*Skydiving*
Story of my Aff7.

Well I took out my Girlfriend for the first time on sat(11-22-03) for my graduation jump.  We got there around 12:30 and started hanging out.  Load 12 and 13 were a formation load (I think 40 something-way)  Anyway I get an instructor and start going over the jump, when the formation load is getting ready to exit, so we stop and watch.  There are some ooh's as they start to bring the formation together.  Then at break off, you could have thought it was the fourth of july from the wuffo's  OOh's Ahhs! and of course as each ring broke off more ooh's and Ahh's.  Back to my jump,  we get on load 18 and I got to sit through a muff brother playing with the aircraft ("THANK GOD FOR....."  "F$$$.....")  hehe it was fun.  So the pilot heard the racket and kicked the tail back and forth a little bit.  

Finally we get in the door do a hand wave count so the camera guy can do a good exit with us.  I dive out  and somehow turned into the Relative wind and since my feet were on my butt I went head high (almost standing up).  I settled back down  looked around for a second but couldent see my JM (later on I found out he didn't realise how fast I was going to fall and had a hard time getting back down to me)  still didn't see him for a few seconds,  I did my Front flip which turned into a 1/2 front filp into a sit,  It was nice and I dont know how long I could have held it but I rolled over.  I did my back flip and it was about a 1 1/4 back flip because once again I was standing up, but of course since I was arching I settled back down.  Started my left turn, and stopped when I saw the JM (so it was only a 270deg turn) , did my right turn 360, and looked at my JM and pointed east (to make sure he knew where I was tracking)  and I took off,  I started a little orbit so I cut it short, and then turned 180deg to track back towards the airport, which freaked out my JM because he didn't know what I was doing and Just about as I was going to track he flew up infront of me and told me to stop,  Check altitude ~ 6000'  So I just sat there,  Geeked the Camera guy ,  check 5000'  wave off-pull.

Now I thought I failed because the JM had to come up and tell me to stop, but after I started thinking about it,  The whole point of Aff7 is to make sure you can handle most situations in Free Fall, which I did so I talked myself out of the fail and sure enough Eric came up and said, "Do you think you passed?"  And I said "yup",  "congratulations!"  Whohoo!  We went to the Training room to watch the video, and he said I had a nice sit after the front flip, and everything else was fine until the tracking part, but I told him what I was doing and he just said he didn't know so It was ok. (Yes I bought beer)  

Now onto solos!
and Ideas for fun solos.  I was thinking of rolling up into a ball and just flipping like crazy for a few thousand feet, or trying sit flying,  tracking the whole way etc.

Congratulations! Sounds like fun. What's AFF mean?

how much did it cost? it sounds liek something im looking forward to. how old do you have to be , 18?

Accellerated Free Fall if memory serves (AFF)... I'm envious/jealous you bastard!...
:mrgreen:
Some day I'll have the money and time to get my license....

Congrats man!

Well Aff is like stated above, "Accelerated Free Fall" where basically they throw you out and hope you pull on your own  :dunno: . Joking!   There are 7 levels to teach you how to jump.

Level 1,
6-8hrs ground school and then you jump from ~13,500 feet with 2 instructors holding on to you.  You practice how to deploy your parachute and at 5000' you deploy your parachute

Level 2,
Again you jump with 2 instructors and do a 90deg left turn, 90deg right turn, and deploy at 5000' again

Level 3,
Again 2 instructors,  You leave the plane and point your toes and fly across the sky (instead of falling), and then your instructors let you go and make sure you can fly safely by yourself.  5000' Deploy.

Level 4,
Only 1 instructor now,  You jump out with the instructor holding on,  He lets go and flys infront of you and you do 2 solo 360deg turns. and then at 5000' deploy

Level 5,
One instructor,  You jump out again with him/her holding on,  they let you go and fly infront ~ 10feet away.  your job is to fly forward and grab their hands, let go and try again to 6000',  then wait till 5000' and deploy

Level 6,
one instructor, solo exit.  You jump out and get stable,  Tuck your knees to your chest and do a back flip.  Then track (fly) across the sky for 5seconds, then wait until 5000' and deploy

Level 7, GRADUATION!!!
Solo diving exit.  You jump sideways out of the plane (to get you unstable)  You regain stability, and do a front filp,  Get stable, do a back flip, get stable,  left 360 deg,  then right 360deg,  track for 5 seconds and then at 5000' deploy!

Now your on your own!

Prices are approximate but Ill show you what I paid.
Level 1-$270 <-because of ground school.
Level 2-$180 <-2 instructor fees
Level 3-$180 <-2 instructor fees
Level 4-$150 <-only 1 instructor
Level 5-$150
Level 6-$150
Level 7-$150

Solos
$20 for gear rental.
$18 for the plane ride.
thats it!

I got a video but I dont have a video capture card so I cant put it online (yet).

Congratulations!      I am still at ground school and hope to start jumping soon. How long you took for your solo jump.

Wow!!  sounds pretty awesome, i'm gonna have to try it after graduation when i have some real free time. Congrats on the jump!!

How fun is it? Please convince me this is something I need to do.

hey, who in their right mind would jump outta a perfectly good aeroplane, :dunno:  then again, hard to find someone 100% in their right state of mind. anyhoo, sounds like something to try , heres an idea for a pose, er thing to do while in the freefal, simulate your riding position on the bike, followed by various stunts you, or a squid, :mrgreen: , would try, then maybe the body actions of a low-side, followed by a high side  ending with an endo. but not tell anyone what this is supposed to represent, and have them try to figure out :dunno:  

for those of you thinking about doing it.  GO DO IT!!!  it is incredible.  You look out the door and think "what the hell am I doing"  and then once your out there you are FREE!  if you want to fly forward just point your toes like superman and you start screaming for the clouds,  If you want to turn just rotate your torso a little bit and you'll turn!  

YOU DO NOT FEEL LIKE YOUR FALLING.  at all.  Many people think that they will get that stomach drop like on a roller coaster.  this is not true.  Its almost as if you are floating in a swimming pool.  (Except 13,000 feet in the air)  and then once the parachute opens it gets really quiet and your just floating around for a few minutes.  Just go do it!

edited to add:  I just uploaded some pics of my jump at
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view&post=777201
you have to scroll all the way to the bottom.

Those are some reelly low res pics. Thats okay, I liked reading the thread

John,  Its a 1mexapixle cheapo camera from Target, taking pictures of a TV,  I want to upload the video but I dont have a capture card(yet).