rendezvous

yup ! you are right, it's does build a lot of confidence, and that's why so many students use it. However in my opinion that confidence is better built in an actual Skydive. If your idea is to use AFF as a tool to simply show your instructor that you have the skill to get stable and pass AFF1 ... 7 in one jump sure, it's a great way. However, if you want to use AFF as a tool to start practicing how to think through a complicated situation in the relative safety of your instructor, then you need to stay out of the tunnel and in the sky. The only tool that we have for now to learn how to deal with stress is AFF. Your skills learnt in the tunnel aren't going to help you deal with the stress of malfunctions or off field landings or last minute objective avoidence. Then again, there is no study to back this up. It's purely my belief. Whichever approach you choose you will eventually become a Skydiver. I just feel AFF has it's own value in the student program and we shouldn't try and circumvent it unless we have a strong enough case for it. The tunnel is there to work on a different aspect of Skydiving and it has it's value when the time is right for it.

It's a great tool, and if you can afford one with a coach, definitely very useful at any point. It will help you work out your body position and learn stability without having to go through the anxiety of a regular Skydive. It helps isolate the free fall aspect of Skydiving and focus solely on it. As for, when is it a good time for the tunnel. Well if you can afford it, any time. Else, I feel there's more value for money in it 100 odd jumps into Skydiving. At that point you can relate to what it helps with much better. Wind tunnel for AFF is great too but not a must by any means. Unless you are repeating AFF levels too many times, I would first give AFF a chance to take it's course and save the money to spend on the tunnel later down the line. There are two aspects to why AFF is such a challenge, 'The Technical' such as good body position etc and 'The Mental' such as the anxiety and the fear you experience. In my opinion, if you go to the tunnel for your AFF you are working on the premiss that if you can fix the 'Technical' aspect of your skydiving in relative isolation, it will help you overcome your fear and anxiety on the Skydive. Nothing wrong with it, except that I believe in the opposit. In my opinion you should work with you instructor to try and harness your fears and anxiety first, and let that help you fix your 'technical' issues. Frankly, AFF is not as technical that you need a wind tunnel. It's more about getting an handle on your stress level. While a tunnel will help with that I think it's an exercise best performed in the presence on an instructor and in the Sky. The tunnel can be used later to fix the purely technical issues. Ofcourse if you are spending thousands on AFF then it makes sense to head out to a tunnel and leverage it. That said, I think both approaches have their pros and cons and in the end whatever works for you is good for you.

Since I'm fairly new to BASE the jump is quite a rush too.

I think you are talking about stack/flat packs. Pro pack and Pyscho pack involve the same steps upto the point where the canopy is dressed into a cocoon.

Isn't there a way to get through AFF training with a lump sum amount of money? *** Yup ! make the "lump sum" amount so huge that you are always within budget On a more serious note, You alone can answer whether skydiving is worth the time and money for you or not. You should discuss your progression with your instructors as honestly as possible and see what they feel about it. However, I am sure even they will not be able to give you a definite answer on how many more jumps you might take to finish AFF. People here can only share their experiences with you and you will notice that your progression is not all that unique or unusual at all. However no one here can decide for you what Skydiving means to you, how much you are willing to commit to it and how long you will take on AFF. That's something that you will just have to find your own answers too. I can tell you this much though, if you stick to it you will eventually pass AFF. As for your apptitude for the sport. Well, that's going to be more of a statement of your willingness to go the length. If you can find the passion in you that justifies the time and money it'll take then you have the apptitude to Skydive. If you aren't getting the skill right but you want to work towards understanding the problem and fixing it however long it may take, you have the apptitude. If you feel you have stuck in, given it your best, tried eveything at your disposal and yet it's not coming together, it might be smart to rethink Skydiving. Again, it's your call since you know yourself the best. I think the most important measure of apptitude will be, how you feel about making decisions under extreme stress that will impact your life. Under a malfunction is not the place you want to find the answer to how you feel about being there. It's very important that you realize you and you alone will be responsible for the consequences of the decisions you will make when things go wrong. If you screw up you will be playing with your life. What do you think about being in such a situation? Apptitude is not limited to the skills you display on tandem 3 or AFF 1 or AFF 6 or how many jumps you take to clear AFF. It's how you feel about Skydiving, why you want to do it, what you are willing to commit to it and whether the risk you undertake justifies it all. This only you can answer.

The Attitude.

Well eventually solo sit flying will get boring too. The point being it doesn't matter which discpline you take on, you have to keep exploring it for something new. I like to do RW but I'm also practicing sit flying. Going back and forth makes it both fun and challenging. Besides, you get a much broader perspective of body flight in all it's dimensions.

Awesome ! now you can have fun with AFF. You'll find it to be more rewarding than the tandems since you'll have a bigger role to play. Don't worry too much about repeating a few levels. It's all part of the fun.

THe server worked awesome. The only hitch was my typing

I carried it back and forth between new york and TF as carry on in a stash bag. Didn't have any problem. Of course, I did carry the Skydiving docs. too just in case but never needed to use it.

Take it in steps and don't sweat too much about it. If those drills were as simple as they sound they wouldn't have been part of the training program. May be you were just expecting too much out of yourself. Learn from your mistakes and enjoy what you are doing. Being hard on yourself will just make you that much more anxious on the next jump and that doesn't help. Talk to your instructors about your performance. They will definitely have seen something possitive that you can't see for yourself. Feel good about what they compliment you on and focus on what they expect you to fix or repeat. Give the process a chance. Don't try and over analyze it.

very interesting ... thanks.

Does launching off the balcony of an apartment you are invited too and landing in an empty parking lot across the street that does not belong to the building establishment constitute tresspassing the building premesis if you were caught. Just thinking of it from an acedemic point of view.

May be you should impress upon him to read Darwin's theory of "Evolution"

sent you a PM

ok ! I only have a handful of BASE jumps so take this with some skeptisism. One of the reasons you want to go for rear risers is that you want to avoid wasting time trying to get into a toggle and unstow it. If you really intend to go for the rear risers why then aim for those little loops when you have the whole riser infront of you. Also, what if in trying to grab the rear risers through the toggle loop you accidentally unstow one toggle. Now you have complicated things. If you are going for toggles it means you have assessed the situation and already decided that you have enough time on hand to grab the toggles. I would keep the procedure simple and robust. Go for the riser where ever it's the quickest to grab it. If all is well go for the toggle.

In general 9 cells give you more glide while 7 cells come down steeper. If you are at a long spot and need the extra glide you would be better off under a 9 cell. On the other hand if you are landing off and have limited space the 7 cell will do you good service. That said, the ZP 7 Cells made these days have extremly competitive flight characteristics at the level at which you will be flying atleast to begin with (I'm not talking about high performance flying e.g swooping etc). A lot really comes down to learning good canopy piloting skills before the 7 cell vs 9 cell difference kicks in. Good canopy skills can be learn't equally well on either.

Flunked 2 and 4. Can't really call my AFF a relaxing experience by any measure. It wasn't until I had 30+ jumps that I finally started getting comfortable with the thought of stepping off the plane. Do I get anxious even now ... ALMOST EVERYTIME ... . Do I have the aptitude for Skydiving ... ABSOLUTELY !

Don't worry about the cell count. Make sure you are going for a conservative wing loading. In general 9 cells will give you more glide than 7 cells. That said, a good canopy pilot can get a decent amount of performance from a ZP 7 Cell too. It's more important to learn good canopy piloting skills and those you can learn on pretty much any canopy.

jason, I'd like to contribute. Can you send me the info and how you would like it done to rendezvous_xyz@hotmail.com

what are the pros and cons, if any, of a non vented ZP 47" PC over a non vented ZP 48" PC ? For what kind of a jump would this 1" difference be of any significance ?

How much of an alarm do BASE rigs raise going through security at an airport ?

What are your views on Rock Dragon as a canopy for starting into BASE. How does it compare with a Troll

I called in a day or two back. I believe the jumping is off until Feb however they are open for rigging services.

Just to name a few: 1.) Your Body position matters. 2.) If you leave very little line unstowed when you put the D-bad into the container it can spin if it comes out unevenly from the container. 3.) A very tight stow on the bag can spin it. 4.) A spinning pilot chute can turn the bag at deployment. 5.) uneven inflation of the canopy due to asymetrical packing.