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Levels 6 and 7 today went without a hitch! The dive exits were fine, not really much different to how I previously exited (crouching side-on in the door). My first one I flopped around for about 7 seconds, then got stable and completed the drills, not a problem. For my level 7 exit I made sure to watch the plane as I fell away from it, and this saw me flip onto my back. I popped an arm across my chest and righted myself easily, then did a backtuck, two 360s, tracking, done by about 8.5k and waited it out, nice and easy deployment. Another guy was on the same levels as me and they had space for us to do con. 1 half an hour later, so up we went again. A solo dive exit much like the last, but this time I kept the plane securely in view and retaliated to the instructor's thumbs up with two of my own, staying on-heading with the plane as I flattened out. A double back, some turns, some tracking, open by 5.5k with line twists - my first little problem. I twisted out of them in short order and continued on. Great weekend of jumping, I really enjoyed them all and I'm pleased with how I performed. Thanks for everyone's help in this thread, hopefully it's useful to other AFF students who might come across it.

Levels 4 and 5 today went well. These were my 6th and 7th jumps, respectively. The tunnel work helped, I feel, but as I expected my ability as seen in the tunnel really gets cut down ten-fold in the sky. Apparently I was back-sliding a lot, without any frame of reference (my instructor followed me, so I couldn't tell I was moving), but I did good turns and pulled my own chute, first time, both times. Under canopy it was fine as usual, with gentle walking landings. I'm pleased with it, definitely - hopefully back up there tomorrow, if the weather gods will it. Next level: dive exit

Yea there's not much to say - it's great fun and surely not much can go wrong, really. I mean, all sorts of people go and have a go in tunnels these days. I guess if you're aiming for your AFF then mention that to your instructor and they can tailor your training to it. Just enjoy it and learn what you can.

well what do you call it?! Pud or hackey, if you are referring to what you are grabbing at the end of your pilot chute, which is what I think you mean. Mine is usually a piece of plastic like this chap's http://www.flightgear.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Parachutist-splash.jpg Generically all of these systems would be referred to as handles. The type you use I've heard called a tube. Not sure if there is another name for it. Toggles are attached to the risers and are what you use to steer and land. Not in play until the parachute is deployed and out of the bag. good point - we call those toggles as well, or just "brakes".

well what do you call it?! Pud or hackey, if you are referring to what you are grabbing at the end of your pilot chute, which is what I think you mean. Mine is usually a piece of plastic like this chap's http://www.flightgear.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Parachutist-splash.jpg

well what do you call it?!

^ as promised: First of all I had loads of fun flying in the tunnel, and that's important. It didn't take me many minutes to get the hang of it and by the end of the day I could basically fly anywhere I wanted - the instructor would touch somewhere on the walls and I had to go over and touch it, then he'd point to somewhere else, and so on. I could move forward and backwards, turn fairly well (left much better than right) and, I have NO idea how I was doing it, but side-slipping as well. I just kind of willed myself to move sideways and it happened. Very strange. The weather is shit around here now but I'll get back in the air ASAP, hopefully before I forget it all again! Some things to bear in mind, AFF students, if you're going to a tunnel: > Tell the tunnel instructor clearly what you want to work on, and make sure that happens. > They may use different hand signals to your AFFI - ask your tunnel instructor to use those you're familiar with. > You can ask the instructor to give you the altimeter signal from time to time to make you look at your wrist and not get too lost in the flying. > Do lots of practice pulls and stuff like flying with one hand behind your back, so you can stay stable and calm when finding your toggle. Bear in mind that I haven't taken this experience into freefall yet, but I expect it should help. And don't think about it all too much. The way your instructor (AFF or tunnel) tells you to position or move yourself to acheive a certain results is only very approximate and you need to find the body position that works naturally for you, and then it will just happen really easily.

Oh and don't worry about equipment yet, your DZ will provide it and instruct you on its use. It's best that you use what they give you for now, since it may be tailored towards their teaching program and they will be familiar with it. I intend to buy my own gloves soon because the DZ ones are fucking disgusting, perhaps goggles while I'm at it. But wait until you've got started.

OP - I'm a novice and part way through my AFF. There are surely pros and cons to each method of learning, as described above. I recommend thinking about your usual approach to learning new skills, especially physical skills, and consider what rate of progression might be appropriate for you. AFF is very fast and intense and each level is a real step forward. It exposes you to more, sooner. But that doesn't mean you will learn more, sooner. In fact the opposite can happen, if each jump is too much for you to take in. Think of absolutely any skill or new hobby and you will notice that there's an optimum level of training/practice (varying between people), and if you go slower than that you'll progress sub-optimally (not so bad), and if you try to go faster then you basically crash and burn. Hopefully not literally, in this case. My first 3 AFF jumps I have NO memory of at all. Right after the jump, I couldn't remember a thing. They were too intense for me to learn very much from - say each AFF level was throwing 100 units of experience at me, and I was only absorbing 10 units. I think I would have benefited more from a slower progression, personally. I haven't had any tunnel time myself yet but consider adding that as an option, e.g. AFF + tunnel time - by all accounts that helps a great deal.

OK guys, I've got 30 minutes booked and paid for, next Monday. I went with two 15 minute blocks separated by 2-3 hours so I can chill in between and have a rest. Each 15 minute block is further divided up into individual flights over the course of half an hour or so. I'm getting a dummy rig, AFF-specific coaching, and possibly a countdown alti! I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. If anyone is still reading this thread - how long do you think I need in the tunnel? To give you more info, I have passed level 4 (just about) previously. The tunnel is cheaper than jumping but still "expensive" so though I'm sure every extra minute helps, basically what I want is just enough to get me through my AFF with no more rejumps. Are we talking about 10 minutes, 20, 30, more? It's cheaper per minute the more I book, of course, so if I go for less and end up needing more, I pay more than I would have if I bought it all at once. You know how it works. What do you reckon? Thanks

hah, good luck, OP. Should be fun either way. Out of interest, how much experience do you think one would need before being considered for a jump along with a TI and his charge? I imagine a lot would depend on who you are and who they are and how you're regarded at the DZ and if they think you'd be safe to jump with. But roughly what experience level do you think they'd be looking for?

yea, valid. I don't think it's something one can just do suddenly in the air in response to a hand signal, though. It will come from extended practice, such as in a tunnel. Hopefully.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly does "relax" mean to you? Instructors often say it and they often give the hand signal but what are you, the student, supposed to do? yea, haha. How does one "relax"? I have no idea. I always get the signal. I assume it means to soften my body and make it more responsive to the air, instead of trying to hold a rigid shape that's probably not right anyway.

Well my last debrief he basically told me everything I did wrong, I said that I know, he told me what I should have done instead, I said I know. Then I said that I can't do it at this stage and I lack the required control over my body. Tunnel time was suggested, the instructor said it could indeed help, that's about it.

Ah, no they're great and I feel very comfortable with them. To be honest, in everything I've learned it has mostly been self-directed, and I feel that teachers are there just for guidance and to set boundaries (and in this case to deploy my parachute for me...), so I never expect them to fix my problems. They can't. Only I can. I hope so. I don't see the distinction - the physical is controlled by the mental, it's not separate from it. My body doesn't do what it needs to do because my brain melts in the air. Mental or physical? Well, both, I guess. Some people have very fast nervous systems that can process a lot very quickly and have precise control over the muscles, and some people less so. This is a good idea and I'd like to try such a thing. Basically like AFF level 1 again, just all about heading and altitude. It would cost me as much as a full AFF level, though, so I can't really justify it :/ I'll see if I can get to a wind-tunnel soon. On the bright side, today I am absolutely desperate to get back in the air and prove to myself that I'm not a useless sack of panicking shit. That urge I luckily controlled yesterday, and hopefully I can channel it into productive ways of learning. I have lots of hobbies and have tried lots of different things and learning is always an active strategic kind of thing, it rarely just comes passively for me. I have to find the right steps to take to get where I want to be. AFF on its own is obviously designed to take the average-to-good student through to qualifying. I say this because I assume, reasonably, that skydiving self-selects for people with above-average ability in it and others wouldn't dare try it. So already the bar is set slightly above the ability of the average person on the street. I don't feel too bad about it now, just a bit embarrassed. On the ground I seem like someone who knows what they're doing and the instructors must be disappointed as well. I'm stoked to get back up there and impress. Myself.

Thanks for the replies. I've already paid up at the DZ, for the whole course, but perhaps if I asked nicely they'd let me keep what remains on my account (enough only to get me to level 5 by now) for future club jumps and then go and try RAPS somewhere else, perhaps.

To be honest I knew very little about it before I started my training. I had no idea that it was so technically challenging, actually - and the brevity of the AFF course implied to me that it was pretty easy to get through. A mere handful of jumps before they let you out of the plane alone. But really it's extremely tricky, like any other movement sport, maybe like surfing or snowsports. Or even riding a bike... but most of us learn that as a kid when we just soak it up and don't overthink it!

Each AFF level I fail costs me £200. That's what I earn in a week. I honestly can't afford to fail another level. Plenty of people have been to wind tunnels, can that help? And this is the "just keep trying" approach which to be honest I've never really believed in. It doesn't give any useful information about how to actually practice or what to do. I'm currently making a lot of mistakes and doing things wrong. I have no reason to believe that carrying on in the same way is going to lead to improvements. Obviously whatever I do will involve "move skydiving", but "more skydiving" on its own is not productive. It's like if someone is having trouble learning to drive, you can't just say "drive more". It's dangerous and pointless and won't help them, they'll just reinforce bad habits.

Hi. I'm going through my AFF course but am failing levels and being dropped back, repeatedly, and it has cost me a great deal of money. It took two full months' salary to pay for the course originally, haha! So I really want to sort this out before going any further. I learn everything on the ground very well, I think. And I know exactly, second-by-second, what I should be doing in the air. I'm happy on the plane, I'm happy setting up for exit, and I get out into the air without hesitation. But then it all just goes to shit. It's sensory-overload, I guess. All my drills are rushed and frantic, or sometimes forgotten about. I forget to check my altimeter enough, in turns I twist and flap around terribly, and then when it comes time to pull I can NEVER find my toggle. Every time so far either the instructor has put my hand on it (if he can fight me) or has pulled for me. I just can't fucking find the thing. I basically have no idea what I'm doing in the air, and have little or no memory of it afterwards. Once the canopy is open I'm FINE (after screaming some expletives about how shit the jump was) and I think I judge my landing patterns quite well, and usually land neatly on my feet. But, that's the easy part of course. I was always very bad at sports and physical things, or intense situations. I'm an uncoordinated and calm person, unused to high-pressure situations that require precision body movements. I reckon I am not the first person to find myself in this situation during their training. How can it be solved? I'm not going to attempt another jump until I honestly believe I can really do it "perfectly". What can I do to fix it? My instructors tell me what I need to change, what I did wrong - but I already know what I do wrong. That doesn't mean I can fix it, though. It's not as if I can just say "oh, yea, lol I forgot to find my toggle instead of fumbling around my thigh and back. OK let's go again, I'll do it this time..." Any tips? I have some ideas for how I will proceed but I'd like to hear from you guys as well. Thanks

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll try to head down there even if it's not certain that I'd jump, and perhaps I can pick up some useful info or at least just absorb some skydiving sense from the place. I'm losing touch with it all.

hmm, I hadn't thought about that sort of thing. I do want to learn to pack and basically anything else I can find out about how it all works would be great. I'd feel like I was pissing them off a bit, though, or overstepping the mark - I've paid for an AFF course and might feel a bit weird trying to sneak extra training and info from them when they'll probably have better things to do (like sit and listen to the rain )

Hi. I'm a novice skydiver part of the way through my AFF course. I live in England and the weather is fairly mixed - as a result I haven't jumped for a few months now and I really need to get back there and finish off. I should probably have started my course in spring so that I wouldn't have winter weather in the middle of it. I can phone or email my DZ and they'll give me a general opinion, but obviously they can't ever tell me for sure that I'll get to jump that day. When they say something like "we'll see" or "no promises" or "there's a chance" - I usually interpret it as "probably not... but come down anyway just in case." Which is fair enough - but it's actually quite a long and expensive journey for me to the DZ and, nice as all the staff and members are, I can think of better ways to spend my weekend than sitting in a hangar listening to the rain Am I being too much of a weather perfectionist? I'm not entirely clear what conditions stop jumping (apart from high winds) - like how much cloud at what height, and so on. Does rain always mean no jumping? Are wet canopies a big problem for repacking and storage? Can you jump when it's overcast if the clouds are high enough? Do you think it's ok to wait for a weather forecast that actually says sun that day instead of overcast and 60% chance of rain? How do you guys, especially in England, judge the weather and decide whether to make the trip to the DZ? Or do you just go anyway and hope? Which are your favoured weather forecast services? A lot of questions - thanks for any tips!