting. If you have any evaluators in your area, ask them to do some practice jumps to see where you are and build from there.

DJ Marvin
AFF I/E, Coach/E, USPA/UPT Tandem I/E
http://www.theratingscenter.com

[DSE 3]

Work on belly skills, work on being able to drive. Work on how to recall/recount a jump for a debrief.
this article http://skyvideo.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/the-affi-two-step-how-i-became-an-affi/ may help you look at a few parts of the program.

Having shadowed many AFF courses over the past year, I'd say that the biggest problem is the one mentioned previously; freeflyers with no belly skills. Seen several people that can fly on their butts, heads, and backs with great skill flame out of the course due to not knowing how to use their legs to drive, and for not knowing how to keep their bodies in close proximity to the student.

No better advice can be given, IMO. Learn to fly your belly and know how to stay in very close proximity to someone else.

[tdog 0]

I found a lot of coached 4way tunnel time and jumps was invaluable. However, you also need to practice getting to someone who is moving randomly from either above them or the side of them, closing a large gap quickly. That is a skill a 4way team that is good never learns as they are never more than a few feet away from each other.

[skybytch 259]

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Work on how to recall/recount a jump for a debrief.

That's a biggee right there. Expand your awareness, learn to "read" another jumper's body position, build in more altimeter checks than you normally do and link those checks to specific things happening on the skydive. These skills can be practiced on any jump.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest spending an equal amount of time focusing on the ground stuff as you do on the air stuff. Any monkey can be a bulldog in freefall; it's a bit harder to learn how to teach effectively so you don't have to be a bulldog in freefall.

Assist in more FJC's than the cert card requires. Shadow the best AFFI's on your dz when they are doing ground preps and debriefs. Read the ISP - better yet, KNOW the ISP forward and backward. Definitely do some practice jumps (preferably with an AFF I/E or evaluator), but also do some practice ground evals (Cat C and Cat D) before you go to a course.

Good luck.

[Fast 0]

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Work on how to recall/recount a jump for a debrief.

That's a biggee right there. Expand your awareness, learn to "read" another jumper's body position, build in more altimeter checks than you normally do and link those checks to specific things happening on the skydive. These skills can be practiced on any jump.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest spending an equal amount of time focusing on the ground stuff as you do on the air stuff. Any monkey can be a bulldog in freefall; it's a bit harder to learn how to teach effectively so you don't have to be a bulldog in freefall.

Assist in more FJC's than the cert card requires. Shadow the best AFFI's on your dz when they are doing ground preps and debriefs. Read the ISP - better yet, KNOW the ISP forward and backward. Definitely do some practice jumps (preferably with an AFF I/E or evaluator), but also do some practice ground evals (Cat C and Cat D) before you go to a course.

Good luck.

I like this post. I probably did 20ish practice jumps with an evaluator just working on spin stops, rollovers and "what did the student do on this skydive" stuff.

Prior to that I had done a lot of 4-way RW and camera flying so my RW skills were pretty solid.

I spend a TOn of time doing ground preps with practice students. In the end I found that it made for me being a much better instructor than if I just did the least amount that I could have to prepare.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[FrflyPimpDaddy 0]

If your a bigger guy, get as lean as you possibly can. Make sure you have multiple suits and you can fly all of them well. You can always put some weights on if needed. You must have range. Depending on your evaluator, this may be the thing they go after. Make sure you can fly super tight on someone and not touch them ( if you're more than arms distance away, you're too far) and get to them quickly when they flip on their back or flatten out and start spinning.

While you are spending all of this time working out to lean up, make sure you know your bottom and top end sequences so well you don't even have to think about them. Especially the bottom end. Make sure you have the correct cadence down so your not going too fast and pull the student early, and not too slow so you blow your minimum altitude. When my audibles go off at 6k, I verify with my visual, then the cadence starts at 5.5, and it doesn't stop until the student has pulled or I have done it for them. It is the same thing every time and at the same speed. What I recommend you do is figure out what that cadence needs to be ( for each dive), and go over it for the next two months, 100 times a day at the same speed. That way, when your all amped up from a tough evaluation dive, your able to go into auto-pilot once the bottom end sequence starts. Remember, you will possibly start out on main side and be there for the top end sequence, but be on reserve for bottom end due to rollover or spin stop.

If you're an RW guy, do you always turn away from the formation the same way? If so, make yourself start turning the other way so your are not locked into one. You would hate to fail a successful dive because you blew it and turned the wrong direction on break off. It's been done many, many , many times. Once by me, and you know it the millisecond you do it. Very frustrating.

Learn how to fly the line (i.e., how to keep super close on someone while they are turning), you can do this on creepers successfully, and add in the top end and bottom end sequences with it.

I would do this in addition to all of the other recommendations from instructors.

Please remember, this is only my opinion. This is what I did successfully for me and my weaknesses. You may be very different.

[ozzy13 0]

http://www.skydiveratings.com/index.php

Do a lot of 4 way. Its the best way to get ready for the course.

Never give the gates up and always trust your rears!

[Para5-0 0]

Just pay the I/E in advance, he will mail the rating and you can save the time and travel.

[popsjumper 2]

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http://www.skydiveratings.com/index.php

Do a lot of 4 way. Its the best way to get ready for the course.

For in-flight skills:
I have to disagree with this.
It's only a very good student who will maintain a fall rate and not be moving all around forcing you to move with the slot or head them off at the pass. You are not going to be tested by a very good student flier, I promise you.

For Ground Preps:
They only thing that relates 4-way to AFFI is maybe your observation skills.


To the OP:
1. Jump with, and de-brief with, evaluators or someone who knows what evaluators do and how they do it (role-playing students).

2. Know Cat C and Cat D inside and out.

3. Do the Pre-course.


Now. to be a good instructor, you'll need to know something about how to teach and how people learn.

Oh and BTW, a rating doesn't make you a good AFFI.
Try not to immediately go out and buy bigger hat sizes.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[dninness 4]

Having just gotten my rating....

I *thought* I was a pretty good bellyflyer. Oh my, how wrong I was.

Our I/E offered an opportunity to do practice jumps before the course, and I took him up on it. Our first "practice" jump was briefed as a "good" C-1. (we wound up doing it with just one "instructor" as my partner was not there that day) All I had to do was fly my slot.

The slot I flew would have been fine for pickup 4-way RW, etc. It *sucked* for AFF-level flying.

I was humbled. I had no idea. And all he did was fall straight down.

Classroom stuff? Yeah, I had that dialed. Teaching? Yep, no sweat. Lots of experience there.

But flying 6-8 inches from the student, while throwing signals, staying on level, watching body position to anticipate movement, keeping an eye on altitude, being ready for disaster... Uh, yeah, gonna need more practice there, dude. :)

It took a *lot* of practice jumps to get to the point where I felt I was in control of the skydive (and I'm here to tell you, thats a false sense of security. If you're jumping with a student or a crafty evaluator, you're never *truly* "in control"..).

Exits weren't too much of a problem for me. The bottom end? Yeah, nailed that pretty quick as well. But the ability to fly your slot, I mean *really* fly your slot (and I don't mean an arms length "open accordion" slot, either), is going to be key.

Lots and lots of flying with people who are going to do unpredictable things will help you a lot. Of the next 100-150 jumps, if you do 30-50 as some form of training practice for AFF (ie. coach jumps, tight 4-way, real practice jumps with AFF-Is and evaluators) would be about right. Plus, do the majority of them closer to the course.

A pre-course would help as well.

NIN
D-19617, AFF-I '19

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

To all the posters with suggestions above....

I am struck by the fact that none of you recommend doing lots of coaching with post-AFF, pre-license students as preparation for AFFI.
(Of course, I may have just missed seeing it above)

Wouldn't doing coach jumps help with the memory task and provide some practice chasing new jumpers? I presume that chasing AFF students is more extreme than chasing coaching students, but I also figure that it would provide a good alternative to doing only 4-way (where "chasing" is less of an issue).

Coaching SDU style with very detailed ground preps and debriefs would also seem to be good prep for these AFFI tasks.

I am not saying that coaching is all that one needs, but that it seems that it might have significant value along with the other suggestions above.

So... Am I off base here???

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[Gary73 8]

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This would defiantly help. Two new instructors that i know very well said this is the only reason why they passed.

http://www.theratingscenter.com/

Really? All I see there is an advertizement for TRC.

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

[Gary73 8]

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Wouldn't doing coach jumps help with the memory task and provide some practice chasing new jumpers?

With the "observe and report" part, definitely. That's part of why being a Coach and doing actual coached jumps are pre-course requirements. But normally a Coach shouldn't chase a student; he should provide a stable reference point, so coaching doesn't help much with flying skills.

I'd agree with those who recommend making practice jumps with an active AFF Evaluator. If you can't do that, four-way FS jumps provide the best in-close flying practice. Either way, definitely attend the pre-course. Many I/Es do the pre-course and course as essentially a single course, which is probably the best approach.

Good luck!

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

[pilotdave 0]

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I'd agree with those who recommend making practice jumps with an active AFF Evaluator. If you can't do that, four-way FS jumps provide the best in-close flying practice.

No need for an evaluator... any AFF instructor, especially a new one that went through the course recently, can be a really good (bad?) student. And if one of those isn't available, use someone else. I started practicing probably a year before I took the course. Those first... many... jumps with the "student" doing a good job were humbling. Can't imagine just doing that for the first time in the few days leading up to eval jumps. And I'm talking about doing full on practice Cat C/D evals (the freefall part, anyway). No reason to learn spin stops, rollovers, signal presentation, etc at the course instead of beforehand. But advice from someone that took the course 100 years ago (and isn't a current evaluator) might not be helpful for the specifics.

Dave

[Gary73 8]

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No need for an evaluator

Dave,

No offense, but that sounds a lot like telling a whuffo: "Hey, don't bother paying an AFF Instructor to learn how to skydive - just hook up with a recent AFF graduate!"

There's more to being an Evaluator than skydiving badly, and there are good reasons for the 100-AFF-minimum to become one. (Some I/Es even insist that you have 500 AFFs before they'll train you to evaluate!)

Anyway:
Learn the dive flows. Jump with a current Evaluator. Start with "great student" scenarios to get the rhythm, then work your way into "not-so-great-student" scenarios. Attend the pre-course either way. That'll help fill in any gaps in your preparation, and when the I/E thinks you're ready, go for it!

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

[timmyfitz 0]

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No need for an evaluator

Dave,

No offense, but that sounds a lot like telling a whuffo: "Hey, don't bother paying an AFF Instructor to learn how to skydive - just hook up with a recent AFF graduate!"

As with all analogies, this isn't even close to good. There is a big difference learning from an AFF-I than learning from a recent AFF grad student.

[Gary73 8]

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As with all analogies, this isn't even close to good.

Wow, that's like saying that every section in every history book is wrong. Oh no, another analogy! Run for your lives!

Actually I think the analogy is not that far off. A new AFF-I has only seen the candidate's side of the course, not what goes into conducting the course. He also doesn't have the perspective toward AFF that an experienced Instructor does.

So I'll stick with my advice: The best preparation for a course is a pre-course with the same I/E, and the best preparation for the pre-course is to jump with an active Evaluator.

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

[pilotdave 0]

An evaluator would be better... I spent a day working with one (actually an I/E) so I'd get a really honest opinion about whether or not I was ready to take the course. But you can do a whole lot of practicing with someone else.

I played student for friends on a bunch of jumps while we were practicing. Spinning around or doing a little back flying to let someone flip you over doesn't take magical evaluator skills. Teaching and debriefing an "AFFI candidate candidate" is another story... an evaluator will be much better at that. But an instructor that took the course recently can fill in pretty well based on what they learned in the course and saw on their practice jumps and evals.

Just trying to fly next to someone that's pretty much sitting still was a lot harder than expected. You don't need an evaluator to learn that and get lots of practice.

Dave

[djmarvin 2]

I agree with Gary on the AFF-I stand in. It could be better than nothing, but I have seen more than one experienced AFF-I break in as an evaluator and not give the candidates realistic work. Some are just too hard from the beginning. (work up from good to bad like Gary mentioned) and some are just way too absurd. There are plenty of experienced evaluators out there. Not only can they help you with your air skills, but they also tend to more intimately understand the scoring process for air and ground skills.

DJ Marvin
AFF I/E, Coach/E, USPA/UPT Tandem I/E
http://www.theratingscenter.com

[legalize1966 0]

Now a days this is the only truthful post.

[Gary73 8]

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I agree with Gary on the AFF-I stand in. It could be better than nothing, but I have seen more than one experienced AFF-I break in as an evaluator and not give the candidates realistic work. Some are just too hard from the beginning. (work up from good to bad like Gary mentioned) and some are just way too absurd. There are plenty of experienced evaluators out there. Not only can they help you with your air skills, but they also tend to more intimately understand the scoring process for air and ground skills.

One of an I/E's responsibilities is to ensure that all evals are fair. If he can't do that he shouldn't be an I/E. Advice to candidates: get outside video on every eval jump at a course, even the practices. If a jump or a grade seems unfair in any way, have the I/E review it. Good Evaluators and I/Es will put fairness ahead of ego and correct an unfair grade.

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan