ChaoP

Members
  • Content

    33
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never
  • Feedback

    0%

Everything posted by ChaoP

  1. In DeLand the AFF instructors keep all student logbooks on those blue sheets of paper (basically looks like a logbook on a sheet of paper, with room for 7 jumps). For all my jumps they started out asking me how the jump went and what I remembered, then showed me the blue sheet and explained what they had written down and went over the jump from their point of view. When you graduate AFF they'll give you a copy of that blue sheet so you can copy everything into your logbook. Over analyzing the jump as it was happening and being too stiff and not comfortable in the air was my issue that caused me to fail lvl 4 twice. The wind tunnel helped me SO much. I went with bob and trevor. They had an hour block for 4 students, we each got 15 min. That's like getting 17-18 skydives worth of experience back to back. No waiting hours or days to get that next jump in, you do a 1.5min fly in the tunnel, wait about 5 min and get back in. It's great for when you're not comfortable yet. If something felt wrong during that last session in the tunnel, think about it during your 5 min break, talk to the coach for a second about how that last flight was, and then you get to go iron that out immediately and get yourself flying right. As a bonus I was flying good enough at the end of the wind tunnel that they combined my lvl 4 retake and lvl 5 together, and then a lvl6/7 jump and graduated me. So I still got to graduate after 7 jumps instead of 9.
  2. hmmm that sucks. The best idea would probably be to wait until the tunnel, then you can breeze through the rest of AFF no problem. But I know if I were in your shoes I'd be itching to get back in the sky and might want to try another AFF, then do tunnel later. Maybe take a quick trip out to DeLand or call them and talk to one of the instructors you've been with a couple times and see what they think
  3. Tunnel time helped me sooooo much. Like I said before I failed lvl 4 twice, just didn't feel comfortable in the air, didn't relax enough, was too stiff. I would tell all that to myself before the jump, but as soon as I was out of the plane I was just thinking about what I was supposed to be doing and not remember the entire "breathe, relax, don't stiffen up" line that I had been repeating the entire plane ride up It's very easy to get overwhelmed while falling to earth at 120mph lol. The tunnel is so good for ironing out problems. On AFF if something didn't feel right you have to wait a few hours or few days before you get to try it again and fix it, and you only get a 50sec window to try to fix it. In the tunnel you go in for 1.5min, and if it didn't feel right then you just have to wait about 5 min and you get to try again, then get out and see how you felt about that one and then go try it again a few min later. The tunnel really helped me get a feeling for flying stable and get comfortable with it. I'll probably be out there Tuesday morning to do a few jumps. I took the packing class last week with.... I can't remember her name.... Amanda? Amy? something with an A. I need to get out and jump so that I can practice packing. You should get out and do an AFF tomorrow morning
  4. Nice! That first one is intense, but so much fun. I still haven't jumped out of the skyvan, I wish I was able to get out there on Saturdays Who were your instructors for the jump? I didn't get to jump this week. I was hoping to get out Monday morning too but it turns out I have to work Monday. I'll probably end up getting back out Tuesday/Wednesday
  5. Ya they're all super helpful out there. I got out yesterday morning and got 4 jumps in. Beautiful day all day yesterday. Got my hop and pop in for the A license. It was interesting because I completely forgot the fact that I was doing a hop and pop. In my head I was thinking that it was just a normal jump. I got out and was watching the plane fly away from me, enjoying the view. After a few seconds it occurred to me that I was supposed to be doing something, then realized what kind of jump this was Who was your instructor for the ground course?
  6. I ended up failing level 4 twice. It was a problem with just not relaxing enough in freefall. I had a really good level 2 jump. Level 3 I was a little tense and had an unintentional slow turn that caused me to try to over analyze my body position and try to fix it, when I should have just been telling myself to relax and arch. Level 4 they let you go, I did my 90* left turn fine, then did a little too fast of a turn to the right. After that you do forward movement and I didn't stop my turn before I tried that and ended up flipping over on my back. I got myself back over on my belly before Trevor got to me, but then was flustered and got so fixated on my alti that I didn't realize I had dropped my left arm under me to look at the alti, and that I had a pretty good turn going. Second attempt at lvl 4 was with Nikki. It was the same day and I was still flustered from the first attempt and was stiff the entire jump. That brought back my unintentional turn, and nikki was holding onto me for a good part of the jump waiting for me to fix it. I never did and actually ended up flipping myself on my back again. That was fun because when I flipped it was at 6k feet. Pull altitude in AFF is 5.5 . When I flipped I took Nikki with me, and we had a little wrestling match while he tried to flip me back over and I was trying to flip myself back over and we ended up fighting against each other for a second until he let me go and let me flip myself. After that I went to the Orlando wind tunnel with Bob and Trevor and got 15 minutes there. Can't describe how much that helped my confidence. 15 minutes in there is like doing 18 jumps worth of free fall. It was a night and day difference in how I flew after doing the wind tunnel. After that Bob took me up and combined levels 4 and 5 into one jump, and then one more level 6/7 jump and then graduated me from AFF. Relax and trust that arch and you'll be good
  7. Ah ya lol didn't see above where you wrote NSB. It's nice living so close to one of the best drop zones in the world . You're in good hands out in DeLand, they'll get you flying right.
  8. I recently finished AFF at DeLand. I just did jumps 14 and 15 this past Friday before the weather got bad, planning on getting out again this week for a few more. I'm also 25 minutes away from DeLand. Where do you live? I'm in daytona