Advice from licenced skydivers please!!!

niamh4626

Hi guys!!


I am going to do a course to enable me to jump on my own.

Do you recommend static line or AFF? AFF is very very expensive IMO and personaly think static line would suit me better but how long in comparrison does it take to reach freefall when doing static line??

Advise greatly apreciated.:cool:

N

FestivalFox

Hi Niamh!

Welcome to the worlds most fun sport sport!

If you are planning to do a course in Ireland it has to be static line, the weather here just not good enough for aff , each jump has to be completed within 6 weeks of the previous jump. You might end up repeating AFF levels and thats not cheap! With stalic line you can jump if cloud base is about 3200ft. So you will get a lot more jumpable days. AFF will get you freefalling faster but you finish your aff course you will still have at leat 10 consolidation jumps to do before you get licensed.

I was jumping today at skydive ireland in Tipperary, I saw a lot of students doing there 1st static line. The look of excelleration on there faces was fantastic. When people start skydiving they are obsessed with getting licensed and think that that SL is not fun, Static line jumps will blow your mind and its a great way to learn and you can get freefalling in as little as 5 sl jumps. I would argue that you would be a better skydiver at the end of a static line course than AFF.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on!

PeakOutput

agree with festival fox pretty much accept the better skydiver part

i did 6 sl's before changing to aff when i went to the states. in ireland for staying current and saving alittle money static line is the way to go.

if you were going abroad id recommend aff but your not so go for the static line

iceage

Not licenced Niamh but heres a wee taster of a SL jump with Skydiveireland.ie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoEGA28HRto

PeakOutput

and a compilation from skydive ireland i might have posted it before

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnJthW4odeo&feature=channel_page

PeakOutput

PeakOutput wrote: »

if you were going abroad id recommend aff but your not so go for the static line

Do u recommend anywhere to do it abroad? I'd be pushing 100kgs so the weight limit would also be a consideration.

FestivalFox

I would recommened Empuira Brava in Spain. Its a world class dropzone with 3 turbine planes. The beech 99 carries 23 people and gets to 13500ft in 7 minutes! I going there tomorrow for 2 weeks of jumping. Ryanair fly to Girona which is only 1 hour from the DZ. You can book your AFF course ( 1 Tandem 7 AFF levels) and your accomadation for €1666.

Best of luck!

PeakOutput

two other places to consider would be gap/tallard france and skydive spain

i cant get an english website for gap but here is skydive spain

http://www.skydivespain.com/Beginners.htm?gclid=CIKBjOSN8JkCFQVxFQod1huWQw

for all round convenience though empuriabrava is probably the place iv never jumped there though

edit; and you should ring ahead about the weight limit

I'm still buzzing because I did my first jump on Sunday.

I'd need to save a bit to get to €1666. IS it seasonal, wouldn't mind going late September. I'd have money by then. How long would the AFF take to complete abroad with good weather/full time training etc??

carveone

niamh4626 wrote: »

Do you recommend static line or AFF? AFF is very very expensive IMO and personaly think static line would suit me better but how long in comparrison does it take to reach freefall when doing static line??

The answer is that it depends.

I started out in Canada with IAD. That's Instructor Assisted Deployment and is akin to static line except using standard skydive rigs (look it up on wikipedia or something if interested). My first freefall was a 7 second delay on jump 5 (on a standard freefall rig). When I was coaching first freefall (400 jumps later), most of my students were on jump 6 or 7. They were quite nervous, but hey what's the worst that can happen. I never saw a failed pull, never ever. Sure, they'd count to 7 in about 2 seconds, but hey, whatever.

What I'd recommend (price aside) is that you would do IAD or SL on a small "family" dropzone on Cessnas. You would do Tandem and then AFF on a large busy DZ with Otters. On an US dropzone like Skydive City in Florida, AFF would be the only way to go. I saw one guy get to 50 jumps in a week from 0. He had 10 jumps the first day! (I wouldn't do that though).

As an aside, what I was highly squeamish about, to the point to being upset, was the UK method. Static line, then ripcord for christsake, then BOC (bottom of container, the standard parachute rig used by freefallers). This is just awful. My stomach turned just looking at it. As any coach knows, the absolute worst thing you can ask any athlete is to redo their muscle memory half way through a process. Urgh.

Oh and to the other guy 100kgs / 220lbs is OK but don't expect to land all that lightly. You'll have to keep feet and knees togethers. The lighter ladies can get away with practically anything short of not flaring. I saw a 90 pound girl flare about 10 feet high and practically stop dead in the air. quite something...

C.

PeakOutput

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm still buzzing because I did my first jump on Sunday.

I'd need to save a bit to get to €1666. IS it seasonal, wouldn't mind going late September. I'd have money by then. How long would the AFF take to complete abroad with good weather/full time training etc??

empuria is open year round so you could go in september no problem other dzs are seasonal