🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <5062@svin09.info.win.tue.nl>, javhar@wsinfo01.win.tue.nl (Jack
v Rijswijck) wrote:
> 
> 
> Could anyone give me more info about the AFF method? I've read the FAQ but I've
> also been told that this is a very dangerous method and outlawed in most
> states. Is it? At which sites can I do this AFF method if it isn't?
> I'm looking for dropzones in the Fargo (ND) area, specifically Sauk Centre.
> 

That sounds like utter nonsense.  AFF has a better overall safety record
than plain recreational skydiving!  Basically, AFF (Accelerated FreeFall)
is a sequence of 7 levels of skydives designed to teach you to skydive by
getting you into a real skydive as soon as possible: you get lots of
freefall time (about 45 seconds per jump is typical) and you'll be pulling
your own ripcord on your very first jump.  The objectives at each level get
a little more complex: from 3 practice rip-cord pulls and proper altitude
awareness on level I to a pretty complex set of turns, backflips,
front-flips and tracking on level VII.  You could be signed off student
status after as little as 7 jumps. You are accompanied by two VERY
experienced instructors on your first few jumps, and one one on later
jumps.  They hold on to you, one on each side, throughout the whole jump,
from climb-out to pull-time.  That's also what helps improve the safety
aspects: aside from an AAD on your rig, the instructors will make sure
either YOU pull your ripcord on time or THEY will pull it for you.  It's
endorsed by the USPA (US Parachuting Association) as a solid training
method.  Call up a dropzone that offers AFF instruction and get them to
answer all your questions.  

My Parachute Pages lists only one drop zone in North Dakota: the Valley
Skidivers Club in West Fargo.  Contact name is Don Solberg: their phone
number is (701) 282-5072 or (701) 237-4561.  Alas, they seem to offer only
static line instruction (and  maybe an aggressive salesman might try to
push you to start with that).  There's a DZ in St. Paul, Minnesota, the
Baldwin Sport Parachute Club.  Cantact Mike Hayden or Davide Mills, no
phone number listed.  They offer instruction but don't say what kind: maybe
they do AFF.

By the way, in The Netherlands there's a DZ in Rotterdam, the Flying
Dutchmen, contact Peter Post, 010-4158421 or 010-4159450, that offers
instruction of unspecified type, as well as the internationally famous
Paracentrum Texel: contact Herman Landsman, 0222011464 or 0222011436.  They
specifically offer AFF and might be a good place to ask more questions as
well.

I learned to jump through AFF, and by the time I graduated I felt quite
comfortable jumping out of an airplane by myself.  I'd recommed it as a
great way to learn to skydive.

Hope this helps,
Blue Skies!
-Pat Dirks.