Monday, 14 July 2008

Jump 10 to 13 and Packing

Now that I graduated from the AFF program and are allowed to jump solo I can do more jumps more quickly. This weekend I did a few jump especially jump # 13 on July, 13th. These jumps are a lot of fun even though the adrenalin rush is not what it was at the beginning. I like to twist and turn, flying belly up and exit the plane with a few front flips. Now I can push the envelope getting more unstable for longer period of time and then recover from it. On jump 13 I also tried to do a mock up chute cut off and then pulling the reserve handle. Because I have bo  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 4:10 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Wednesday, 9 July 2008

First Solo Jump

Today's my birthday and also my first solo jump as skydiver. Because I have two free video recordings that came with the certification package I also decided to record it for all you guys. Because this is a solo jump I could do whatever I wanted and so I decided to do some of the cool stuff I did during the AFF program (Level 1 to 8). So this was my dive flow:

Exit with a back flip: I really like that because it is the easiest, the turn is slow and it feels great:


keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 4:34 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Monday, 7 July 2008

Level 8: Final AFF Jump

After bringing our newborn baby to the doctor for the first time I still had some time left for another jump. This time it was my last jump on the AFF program which when I pass I would be able to do solo jumps. But first I had to get up to speed with the Level 8 drill / dive flow. First a front exit, then a front flip by pull the arms and head under one's shoulder, a barrel and finally a touch with the jump master meaning I had to fly to the jump master and touch him with the hands. This jump went through without a problem beside that I opened too early on the front flip le  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 12:58 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Sunday, 6 July 2008

Jump Level 7: New Twists

On Level 7 one will exit the door facing backwards looking a tail of the airplane. Through stretching the legs one makes a back flip. So the exit was not problem and I could recover into a stable position much quicker than yesterday. Then I had to do a barrel which is a turn around one's axis by pulling in an arm. Finally I has to perform what is called a track meaning I stretch my legs, pull my arms back until I look like an arrow. My jump master told me that I was too fast for him to follow. Looking at the altimeter right afterwards I already passed 6,000 feet and was on   keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 10:30 AM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Saturday, 5 July 2008

Jump Level 6: Off the "Training Wheels" Went

Jump Level 6 was the same jump as Level 5 except that I exited the plane without the jump master holding onto my gear. This meant that I had to stabilize myself after the exit which took some efforts to keep relaxed. Afterwards I took some left and right 360 degrees turns which were quite simple and did not pose any challenge. The rest of the jump including the landing were simple and I had no problems whatsoever.

Next Jump will be a challenge because there I am deliberately made unstable and I have to recover from it. This starts with a "scuba diver" style exit, followed by a keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 3:44 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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Monday, 30 June 2008

Jump Level 4 and 5

Slowly but surely I am becoming an independent skydiver progressing in the first part of the certification. Up to Jump 8 (or AFF Level 8) I jump with two or one jump master. After that I am able to jump solo only guided by a coach. Still every higher level is giving me a little bit more freedom and more tasks to perform like checking the gear, do more advanced programs during free fall and even during the landing.

So level 4 programs (dive flow) was less than level 3 but I was let go earlier. Unfortunately I somehow got the idea that I need to turn which caught my jump master off gua  keep on reading here

Posted by schaefera at 8:12 PM in Adventures in Skydiving

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