Advice

[tex80]

I am saving up to go skydiving over the summer. I'm not looking to prepare for any military school, just to have fun. They offer either a freefall tandem (sp?) jump or a one day class and then a jump like that of Airborne School (hookup and jump out). Which do you recommend I take? If I like it, I will sign up for freefall lessons. Sounds like a lot of fun. Recommendations?

[Xdeth]

Consider an AFF program, "will you like it" factor is undetermined until you really have some awareness of whats going on and the responsibility for saving your life each time.

[Doogie320]

There are pros and cons to the various ways to get your knees in the breeze. Tandem (shudder) is relatively inexpensive but doesn't offer you much in the way of control (read: none), nor does it teach you much. Saying a tandem is skydiving is, IMO, like saying paintball/ airsoft is combat. The mechanics are there, but that's about it.

AFF teaches you, but is an expensive way to find out if you want to do it.

Static Line and IAD are inexpensive, but don't provide freefall the way AFF or tandem do (at least not until you have about 10 jumps under your belt).

Go AFF. Your jump will make you realize that you are in fact responsible for your own life. It was explained to me that once you leave the aircraft, you are a dead man unless you intervene. I couldn't agree more. A tandem jump is 99% instructor, 1% student. Nowadays it is an expensive carnival ride at best.

Static Line Progression Grad
BTAR

[frogstyle]

Advice?
DOnt burn in bro.

[Drew]

Yeah I've been looking at all that stuff b/c I'm planning on taking the GF soon. She's going to Airborne school this summer so I figured the static line would be good. Of course the civilian places do it at 4000 ft. instead of 1200.

[2674]

My first jump was a tandem jump at Skydive U outside Salt Lake City.

Awesome first experience, but like Doogie320 said, you give yourself over to the guy strapped to your back.

I began the AFF program at Skydive Chicago, and completed it at Skydive Monterey Bay.

If you're sure you want to learn, AFF is really the only way to go.

Now and then I jump out of Skydive San Marcos here in TX. For the most part the adrenaline's worn off and I just go up for the view. :D

[Billy L-bach]

...as an AFFI/TANDEM-I and MFFI I will tell you that the safest easiest and enjoyable way to learn how to skydive, is by doing tandem progression.

My students that have done it that way have progressed faster, learned more, performed better than any other method used. If you completly "lock-up" on jump one, no worries, you have a fully qualified jumper that iis going to do everything that needs to be done. I can also tell you from expeerience that a student that "goes blank" on a tandem is easier to deal with than one who "goes blank" on an AFF jump. As a tandem instructor, all I have to do is get you face to earth, and keep my hands away from you. If you are an AFF student that "goes to shit" A LOT MORE DRAMA IS INVOLVED. I can have a tandem student in the air with less than an hour oF administrative work and traiNing. (waivers/video rigging up takes more time than the training does) An AFF student shows up at 8am, sits in a classroom four 3-4 hours, gets 10 pounds of knowledge and a five pound bag to hold it in. Then has to go make that 1st jump. Static line/IAD is best for those without a lot of money, but you still sit through long boring classes waiting for the unknown.
Once you sit down for all the "boring stuff" as a tandem progression student, you have already pulled on your own, and helped land the parachute. You arent trying to learn with the fear of the unknown clouding your attention span.

If you are in the game, on your first jump you can do MORE than you would be able to do on your first AFF jump. You can initiate and stop turns, and pull by yourself (or you can close your eyes and do nothing)

I would go in this order:
tandem progression/AFF
AFF
static line
IAD

JUST MY OPINION
good luck however you go....

[sirensong]

Originally posted by Billy L-bach

...If you are in the game, on your first jump you can do MORE than you would be able to do on your first AFF jump. You can initiate and stop turns, and pull by yourself ...


This describes my tandem. Before we rigged, my instructor simply asked "Hands on or hands off?". I asked him to tell me what to do, but to let me do it, and he complied. That jump was good enough to keep me excited later, during the 1 month of wind holds between level 4 and level 5 of AFF. (f'n Dallas during April!)

My suggestion would be that, if you're planning to knock out AFF in 1-2 weeks, just start with AFF lvl1. If it is going to take longer, go tandem first. AFF is not very fun until jump 5.