Hey, what's up everyone? I am stoked to be here and actually working on my AFF. (Skydive Taft)
I have done 4 tandems and a little bit of wind tunnel time over the years. Just this last Sunday I took my FJC and made my AFF 1 jump. It was amazing and I learned a lot, but as with most first jumps I realized that I have a lot of work ahead of me.
jumped at 13k, exit was perfect became stable a lot faster than expected especially when my inside instructor lost grip and was tracking my way during my first COA. ( it was really cool to get a thumps up from a guy who was about 20 feet away. My PHTs felt really good. at the second COA, I was instructed to extend my legs of which I thought was just the signal to start my forward movement, but after seeing the video it was because I had bent my legs and was in poor position. The good thing is that I now have an idea of where I need to be for my neutral position and it is a lot more legs than I had originally thought. but still managed to get a little forward movement. Now at 6k this is where things got WONKY. I am not really sure what happened I was well aware of 6k and was locked on my altimeter. at 5.5k I started my pull felt the handle grabbed it but then I completely lost altitude awareness. For some reason in my head I thought I was at 7k and aborted my pull (don't ask me, because I don't know why) by the time I realized the mistake I had just made I burned through 1k and began my second attempt just as my instructor pulled for me at 4.2k. Luckily because I had started my second deployment procedure I was in good position for deployment.
Deployment, saw smooth as butter and under canopy was better than expected. I was able to get a few turns in the holding area then I realized that I had caught up with the guy who jumped before me so the fun was over and spent most of the time I had left staying out of the way. I was almost in perfect position to start my first leg on the approach with good altitude awareness, and for the final 2 turns I was deciding to start the turns just as my instructor was telling me to turn. the final leg was better than i expected. I did catch myself looking straight down and quickly looked out just in time to go to half brakes which felt real good but I flared just a little late and went in for a butt slide where I barley slid at all and was able to use my forward momentum to get to my feet.
I was kind of rough on myself at first but luckily my instructors were very good at helping me understand what I need to work on, and I am looking forward to my next jump in 2 weeks.
While I think my problem was due to sensory/stimulus overload. Do you guys think a digital altimeter would help?
