Accelerated Free Fall (AFF) Progression Course

Hmmm...Why do they call it an "Accelerated" Free Fall Course when your first just is from 10 000ft? It would have been 12 000ft if the Angel was around then, but our little Cessna 206 only goes to 10 000 :-(

Anyway, mid February was when I began my AFF progression, I took off work on Friday and Monday with the intention of getting through ground school and my first two or three levels, that didn't happen (people who skydive will know, there's always weather factors or something else that messes with your plans!) This time it was due to one of my instructors having a tummy bug :-( none the less, we got through ground school and lots and LOTS of cutaway drills. It's amazing how you can "Learn" the basics of skydiving in about five hours! As I had the rest of the day to myself, I decided to go through my whole course book, running through my reserve drills and the possible malfunctions.

I got up early on Saturday, eager to get into the sky and fall through it. as I was there before anyone else, I went through my book again. When my instructor arrived he put me back up in the harness for some more practise reserve drills. The drop zone was busy that day and I only managed to get one jump in.

Level one was awesome but a bit of memory loss on my part meant that I was getting instructions from both instructors at the same time in hand signals - this gets very confusing - Make your legs more positive, circle of awareness, legs more positive, three practise touches to make sure I can find my pilot chute, legs more positive, relax more, check alti...shew, besides all the over load in hand signals, the jump went well and I am extremely happy with it :-) my first canopy flight down was awesome, had to run through all my checks (and remember what they all are), then watch the lollypop man telling me which toggles to pull and when. Personally, I don't think I needed him as landing is not difficult at all, but I glad he was there, just in case!

Side note: I never realized how much wind resistance there actually is while climbing out onto the wheel strut! I thought I was going to get blown off the first few times!

High 5's and congratulations from my friends and family - WoooHOOO, only 9 to go!

The next few levels of my AFF went smoothly and were uneventful, besides landing WITH the wind on one occasion and having to execute a PFL...basically just hit the ground running and took a tumble, it was fun!

Level 7 was the next big one :-)

Me reminding myself - "In Case of emergency, pull handle" lol - not quite that simple, and it was camouflaged on my jump suit...