AFF Student Skydiver

As I said in the last few posts, there’s been, rain, rain and more rain in the UAE. Friday was sunny and back to normal and Friday was the day I started my AFF level 1 jump. You can see a photo of me below on the plane ride up for my first level jump. I’m trying to look cool, calm and collected. The JM2 behind me is doing a good job of doing that.

Overall I was pretty happy with my first jump. The fact that I actually got out of the plane was a pretty good start. I’m jumping from an A6-VAN and to exit this type of plane, the JM1 (jumpmaster) climbs out first and hangs on to the side of the plane on one side of the door. JM2 climbs out and hangs onto the plane nearer the wing. I then have to kneel near the door and reach out and up to grab the handrail at the top of the plane and sort of squeeze my way through their legs which block the door. Once that part is done and I’m hanging onto the side of the plane, I then have to initiate the exit sequence:

1. Look at JM2 on my left and give him a big nod.
2. Look right and JM1 and give him a nod to signify I’m ok, your ok.
3. Look at the antenna to give me a good heading
4. Swing leg out, then in, swing out again and let go. Arms and legs out. Chin up.

Pretty exciting I must say. You can see the video of this jump below (no your computer is not screwed, there’s no sound on the video). On this first jump I was required to do three practice deployments and maintain altitude awareness. One thing I needed to improve after this jump was my arm positions, as they were a little close in to my body. They should be more right angled. My legs too flapped around a bit and should have been extended a little more to stop me from backsliding.

Your may be wondering why I’m shaking my head near the end? Well, at about 7,000ft I’m required to signal to my JMs that pull altitude is coming up, and there is no time for more skills to be practiced. At 5,5ooft I deploy the pilot chute. Just before deploying, I felt the JM shake my rig a little, which was probably to wake me up. I remember wanting to pull at exactly 5,500ft and really waiting for the altimeter to reach it. Kind of odd, as they aren’t going to fail me for pulling a few seconds earlier (or late for that matter). I have heard that some students get brain lock when under stressful conditions like falling 120mph to to the earth. They get so stressed they don’t pull, so their JM has to do it for them. I didn’t want the JM to deploy my chute and thankfully he didn’t.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

You can read a little bit more here about what is required for each of the AFF levels. It’s not strict procedure for each dive, as the JM often alters the program according to the students’ rate of progression. Next is level 2.