Aff7 Graduation!

[JeffD 0]

Story of my Aff7.

Well I took out my Girlfriend for the first time on sat(11-22-03) for my graduation jump. We got there around 12:30 and started hanging out. Load 12 and 13 were a formation load (I think 40 something-way) Anyway I get an instructor and start going over the jump, when the formation load is getting ready to exit, so we stop and watch. There are some ooh's as they start to bring the formation together. Then at break off, you could have thought it was the fourth of july from the wuffo's OOh's Ahhs! and of course as each ring broke off more ooh's and Ahh's. Back to my jump, we get on load 18 and I got to sit through a muff brother playing with the aircraft ("THANK GOD FOR....." "F$$$.....") hehe it was fun. So the pilot heard the racket and kicked the tail back and forth a little bit.

Finally we get in the door do a hand wave count so the camera guy can do a good exit with us. I dive out and somehow turned into the Relative wind and since my feet were on my butt I went head high (almost standing up). I settled back down looked around for a second but couldent see my JM (later on I found out he didn't realise how fast I was going to fall and had a hard time getting back down to me) still didn't see him for a few seconds, I did my Front flip which turned into a 1/2 front filp into a sit, It was nice and I dont know how long I could have held it but I rolled over. I did my back flip and it was about a 1 1/4 back flip because once again I was standing up, but of course since I was arching I settled back down. Started my left turn, and stopped when I saw the JM (so it was only a 270deg turn) , did my right turn 360, and looked at my JM and pointed east (to make sure he knew where I was tracking) and I took off, I started a little orbit so I cut it short, and then turned 180deg to track back towards the airport, which freaked out my JM because he didn't know what I was doing and Just about as I was going to track he flew up infront of me and told me to stop, Check altitude ~ 6000' So I just sat there, Geeked the Camera guy , check 5000' wave off-pull.

Now I thought I failed because the JM had to come up and tell me to stop, but after I started thinking about it, The whole point of Aff7 is to make sure you can handle most situations in Free Fall, which I did so I talked myself out of the fail and sure enough Eric came up and said, "Do you think you passed?" And I said "yup", "congratulations!" Whohoo! We went to the Training room to watch the video, and he said I had a nice sit after the front flip, and everything else was fine until the tracking part, but I told him what I was doing and he just said he didn't know so It was ok. (Yes I bought beer)

Now onto solos!
and Ideas for fun solos. I was thinking of rolling up into a ball and just flipping like crazy for a few thousand feet, or trying sit flying, tracking the whole way etc.

[flygirl03 0]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Now, Go have some Real fun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
earthbound misfit

[Kramer 0]

Jeff, awesome story, and congrats on your achievement.

Have fun with them solos...I haven't gotten that far yet, but from what I'm told, a fun thing to do for your first solo is to just stare at the ground the entire time watching the Earth come up at you with the wind in your face. Somethin to think about.

-Kramer

The FAKE KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!!

[flygirl03 0]

Quote

We Live In A Beautiful World

best view from the sky

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
earthbound misfit

[kai2k1 0]

Righ on!! congrats. BEER!!

For solos, do a cannonball exit and hold it for 15 seconds.

There's no truer sense of flying than sky diving," Scott Cowan

[Kramer 0]

Amen.

-Kramer

The FAKE KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!!

[ypelchat 0]

Congratulations!

Have fun, and stay safe.



Yves.

[FrogNog 1]

Quote

Jeff, awesome story, and congrats on your achievement.

Have fun with them solos...I haven't gotten that far yet, but from what I'm told, a fun thing to do for your first solo is to just stare at the ground the entire time watching the Earth come up at you with the wind in your face. Somethin to think about.

-Kramer

I did that on one of my solos. Maybe it was my first. I was nervous so I didn't want to do a bunch of stuff. I grudgingly did a flip or two and then decided I was done and I watched the ground from 7k to 5k. To me, the ground didn't seem to get any closer, it just seemed to STRETCH in the X and Y dimensions. Totally trippy. Didn't distract me from peeking at my alti every 500 ft, tho.

-Eugene

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[Lee03 0]

CONGRATULATIONS JEFF!
On to the A License now

--------
To put your life in danger from time to time ... breeds a saneness in dealing with day-to-day trivialities.

--Nevil Shute, Slide Rule

[CapWeathersby 0]

you should also try jumping out, making your body really straight, while tucking one arm in and holding one arm straight out (horizontally). You will sort of end up spiraling head down toward the ground.....VERY FUN.

________________________________

"Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value."

[bodypilot1 0]

Quote

Now onto solos!
and Ideas for fun solos. I was thinking of rolling up into a ball and just flipping like crazy for a few thousand feet, or trying sit flying, tracking the whole way etc.

Congrats!
How about just a nice safe jump looking around at probably what you never saw while doing your training jumps?You be suprised to how much more you'll see, and how much longer your freefall will seem now that you aren't see our face in front of you?
Or ask an AFF Instructor on your DZ for what he would concider doing?

Be safe.
Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[billymotox 0]

congats, bro! i'm looking forward to that day myself.

billy d------------------------- "Escape may be checked by water and land, but the air and the sky are free." (from the story of Daedalus and Icarus)

[JeffD 0]

here are some photos I just took from my video. (they are digital camera pics of a VHS video so they aren't beautiful but they work)

Exit-just did the exit count and am like 1 second from jumping
sit - my 1/2 front flip result
headdown - i took the pic right as I was coming around on my backflip
instructor - just a photo of me and Eric
geek- Thumbs up right before pull!

[flyinghuntster 0]

I am going out this weekend to get more info from 2 other DZs and I'll make my choice here soon. Your shared experiences inspire me to get out and start the fun. Being a "LEG" isn't fun. It has been too long since I've been under the canopy. Great Job.