What can I do with 30 minutes in the tunnel if I am still relatively new to skydiving?

[danica318 0]

I have been given a gift certificate for 30 minutes of coached tunnel time! While I am absolutely thrilled about it, I am not entirely sure what I should be working on in there.

I am an AFF level 5 student. Needless to say I am pretty new to skydiving! I did have two tandem jumps before I enrolled for my AFF however, and I have already invested in 10 minutes of tunnel time to work out some kinks in my hover control and turns (during my earlier levels of AFF.) Since then things have been smooth sailing!

I am planning on going back to the tunnel before I head back out to the drop-zone for my level 6 this weekend, and I hope it will help to make my next jump all the better!

But before I call up my instructor tomorrow and bother him with a million questions, I was wondering if there were any other tunnel fliers out there that could point me in the right direction. I know that no one but my instructor (or the tunnel coach) will be able to tailor a training plan for me, but some general advice never hurts in the meantime.

What else can i work on, and what skills will be a necessity for me in the future? 30 minutes may seem like a long time, but I want to make sure that I don't waste any of it and that I learn from it. I don't want to spend a lot of time reviewing the things I don't have trouble with, but I also want to make sure that I have a solid foundation to build new skills on. Any advice you can give me?


** The air skills I have down so far are-
1- Basic free-fall position
2- 90 degree turns and 360's
3- Forward and Backward motion
4- Up and down movement

I DO NOT know how to flip yet (neither forwards nor backwards...) So that might be something for me to consider.

[PhreeZone 15]

Mantis position and Centerpoint turns! These are skills that are easier to learn now when you have no bad habits vs in 300 jumps when you've got a lot of bad habits built in from not knowing any better.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Steve_Lewis 0]

Side sliding!

[DanG 1]

If I were you I'd focus on the core skills you need to get your A license. You'll definitely want to drill the basics of stable position, pull position (a lot of people never practice their pull in the tunnel, but they should), forward and backward, up and down, and basic turns with heading control. Then work on your Cat G and H skills of docking and docking with altitude adjustment. Also try some superpositinal moves, such as combining up and forward, or down and backward, etc. If you can get through all that, then I'd start looking at centerpoint turns. Save mantis for just after your A license.

Just my opinion. Have fun.

- Dan G

[kirkverner 0]

What Dan said. Build a huge foundation of basics.

ParacleteXP

[rehmwa 2]

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Mantis position and Centerpoint turns! These are skills that are easier to learn now when you have no bad habits vs in 300 jumps when you've got a lot of bad habits built in from not knowing any better.

absolutely - you can't really start a basic mantis camp too soon. But if so, best she let her instructors know. Most I know have no issue with a mantis during AFF provided the student drops into a big boxy arch at pull time. But mileage might vary from DZ to DZ on this point.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[shug 0]

Try working on your heads down...........NO i'm just messin around . I agree with all the above

[LloydDobbler 2]

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What else can i work on, and what skills will be a necessity for me in the future? 30 minutes may seem like a long time, but I want to make sure that I don't waste any of it and that I learn from it. I don't want to spend a lot of time reviewing the things I don't have trouble with, but I also want to make sure that I have a solid foundation to build new skills on. Any advice you can give me?


** The air skills I have down so far are-
1- Basic free-fall position
2- 90 degree turns and 360's
3- Forward and Backward motion
4- Up and down movement

I DO NOT know how to flip yet (neither forwards nor backwards...) So that might be something for me to consider.

Rest assured, all tunnel time is good time - at just about ANY point in your skydiving career. I went in last week and worked on centerpoint turns and side-sliding - it NEVER hurts to go and fine-tune the basics, no matter how many jumps you have.

You almost definitely won't be working on backloops or frontloops in the tunnel at this point - you need to be good on your back and in a sit before you start messing with those in the tunnel.

With your size, leveling will likely be an issue you have to contend with at some point, so working on up/down will be useful. Mantis will help with that, too - I agree with those (with more experience than me) who say it's never too early to learn it.

As others have said, centerpoint turns and sidesliding are great as well. They'll also likely have you do some drills as far as sticking out one arm, or both arms, or both arms on top of your head, etc, while maintaining fall rate, too.

Rest assured, it'll be a great experience.

One more thing - which tunnel are you going to?

Signatures are the new black.

[MomDaBomb 0]

I find slide sliding so difficult. It's amazing how you guys make it look so smooth and easy.

[chrismgtis 0]

You could do a LOT. It's worth going.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[danica318 0]

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One more thing - which tunnel are you going to?

I go to Skyventure, mostly because it is really close and convenient. Plus I like it. There is some good coaching there. : )

[LloydDobbler 2]

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One more thing - which tunnel are you going to?

I go to Skyventure, mostly because it is really close and convenient. Plus I like it. There is some good coaching there. : )

Definitely, couldn't agree more...but which Skyventure? (There's quite a few of them, these days...).

You'd be surprised how many people on this forum are in the tunnel regularly...you might randomly bump into some of them, if they know to look out for you.
Have a great flight!

Signatures are the new black.

[siddacious 0]

Once you have a solid grasp of the basics, learning to fly Mantis and to do proper center point turns is worth it's weight in gold. I did this early in my jumping career, and it helped me immensely.

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[chrismgtis 0]

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Once you have a solid grasp of the basics, learning to fly Mantis and to do proper center point turns is worth it's weight in gold. I did this early in my jumping career, and it helped me immensely.

When you say "Mantis" do you mean that form of belly flight where your hands a bit out in front of your face, close together? As Louis French said, kind of like you have your hands on someones head in front of you? If that makes any sense.

If so, yea I gotta work on that too next time I'm at the tunnel. I was still doing the whole AFF thing and my hands were far apart from each other and I have to admit it looks kind of retarded, especially when you go to dock and have to move your hands in.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[djd 0]

give it to me... :-)

[moto89 0]

I would work on flying with one, and then two hands behind your back. It feels weird at first but really teaches you to fly our core and not your appendages.

You don't need to do this for more than a few minutes, but it will definitely help you. I did this around 15 jumps at SVCO and I think it made a giant difference.

Less talking, more flying.

[pbwing 0]

Definitely go for the basics....

A good grounding in that will create the best foundation.

But what ever you do, don't do CReW...that never works well in the tunnel