Hey folks! I've only done a tandem jump two weeks ago and never in my life would think of doing it every other weekend! Needless to say, I was very wrong. Everytime I look up into the sky, my heart gets drawned to it - like falling in love with the sky and all I could think of is "I want to get up there". I found myself reading up on it and wanting to know more about it. (Obsessed perhaps?) I absolutely agree with dreaming1300 in his previous post. I couldn't (and still can't) stop thinking about skydiving and was slightly evangelical about it too when people asked how it was. So I have this brilliant idea of taking it up as a sport (surprise, surprise). However my excitement was short lived. I was bombarded with some strong comments and questions. My mom even asked me NICELY not to do it. Nevertheless I think I'm back on my feet again and spirit back up. I read the articles in dropzone on interviews with skydivers! How inspiring! Anyway, the reasons why I posted today are: 1. to tell everyone I think I'm in love with skydiving :-) and it seems like I'm not the only one who feels and describe it this way (*phew* glad I'm not going crazy) 2. ask for advice from people who a) will be starting AFF soon/doing AFF i) why have you done it? ii) any objections from family/friends? iii) how was your experience? (both good and bad) b) AFF instructors or experienced skydivers of various disciplines - i) what's the most common mistake ii) what sort of experiences (both good and bad) have you had with AFF students iii) how will a student learn to control the canopy? I can understand the freefalling bit of the course where the instructors help deploy the canopy but as far as I can gather, most injuries happen during landing. Will radio signals be sufficient to aid the student in this? Reading the incidents on the database make my heart and hands go slightly limp. But I would still like to learn and understand more about winds, speeds, controls and what one can do when things go wrong. This is just so I can feel if it's within my understanding capabilities. Ideally, I wish there would be someone I can just meet up with and speak to about his/her experiences and some 'guidance' I suppose. Meeting someone experienced in the sport provides some form of superficial reassurance - not sure why. Unfortunately this is often difficult and I do not wish to tread on personal areas of people I barely know. Pardon me if my post seems to focus on worries and accidents but I really am just weighing out the risks of AFF to be able to decide. Please advice. Thanks a bunch! Btw, I think skydiving is by far the coolest sport I've seen.
