AFF Ebook: Complete Training Companion
Everything from your first jump course through Category E: the academics, the skills, and the instructor perspective for every level.
Who this is for
AFF ground school moves fast. Instructors cover a lot of material in a short time, and there's rarely enough room to slow down and make sure everything clicked. This guide is for students who want to go deeper: before their first jump, between categories, or whenever something didn't fully land the first time. Use it to prepare before a briefing, review after a debrief, or revisit a concept that's still fuzzy. The goal is simple: show up to every jump knowing exactly what it's about and why it matters.
What's inside
How AFF works, what your gear does, and what the USPA requires of you as a student. Equipment terminology, aircraft safety, the pull sequence, canopy basics, landing priorities, and emergency procedures. The academic foundation your first jump course covers fast. This goes deeper.
Your first jump course, covered in full. This is the material your ground school will move through quickly on jump day. Equipment checks, aircraft safety, exit and freefall, canopy flight, landing patterns, obstacle landings, emergency procedures, and the mental game. Includes instructor tips and a quiz with answers.
The freefall awareness checklist: body position, altitude awareness, and relaxation in freefall. Also covers bonus maneuvers, the flight cycle, spinning line twists, canopy retrieval, and runway headings. What your instructors are watching for on this jump and why body position matters more than anything else at this stage.
The release jump. Your instructors let go for the first time. This category covers the freefall decision-making checklist, recovery from unstable body positions, wing loading, turbulence, the 45-degree rule for landing accuracy, off-DZ landings, and gear requirements.
Your first solo exit. Precise three-part turns, rear riser control, landing accuracy, AAD operation, gear checks, cloud clearance, spotting, and freefall time calculations. The category where the mental game gets serious.
Barrel rolls, back loops, front loops: intentional instability and proving you can recover. Two canopies out, high-wind landings, stalls, RSL and MARD, reading the winds aloft forecast, calculating freefall drift, and determining your exit point. The most confidence-building category in the program.
Every category ends with a quiz: multiple choice and scenario-based questions that test judgment, not just recall. Answer keys with explanations included. These aren't filler. They're the kind of questions your instructors are actually evaluating you on.
What makes this different from the SIM
The USPA Skydiver's Information Manual is your official reference. We recommend keeping it close throughout your skydiving career. This guide is something different: it's the instructor perspective. The patterns we've seen across hundreds of students. The things that don't fit in a manual. Why Category C trips people up mentally, what actually causes most Category D repeats, and how to approach Category E so it's a confidence builder instead of a stress test.
The SIM tells you what to do. This tells you how to think about it.
About Christina and Juan
We're Christina and Juan Arango, USPA Examiners and AFF Instructors based in Gainesville, Florida. We've been skydiving since 2001 and teaching since 2003, starting at Skydive City to make quality instruction affordable for University of Florida club members. Between us we hold Coach Examiner, AFF Instructor, Tandem Examiner, and FAA Senior Rigger ratings. We don't just teach students. We certify the instructors who teach them.
We built this guide because the depth that makes a real difference in student progression is the depth that busy dropzones rarely have time to deliver. This is that depth.
AFF Ebook: Complete Training Companion
Instant digital download. Yours to keep.
- Complete coverage of Categories A through E
- Instructor tips for every level
- Scenario-based quizzes with answer keys
- Emergency procedures, canopy skills, and mental game content
- QR codes throughout linking to related YouTube videos
- Built to use alongside your training, not replace your instructor
Nothing in this guide substitutes for hands-on instruction with a qualified instructor. The material is drawn from the USPA Skydiver's Information Manual and from our teaching experience. When in doubt, ask your instructor.