Skydiving AFF Course

Corega

Next year at some point, myself and a mate want to head off and do the accelerated freefall course. We promised ourselves that this wouldn't be some pie in the sky thought that lingers in the back of your head, and after watching some clips on Youtube we are now dedicated to enrolling. At present our best option looks to be the Irish Parachute Club operating from Clonbullogue in Co. Offaly. For those who don't know it's about €1200 for 7 jumps. There are no tandem jumps, the first 3 jumps you go on are with 2 instructors by your side observing your movements etc. then for the last few jumps you're accompanied by a sole instructor. Our only problem is as per usual the weather, we have to book this course well in advance and cannot dictate which days we want to jump, so in the meantime I've been looking at alternative sites in western Europe, purely for the fact that we can almost be guaranteed decent weather in somewhere like Spain or France. Basically I'd like to find out if anyone else has done something similiar. Where did you go and what were the costs? Thanks.

PeakOutput

im not doing the aff but am on jump 3 of the slcourse with skydive ireland(www.skydiveireland.ie) but as an absolute beginner aswell here are my thoughts

they are either cheaper or the same price as the ipc as far as i know although the ipc has been around much longer i have heard some bad things from some very experienced people and beginners who have done courses there(including relations) i wont mention anything here as it is hear say but if you want to pm me i can.

also skydive ireland are getting a new plane(airvan) in the next few weeks which will allow them get much more jumps in when the weather is actually good)

I would recommend www.dropzone.com for pretty much all the information you need and they have a really easy dropzone finder aswell. i plan on hitting www.skydive-algarve.com when im qualified aswell.


i should have my "a" licence by summer (weather permitting) and then there is a big group from skydive ul going to the south of france for two weeks of guaranteed sunshine and jumping. cant ****ing wait you defo wont regret doing the course and going jumping wereever you decide to do it

wreckless

Hi guys,

all I can add is reading this is making me damn jealous of yez!!!:(

I have done 2 tandem jupms, one here 10,000, the other over Lake Taupo in New Zealand 15,000 (there was girl from New Ross worken there at the time!!!) but how much of a buzz!!!

I would love to do that course next year, so badly. Now ive been reminded, I will see how next year goes with work etc.

Id say go for it anyway, it will only get better. If the weather in april this year was anything to go by, do it in April 08!! best moth there was here this year anyway!

Corega

Jealous eh, you two are the one's who've taken the leap. Since it was decided that we'd be doing it I haven't stopped thinking about, even contemplating grabbing my duvet and jumping out of my 1st floor window as my induction. The way I look at it, you could spend the same amount of dough on a weeks holiday somewhere, with the usual sun, sea and sh1te or do this...and have the ability to do it again anywhere in the world. You only live once is my reasoning for it. Thanks PeakOutput, PM sent.

PeakOutput

Corega wrote: »

I haven't stopped thinking about

wait till you do the course i had to wait a week between the course and my first jump and man it was the only thing on mind got no college work done or anything all i wanted to do was see the weather clear and go jump

peter-pantslez

iv done a static course which was 5 jumps form 4000ft and stage one of the aff from 14000ft:D

if you are going to do the aff go to spain the weather is great and you'll get all your jumps in in a week i plan to go there next year to also know some lads that done it and they say its very well run.....

there is a place called texel in holland but i havnt heard great things about it.

carveone

€1200 seems pretty good for AFF 1 through 7 in Ireland. To compare with the US, Skydive City in Florida is $1200 for the same. So, not bad really.

For weather and experience I would go to Florida, but that's just me. The last time I was jumping there (2005) I met some guys and girls doing the AFF instructor course, including three Irish guys. I know the AFF instructors too. The course is brutal and unforgiving; if you're a certified AFF instructor, you're not going to be some twat who's a danger to students.

That said, my progression was IAD (like static line, but with regular gear). I did four IAD jumps and then progressed to freefall. ie: was fecked out the plane on my own. Seriously, I did an hours training, "count to 7 and then pull" and then was on my own (radio on my chest for landing). This is the normal progression method. As a coach myself I remember my first freefall student. I was as anxious as an expectant parent, they were happy as larry. They counted to 7 in about 2 seconds and pulled. Whew!

PeakOutput

carveone wrote: »

As a coach myself I remember my first freefall student.

hey man how long did it take you(jumps/time) to get the coach rating and is that the same as an instructor basically? iv been reading the uspa website and things but it can be quite confusing.

im very curious to find out how long it takes to get to the various levels like dispatching a load / instructing / tandem master etc(terms are probably wrong im a new to this)


also two more good drc's and im onto freefall woohoo.............absolutely ****ting it

carveone

PeakOutput wrote: »

hey man how long did it take you(jumps/time) to get the coach rating and is that the same as an instructor basically? iv been reading the uspa website and things but it can be quite confusing.

I did my jumping in Canada but the ideas are similar. I think I had in the region of 170 jumps when I decided to do the Coach 1 course. It's a basic level that gives you a grounding in sports coaching and imparting knowledge to junior skydivers.

An instructor rating is different. Instructors dispatch students from their first jump which is more responsibility obviously. You could do an instructor course around jump 200 or so if you wanted. I have 500 jumps but never bothered - didn't want to dispatch students really... Coaching is cool though.

Tandem and AFF ratings are a different league. You are recommended at least 500 jumps before even thinking about it. A Tandem rating is a big deal and only the manufacturers of tandem rigs will give these courses. AFF is about 300-500 jumps but expects a lot from you. Those 300 jumps should be good ones!

also two more good drc's and im onto freefall woohoo.............absolutely ****ting it

I assume drc is a practice pull or similar. I think they're too careful here. Sure, what can go wrong?! Unless you are curling into a ball on exit, just throw em out!
I've seen two cypres saves (the reserve deployment computer), some accidents on landing (ankle/leg), but I've never seen a student fail to pull on first freefall. Never.

Conor.

PS: The cypres saves - wow! That was just not cool. Have to tell you the military guy save story: Our DZ was doing Canadian military training, standard static line style first jump except using a method called IAD, instructor assisted deployment. Essentially the instructor in the plane holds the students pilot chute as they exit. The pilot chute gets pulled out of the instructors hand and pin is pulled etc etc. Nice clean deployment, doesn't beat the plane up.

Except this guy had really really long arms. As he leaves the plane, he grabs for the wing strut, hold it for a second with one arm and falls. This puts him into a barrel roll, wrapping the bridle around his chest. Now he's in freefall, back to earth, looking at the pilot chute flapping about 3 feet above him.

Hmm he says, that's not right and pulls the cutaway handle. No difference because there is no chute to cut away! Looks for reserve handle... Can't find it. Keeps looking until about 900 feet when the cypres fires. At this point most people on the ground have turned away (you really don't want to see someone impact at that speed). The reserve clears and he gets a nice 6 second canopy ride into the field.

Apparantly, military guys like their jumpsuits with lots of pockets. Which was where the reserve handle was. Anyway, chalk one life up to technology. Bloody hell we all said, getting out the duct tape and taping up his pockets. He looked slighly pale so we put him on the next load and made him do it again. He's military after all - ya gotta follow orders <grin>...

PeakOutput

thats some save alright. i know a mate had a reserve ride during the summer but i havnt seen one myself yet.

ye drc = dummy ripcord, im happy enough with moving on to freefall after 3 good ones of them but im almost positive that my first freefall will coincide with me getting my packers cert so iv a really bad feeling they will want me to jump one of my own packjobs which should be interesting to say the least.

have you any experince working as a packer in the states or canada carveone?

carveone

PeakOutput wrote: »

ye drc = dummy ripcord, im happy enough with moving on to freefall

You mean like I saw in Northern Ireland? An actual god-bless-us ripcord located on the right shoulder? My personal opinion was that that is a bad teaching method as it teaches you an invalid muscle memory which you have to unlearn when you jump BOC (bottom-of-container: pilot chute style). Besides, I've seen AFF students in Florida who learnt this in the UK, happily proceed to pull their cutaway handle at pull time, much to the despair of the AFF instructors.

Just my opinion mind. And BOC has been standard for 20 years.

after 3 good ones of them but im almost positive that my first freefall will coincide with me getting my packers cert so iv a really bad feeling they will want me to jump one of my own packjobs which should be interesting to say the least.

Hell yeah! All students jump their own packjobs - only fair eh?! Don't worry about it. There's only a few rules in packing that really matter, and it's hard to screw up when flat packing, which is probably what you are doing.

have you any experince working as a packer in the states or canada carveone?

Sure I've packed for money. Too much like work though and you need to be really fit to make a living at it. I haven't packed that many rigs in my time though, less than 700 anyway...

(On the other hand, an friend of mine's daughter used to pack for him and others and she was about 8 or 9 years old at the time with hundreds of pack jobs and no malfunctions. This made me feel like a big wuss for complaining about packing!)

Conor.

PeakOutput

no we learn with the rip cords boc(dont even know if they are called ripcords but thats what iv been calling them)

i was just asking about the packing as me and a mate are doing j1 in the states next summer and are trying to figure out the probability of getting a packing job at a dz over there instead of a "normal" job

for anyone whos interested here is the skydive ul (university club) and skydive ireland promos on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnJthW4odeo

there are alot of static lines some tandems and some freefall....pretty sure there is no aff being shown though due to the fact that students are poor

edit; the unstable exit is the part i find particularly impressive looking

carveone

PeakOutput wrote: »

i was just asking about the packing as me and a mate are doing j1 in the states next summer and are trying to figure out the probability of getting a packing job at a dz over there instead of a "normal" job

It's not a bad idea actually. Assuming you can pro pack quickly and well by that point, there's no reason why not. I would check dropzone.com and make some enquiries - some DZ packing tents are controlled by a master packer who is the person who will "hire" you. It can be quite territorial. I would not recommend Arizona or Florida, the heat will destroy you and no one jumps there in the summer. The Carolinas, New York are probably better. I've met packers who lived in a tent for 3 months and went home with quite a lot of (non tax declared) cash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnJthW4odeo

Whoa! The last 2 seconds of the video show the video guy pulling for the student. That's not a good thing!

It's hard to see - is skydive ireland another "sheep" dz? Ie: sheep + sheep crap everywhere. I was put off Clonbullogue initally because of that until I realised there's a separate landing area for experienced jumpers.

edit; the unstable exit is the part i find particularly impressive looking

I found the unstable exit jump to be the key to my confidence. Once I knew I could recover from a big mess by just arching out of it, I was much less nervous in the plane.

Blue skies! (fat chance at the moment!)

Conor.

PeakOutput

we are thinking san francisco or san diego as the dz's seem to be very close to the city and it shouldnt be too hot

carveone wrote: »

Whoa! The last 2 seconds of the video show the video guy pulling for the student. That's not a good thing!

he does get close but he dosnt actually pull for him the student defo pulls himself

It's hard to see - is skydive ireland another "sheep" dz? Ie: sheep + sheep crap everywhere. I was put off Clonbullogue initally because of that until I realised there's a separate landing area for experienced jumpers.

its cows(which are probably worse) there are no cows in the fields when they are being used by skydive ireland but there is defo cow **** i havnt been unlucky enough to lad in one yet

any other advice keep it coming

carveone

I think we're monopolising the thread!

PeakOutput wrote: »

we are thinking san francisco or san diego as the dz's seem to be very close to the city and it shouldnt be too hot

SF is a popular place for J1s alright. I hear San Diego is a fun city too. Lots of Irish people there anyway! And if you can't get a packing job, there's always plenty of standard bar and waiter jobs...

A busy US DropZone is quite a sight. I'd recommend visiting one just to see what's happening. I've been in Florida when there's 5 Twin Otters and 2 CASAs dropping a 130 way formation load; it's just totally nuts! I guess the US does everything BIG, but jumping from an Otter is just heaven
Except for this time when this big guy just plonked his rig down on my groin (you sit between each other's legs) - he said "you looked too happy, so I thought I'd help out"...

he does get close but he dosnt actually pull for him the student defo pulls himself

Oh ok, sorry, my mistake then.

its cows(which are probably worse) there are no cows in the fields when

Groan. Cow crap never comes out...

Conor.

Brian_Uckfast

Check out Aerograd, Kolomna in Russia.

Best prices, probably in the world. About €800 for the AFF course (if you pall the 7 jumps). Really efficient DZ too. you'll never be waiting longer than 40 min for a jump...way better than the stupid IPC.

Was over there in August for 6 days and got 62 jumps in