JackieEllis

We still have available slots for the AFF Instructor rating course starting September 15, 2014. D.J. Marvin is the course director. Come on and get your AFF rating at the Skydive Dallas, rated the best mid-sized dropzone in the country. Contact me @ Skydive Dallas, (903) 364-5103.

I've had students who were picture perfect on the ground go kittens in the dryer on exit or deer in the headlights during the skydive. Performance on the ground, however, is usually indicative of how someone will perform in the air. Our rule is 2X perfect on the ground before we will even consider the jump. As has already been discussed, not everyone is cut out for this sport.

Yep, what Glideangle said. Frustrating I know. Some things you can do to help yourself: Read over the SIM and know your stuff at the start of the season next year. If you have one close, or you want to take a quick vacation somewhere, buy yourself some coached tunnel time, preferably close to the beginning of the season. The good news is that most DZs won't charge the full FJC fee for a refresher. There's also nothing stopping you from going and hanging out at the DZ. It's amazing how much information your instructors will provide you during the winter. PS. Your instructors hate the cold as much as you.

I've worn glasses and I've worn contacts. I prefer the contacts, but I have to wear sunglasses with an insert (7eye) because I've had contacts flutter off even with a full face. I would advise sticking to what you are comfortable with until you get off of student status. You may want to try working on wearing your contacts. I had a similar experience and was convinced I would never be able to wear contacts. What I discovered is that I wasn't wearing them long enough to condition my eye to the lens. When they would start irritating me, I would take them out and stop trying to wear them. I finally sucked it up and started wearing them a couple of hours a day, every day, and increasing the time until I could wear them all day. Occasionally when my eyes are really dry or the lens is getting old, they will still give me fits, but overall, they work well. May be worth your time to consider giving them another shot.

I don't think anyone here is trying to say bad things about tunnel. It's an absolutely brilliant tool. Particularly in the beginning. It's a great way to get rid of some of the freefall performance anxiety. I absolutely agree. I just believe that sometimes individual students get hung up on perfect. This is particularly true of very intelligent individuals who have up until beginning skydiving, have had little difficulty mastering tasks. By all means, do it again, but make sure you're doing it for the right reason. Rest assured, if I jumped with you, you and I have discussed each and every targeted learning objective and have agreed on whether you have obtained that objective. Understand, that doesn't mean you are an expert at whatever the skill is, just that you have demonstrated a level of control of the skill.

Yep, overthinking

I just made my 101st tandem (got my rating in June of this year). I had a lot of trouble the first 30 or 40 tandems with instability (couldn't hold a heading and potatoe chipping). I finally figured out that it had a lot to do with how tight I got the side laterals. I'm female and while strong, I hadn't figured out the technique for getting them really tight. Because I wasn't getting them tight enough, students were sliding around underneath me. Since I figured this out (yeah...I tighten the crap out of the side laterals now and make sure they are even), I have had almost zero problems with holding a heading and instability. When I do notice occasional instability now, I put a hand on the student's hip and hold them in position.

A really good trick is to employ a yoga technique, ujjayi breathing. It is used to help focus. But a better thing would be for you to look at how you can rid yourself of the performance and "ah crap, I'm going to die" anxiety which is perfectly normal for someone at your level. Although not a "skydiving" book, there is a book which was written several years ago addressing the mental aspects of rock climbing which can easily be applied to beginning skydiving. The book is called, "The Rock Warrior's Way." written by Arno Ilgner. In a nutshell, it talks about how the negative thinking and self talk while climbing (think skydiving) can affect our performance.

My opinion: AFF. S/L progression is certainly less expensive, but it has some distinct disadvantages. While you will receive essentially the same FJC as AFF, your first exposure to free fall is done with your instructor watching you from the plane. You may be a wonderful student, but from experience (I rolled over on my back on my first 10 second delay and stayed there until I pulled my ripcord). There is a big difference in an instructor looking you in the eye during freefall and giving you hand signals for instant feedback on body position and assistance if you become unstable and unable to correct, and an instructor watching from the door of the plane yelling at the pilot, "I hope he pulls." I'll admit, I'm biased. But I hold instructor ratings in both IAD (similar to S/L) and AFF, as well as an SDU coaches rating and I also grew up S/L progression, and I have taught both methods at the same time at various DZs. It takes a S/L progression student much longer to gain the freefall skills of the AFF student.