The AFF program was instituted in 1982 by the United States Parachute Association as an "accelerated" learning process. The AFF program will give you a true taste of modern sport skydiving.

The ground training is a bit more extensive because the student will be doing a 60 second free-fall (that's right!) on his or her very first jump with their own parachute. The student will exit the aircraft at 14,000 feet along with two AFF Jumpmasters who will assist him/her during freefall. The jumpmasters maintain grips on the student from the moment they leave the aircraft until the student’s parachute begins opening, assisting the student as necessary to fall stable, perform practice pulls, monitor altitude, etc. The student then pulls his/her own pilot chute (which opens the main parachute) at about 5000 ft.

The AFF program is a 7 level program. Levels 1, 2, & 3 require two freefall Jumpmasters to accompany the student. These dives concentrate on teaching basic safety skills such as altitude awareness, body position, stability during freefall and during the pull sequence, and most importantly – a successful pilot chute pull. On level 3, the Jumpmasters will release the student in freefall for the first time, to fly completely on his/her own, but will not leave the student's side.

Levels 4, 5, 6, & 7 require only one freefall Jumpmaster (which means less $$) and teach the student air skills such as turns, forward movement, docking on other people, front loops, back loops, "superman" exits from the plane, etc.

Each AFF level is designed to take one jump, and requires about 45 minutes of training. After successfully performing the objectives of each level, the student moves on to the next level.

After graduating Level 7, the student is certified to “jumpmaster self” meaning that they can jump on their own. The next step is to work towards an A-license which takes 25 jumps and meeting some skill requirements. There is an article about the ‘A-License’ below.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have a round parachute, and it doesn't feel like you just fell 20 feet when you land. We use square parachutes that behave the same as a glider's wing (if not better) . That means you can turn, slow down, speed up, etc. That also means that when you land, you flare just like an aircraft does. The flare slows you down to almost a complete stop right before your feet touch the ground. Done properly, it feels like you jumped off a chair - at the most!

For your first several jumps, you have a radio on you. You get enough training to know how to land, but you have a radio for the first few jumps to give you some reassurance. An experienced jumpmaster on the ground will guide you throughout your entire canopy ride. After you get better at landing on your own, you still fly with the radio, but somebody only talks to you if you are trying to doing something wrong. After a few jumps, you stop flying with the radio, and by that time, you can land great by yourself.

Currency (jumping frequently) is an important part of skydiving -- particularly during any training course. You must jump at least once every 30 days while doing the AFF Program. It is strongly recommended that you jump at least once every 2 weeks. The more you jump, the better -- many students jump 2 times every weekend. If you go over 30 days without jumping during the AFF Program, you will have to take a refresher course and possibly have to re-do a level.

The Georgia Tech Student Prices for AFF jumps are:

Level 1: $279.00
Levels 2 and 3: $189.00 each

Levels 4 – 7: $159.00 each

The total cost of AFF is $1293.00 if you don’t have to re-do any levels. Again, call for current prices to be sure. This seems a little expensive, but afterwards, you can join the Tech Club and skydive for $19.00 a jump.

Please call Skydive Atlanta for reservations at least one week ahead of time.

Skydive Atlanta phone: 1-800-950-JUMP

Skydive Atlanta website: http://www.skydiveatlanta.com

Be sure to tell them that you are with the Georgia Tech Skydiving Club, don’t forget to bring your student ID, and if you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to email the club.

John Nahabedian – President: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it