AFF Cat A Training

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I had a 6 hour AFF instruction class with Mike from somewhere around York, PA. JR Sides did most of the instruction. Toward the end of the class, Dr. Larry and John stepped in to finish it off. Unfortunately, we had bad weather. The radar showed thunderstorms coming in quick from the west, so there was no chance of making the jump.

6 hours sounds like a lot, but there's a lot to learn. The Chambersburg Skydive Center teaches the jump in reverse. The first thing we learned was how to do a parachute landing fall (PLF) so that we didn't end up with injuries. Then we talked for a long time about what we had to do in freefall, and how to fly the parachute. Too may details for here, but this part included the activities to pass the Category A requirements, and how to handle parachute problems. We also learned how to safely exit a small Cessna. We went over the dive flow multiple times.

This was time definitely well spent!

Decision Made

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I've finally made the decision to skydive. I've always wanted to do it, but I had a deal with Jennifer to wait until we had two healthy kids. Well, we've had two healthy kids for 8 years. Every time skydiving has popped into my head, something else has come up. Either I think of it while we're out of town, or just before vacation, or just as the weather is turning cold for the winter. This spring, a friend was on vacation in Las Vegas (somebody's birthday weekend, maybe?) with a bunch of her girlfriends, and did a tandem jump. Many thanks to Kristen for reminding me that the time is now!

I started calling the Chambersburg Skydive Center to schedule my Category A Accelerated Freefall jump.