fadidawood86

This seems to be an old thread, so I can hopefully help revive it...... As a newly minted solo COP holder, I can add some perspective to this as I have actually gone through both S/L and PFF (as known in Canada) programs. I started as a student in May of this year on a Solo FJC S/L program. My first jump absolutely rocked and I was hooked instantly. I came back to the DZ over several weekends to continue my S/L progression as I had my sights set on getting my A license as quickly as possible. I had a really difficult time mastering a proper exit and arch on the S/L program (jumping out of a Cessena 182) as there was barely any freefall time. I had to do 7 jumps with a static line before I was cleared for freefall. While going up in the plane to do my first five second freefall, I totally froze up and could not make it out the door. The thought of jumping out of the plane and having to deploy my own parachute terrified me. I attempted a second jump the same day after getting a few different “pep” talks, and was able to pull off my 5 second freefall successfully. The following week I started my 10 second freefall, failed once, and then had a nasty mal on my second attempt (unstable deployment, followed by the pilot chute being wrapped around my leg, then 5-8 seconds of struggling to free my leg, followed by a successful cutaway and reserve deployment). This was my 11th jump at the time. I came back one more time to repeat my 10 second freefall, but again could not make it out of the plane; my mind was fixated on the last jump, and the malfunction that occurred. Eventually the DZO told me to go home, and never try skydiving again…… I took a month off and decided to rethink my priorities. I decided that I still wanted to skydive, and had to give this another shot. I took a week off work, traveled to another DZ, and enrolled in their PFF program. I finished the program in about 3-4 days, including 20 minutes of tunnel time which were tremendously useful. I spent the remaining time at the DZ doing solo jumps and having a blast. I had a huge sense of accomplishment after completing my Solo COP, which encouraged me to continue pursuing my A license. My feelings on the PFF versus S/L were that I learned a LOT more during the PFF program. The instructors were extremely supportive, and spent a lot of time briefing and debriefing each and every single jump. I also found it was very beneficial to do all the jumps back to back (if you can spend the $$) and complete the program in a span of 2-3 days, instead of coming back on weekends. The time in the wind tunnel with an experienced coach was invaluable; this took all the pressure off during my actual PFF jumps as I had rehearsed everything in the tunnel the night before. All in all – I feel privileged and blessed to have tried both programs and completed the PFF successfully! Now to bang out that A license! Hope this post provided some useful insight on both programs