sraja

Though I am from New Jersey, I began skydiving at SDC and learnt through the AFP program. The coaches are world record holders and some are even national champions. The student gear selection is huge and you dont have to be stuck on the same 280 that every student flies. You can find the right gear for you. In air radio, detailed briefing and de-briefing sessions, video of every jump make this the best place to learn. Their AFP program takes you directly to the A license. Come here to learn but start early in the summer cos Chicago weather is fickle.

Hello Chris I flunked my AFP level 4 four times before I decided to head to a tunnel and fix the problem. You can read about it http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2464553;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread here. Mistakes I was making 1. My palms were below my face and hence catching the relative wind instead of my pelvis. Keep your arms and palms above your head 2. Unsymmetrical legs - clicking once solved this. Did a lot of arching on the floor 5 seconds at a time and asked my friends to check my body symmetry 3. When I began the spin - I used to get tense and twist my body instead of banking my torso. I stopped that by picking a reference point. I look at a road in the distance and try to keep in line with that. This is one time where object fixation is a good thing. 4. Tunnel time helped a lot - after flunking 4 times and losing a lot of money I decided to head over to Arizona for one night. Spent 25 mins in the tunnel with a tunnel coach and came back and cleared 6 levels in the first attempt. Another 5 levels to go and I will have my graduation dive. Best of luck - if you need any more information on the tunnel, send me a PM.

And I forgot to mention, had my first cutaway. Had a knot in the left brake that refused to come undone. The result was a canopy that was slowly spinning left then as I pulled on the toggle, the tension created by the canopy combined with my pull worsened the knot and it started spinning faster. At 3000' I decided to pull the red handle and before I could put my hand on the silver cutlery skyhook had my reserve over my head. Thanks to Bill Booth, it was an amazing feeling. I kept both handles and we recovered all the gear. Landed a reserve for the first time (standup landing once again). Strangely - this was on my 13th jump!!!

Ok - time for update. I spent this weekend at the dropzone and made 4 jumps. NAILED IT!!! No stability issues, was able to pick a reference heading and stick with it. Made turns in the air with upper and lower body. Made 3 solo exits - and 4 standup landings (with no help over the radio). So for anyone who has a problem controlling their spin in the air, head to a tunnel preferably a big one run by Skyventure and get atleast 25-30 mins. It helps a lot. Tell them you are an AFF/AFP student and they will instruct you accordingly. A big thanks to everyone who helped by provinding their comments and suggestions here.

Anyway, I thought I'd update everyone on my tunnel time. When I went in for the first 15 mins I had the same problem of spinning, also I was unable to get off the mesh and get some lift. The first 10 mins went in fixing my body posture. The next 5 mins was awesome. I was spinning and controlling my spin. However, I still didnt feel my legs and hence kept backsliding. I booked another 10mins, lucky me that I got it immediately. This time, I was able to control my forward-backward movement as well as my fall rate. I dont know if the tunnel rat gave more thrust but it didnt feel like it. Basically, the more I arched, the lower I came and the more I de-arched more lift I got. It is scary however when you get the lift - this doesnt happen in the sky but I was shit scared the first time I found myself above the coach's head. Tunnel is fun, but I hope I can apply all that I have learnt here in the sky - will update after my next skydive (which is postponed at present due to a bad cold) Thanks to everyone who provided their inputs, I learnt something from everyone's post.

Hello Reginald Thank you for your reply - another question, someone told me yesterday that the tunnel doesnt allow you to arch so it may give you the same feel. Is this true? The tunnel primarily helps in correcting the legs and symmetry but not a poor arch - is what I was told.

Hello I am an AFF student and have 10 jumps in my log thus far. I repeated AFF 3 once and have repeated AFF 4 thrice (3rd time because I asked the instructor to make me repeat it, I wasnt feeling confident thought I was flying solo for 20 seconds). I still have a problem with spin. My exit is good, my instructor lets me go and I fly stable for about 5-10 seconds and then go into a slow spin. As soon as I start the spin, I tense up and aggrevate the spin. I felt some tunnel time would help me correct it and so I am flying out to Arizona for the tunnel there. I have blocked 15mins for now with a coach and if required I can do another 15. Now for the questions - 1. What should I ask when I go to the tunnel to help me correct my spin? 2. I am planning to take my jump log and videos to the tunnel instructor - do you think he will find them useful? 3. Are there any specific "bad" tunnel habits that I should avoid learning? 4. I have read testimonials of people fixing their problems in the tunnel quite well but anyone fixed their spin specifically? Thanks for your suggestions