joshm

Hi guys, Sorry for the hiatus, I was mentally preparing myself for the jumps today. I did two jumps today: The first was a tandem where I had to do the practice touches, etc., and pull the ripcord. It went pretty smoothly, except on the landing I flared too high and ended up doing a PLF with the tandem instructor on my back! No one was hurt, and it turned out to be a minor miscommunication: My instructor told me to flare a bit sooner than I should have, because she didn't expect my flare to be so hard. The second jump was the equivalent of an AFF 1, which went really smoothly. All I can say is, WOW!!! Anyway, the adventure continues tomorrow, so hopefully things will go as well as they did today. Take care, Josh

That's the plan

Hi, Well, I finished the ground school today, but I don't start the jumps until Friday. It went by pretty smoothly. It definitely feels different actually wearing the rig on your back than being attached to an instructor. Going through the emergency procedures also made me pretty nervous, I have to admit. I guess I have to jump with the assumption that I will need to use the reserve on every jump. All you can do is hope that your training kicks in properly, and you don't do anything stupid (like panic!) when you're up there . I think anyone who goes through AFF (or any jump course, for that matter) has a certain "iron strength" in their character that very few other experiences (the army, maybe) can test. Later, Josh

Thanks. Tomorrow I start the training (just ground school, jumps start either Thursday or Friday). I couldn't convince any of my friends to do the course with me, so I'll be doing it by myself. So, I regard you guys as my cyberspace "support group," which means I'll be sending in posts to this thread with updates as to how the course progresses

Wow, thanks for all the support

Thanks dude. It's still daytime here, so all systems are still go. The night sweats will start up again in several more hours, I guess .

Hi Natasha, Thanks. It's daytime where I am right now (Israel), so once again I'm excited . When do you start the free-fall part of your course? Josh

Hi, I've done a few tandems over the last several years, but now I'm signed up for an AFF course starting at the end of the week. I know this question is stupid, and makes me look like a wuss, but I'm going to ask it anyway: During the day I'm fine, but at night, in anticipation of the course, I have trouble sleeping, and I get very nervous, thinking "What the hell do I need this for?" So, I think about cancelling, but I know if I cancel I'll regret it, because ever since my last tandem skydiving is all I can think about. Is this normal? Is this a sign that I shouldn't do the course, or just typical pre-AFF jitters? Thanks, Josh