Mike Worthington talks about life after AFF. He has some practical advice for people who have just completed a skydiving course course. Mike trained with us in March 2004 and jumps both in the UK and every few months back at the Freefall University. Life after AFF by Mike Worthington.
Introduction
So now you’ve completed AFF and suddenly your eyes have been opened, a whole new life changing experience has just taken place and you want to know more. If you are anything like me you will have already started going to bed on an evening thinking when and where your next jump will be, who you will meet along the way and what’s in store for the future. Hopefully the below will point you in the right direction.
Licences, membership and your home DZ
When you arrive back home you will need to locate your home drop zone. This is the place where you will probably spend a lot of your free time and money!
When I got back from doing my AFF I went straight to Hibaldstow. They were very friendly and even helped me find people to jump with and they also go to 15000ft on every jump! I have also been to South Cerney and Weston which were good drop zones too. Once you have decided on where you want to jump pay them a visit. If you go to the manifest there will always be someone there to help you. You will need to show them your skydiving log book and possibly your AFF video.
Getting your " A " License.
The CCI (chief instructor) will then sign you up for an FAI A Licence, which you need to post off to the BPA, they will then send you back a nice little licence book. You will also need to join the BPA ( note this is not temporary membership which is good only for the duration of your course ). BPA membership includes the mandatory third party liability insurance that is required to jump in the UK and most other countries. (This insurance does not cover you for jumping in the USA). Once all the above is in order and you have signed the medical declaration of fitness……….you can now jump!
Gear Hire vs. Gear purchase
All the UK DZs I have jumped at have offered gear hire. All the kit I jumped was well maintained and very safe. It is however quite expensive to hire and you should already be starting to think about getting some of your own kit. I realised the money spent on my own gear could have all been used on gear hire in about 200 jumps, that makes the investment a very sound one. Buying your own gear is a heavy commitment to your skydiving future, therefore you should be 100% sure you want to continue in the sport seriously.
You should seek qualified advice from your aff instructor and be wary of people who are just trying to make a profit or offload their unwanted stuff.
Find a coach and stay current
Once you’ve done a few solo jumps you may start to feel it is time to move on and continue learning new things. The first step in your training is to complete the BPA IC1 certificate. This is your first step towards your FAI B licence. You will have to complete some practical exercises and also be given some briefings from the BPA operations manual.
See the following link for full details http://www.bpa.org.uk/progression.htm
Formation Skydiving
Next you need to go find yourself a qualified FS (formation skydiving) coach. This person will start to train you on more advanced body flight and teach you about flying safely relative to other people. You should as part of this training complete the BPA FS1 qualification detailed on the same web page as above.
When you are FS1 qualified you can really enjoy jumping your tits off!
Jumping with friends is the best feeling in the world and as you become more skilled you will make your jumps even more action packed and challenging. It is important to keep up with the coaching jumps to keep improving, but even more important to stay current and not have too long a break from skydiving.
Find a jump buddy
Once you are FS1 qualified it is time to put some of your new skills to use. The best way to do this is jump with other people; you will never know you are back sliding unless someone tells you so! A jump buddy can be anyone, a like minded individual who is at a similar level, or a more experienced skydiver.
Learn to pack
Learning to pack will ultimately save you a lot of money. A typical pack job costs anything from £3 to £5 and if you are at a boogie racking up the jumps your packing bill could be more than your airfare to get there in the first place! Packing is also a fantastic way to learn about different skydiving equipment for example how to change the opening characteristics of your canopy, how to change your closing loop and how to know when you need the services of a rigger!
Go to organised events
Organised events, like boogies are the best way to really cram the jumps in. Most boogies will have load organisers who can get you doing all sorts of fun stuff. There are usually a lot more slots available and plenty of coaching (sometimes free). A concentrated period of jumping like this makes the learning curve much steeper than regular weekend or seasonal jumping. For instance I managed 30 jumps in 6 days at the Lillo Christmas Boogie, a canopy course and some FS coaching jumps – mad!
In summary
Jump more, learn more, enjoy more – that’s all there is to it.