Jumps per day?

[Maximo 0]

I'm an AFF student. Naturally, I spend most of my time sitting on the ground waiting to jump. That's fine because I can learn a lot from other jumpers while I'm waiting. Despite waiting around the DZ the entire day, I can't seem to get more than one jump per day. Sometimes I show up and, by the time the instructors are available, the wind has shut down student jumps -- so I waited all day and didn't jump.

The weather here hasn't been very helpful the last few days. The tornado that wiped out Windsor, Colorado, was only 5 miles from my house.

What's it like being off student status? Do you get to jump a lot more? What percentage of time do you spend waiting versus jumping? I'm getting a little depressed with all the time I spend watching other people jump.

[brucet7 0]

The most I have ever done is 3, driven more by money than time. Once I got my 20 in, the price went down enough to consider a few more. Yesterday I did 3 in 5 hours. Weather and not a lot of people to jump factored in. Thursday I waited for 2+hours and the weather never cleared. I got off student yesterday so I am not really any kind of expert.

POPS #10623; SOS #1672

[NWFlyer 2]

What time do you show up? Many DZs have better instructor availability first thing in the morning - so if you're there when the DZ opens you might have the best luck. Does your DZ schedule student jumps or is it just first come, first served?

When you have your license, if the weather's good, the number of jumps you get is limited only by how fast you can pack or get packed, the lift capacity available at the DZ, and your own energy level. At a large DZ turning two planes, with two rigs and a packer working for you so you can do back-to-back loads ... you could do 20 or more jumps in a day if you were so inclined.

I think you'll find most fun jumpers (especially newer to the sport) are likely to own a single rig and get in 5 to 10 jumps a day on a typical day if the lift capacity is there. At smaller DZs, being able to get that many jumps in may not be possible. Obviously, weather can compromise that, and shorter days in winter limits your ability to crank out as many jumps.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[LongWayToFall 0]

As soon as you get off of AFF, you are going to be waiting for packers to get you ready for the next jump. The waiting doesn't really stop ever I guess, but at least when you are packing your own rig it gives you something to occupy yourself before the next load. Also, the more experienced you get, the more conditions you can jump in, which will increase your jumping time frame. When you find yourself bored, just help out around the dz and get to know some of the people there better. They can teach you some cool stuff!

[repcool 2]

Last weekend I did 12 at Mile Hi, but that included 2 night jumps.

Once you are off student status you can jump as fast as you can pack. These winds should back down soon. Get a kite. :-)

[CSpenceFLY 1]

My personal record is 24 in one day,shooting video for a 4-way team in Deland. I had two rigs and we did all of our debriefs at the end of the day. The beer really tasted good at the end of that day.

To answer your question, you can jump as much as you can afford after you complete AFF. Hang in there.

[Chubba 0]

Our dropzone is a single Cessna 182 that's very relaxed, we get 5 loads on a weekday, 6 - 7 on a Saturday/Sunday.

So everyones best bet is 3 - 4 loads if they hang around bugging the DZO and there's no students.

Yeah there's a lot of waiting around, but I like chilling in the hangar talking to everyone, my knee's/ankles can only handle 2 - 3 jumps a day.

[Deisel 38]

I once spent two entire weekends on the bench because of high winds. This was with a two hour drive (one way), both saturday and sunday, both weekends. So after driving to the DZ every weekend day for a month I got 2 jumps in. It SUCKED but it was worth the wait. The last thing you want is to be under canopy in a high wind situation that you don't know how to deal with.

The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

[Broke 0]

It also depends on how you are organizing jumps. Are you jumping solo. How paranoid people are around you in the airspace...

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