Practice touches in AFF: how you rehearse the reach for the pilot-chute handle in freefall without losing your body position, and why slow is the whole trick.
The honest answer up front: a practice touch (in DFV language: mock pull or "Aufziehübung") is a pretend pull in freefall in which you touch the handle but do not pull it [1]. You rehearse exactly the movement you will later need for real, minus the consequences. The goal: your arm finds the handle and your body stays stable while it does [2].
Why is this not optional? Because your head works worse right before a jump than you think. In a study of parachutists, working-memory performance was measurably impaired before the jump, and in novices even after landing [3]. The researchers discuss this as a possible factor in fatalities where no pull happened at all [3]. What you need then is not reasoning but a drilled sequence.
That matches the Swedish findings: in student fatalities, instability in freefall was often the trigger, followed by unstable activation or activation failure [4]. Practice touches are your rehearsal against exactly that chain. This guide explains what to expect. It does not replace training at an approved school.
After the exit you breathe and check your body position. Then comes the circle of awareness: horizon (heading), altitude, a look at the instructors giving you signals [1][2]. Only when you lie stable does the drill start. Milestone: you can hold the arch while reading your altitude.
You push your hips through (arch), reach for the handle and return to neutral [1]. The USPA describes it as slow and deliberate, arms only, saying each action out loud and pausing briefly to feel the handle [2]. One hand stretches overhead for balance while the other goes to the handle [2]. That helps you stay symmetrical.
In level I you do three coordinated reach movements, in level II one to three [1]. The USPA asks for the same: three practice deployments, then a second circle of awareness [2]. On each one you check your body position before, during and after [2]. Milestone: your instructor sees no drift, no turn and no tipping while you reach.
The practice touch is the dress rehearsal for the pull. In the DFV version of level I it runs like this: wave-off at 1,500 m above ground, pull at 1,200 m at the latest [1]. 1,200 m is about three and a half Eiffel Towers stacked up. The USPA gives 6,000 ft (about 1,800 m) to lock on to the altimeter and 5,500 ft (about 1,700 m) to wave off for AFF [2]. Your school sets your exact sequence.
This explains and motivates, it does not replace training. You always practise touches under your instructors' supervision, never on your own.
Turn the practice touch into a rhythm you say out loud in your head: hips, handle, feel, neutral. The USPA explicitly has you verbalise each action and pause at the handle [2]. It sounds childish but it protects you. If your working memory falters under nerves [3], the spoken rhythm takes the wheel.
Practice touches are mock pulls in freefall: you perform the complete pull movement up to the handle but do not pull [1][2]. They train handle position and body stability. In level I you do three of them, in level II one to three [1].
The DFV manual provides three coordinated reach movements in level I and one to three in level II [1]. The USPA also requires three practice deployments in category A [2]. Your school may adjust the sequence slightly.
Because your working memory is impaired before the jump, and in novices even after landing [3]. A drilled sequence needs less thinking. Student fatalities also often involved instability and unstable activation [4].
Yes, that is exactly what ground training with an altimeter and dummy handle is for, before you board the aircraft [1]. In freefall you must also do the movement while stable, and you practise that only with your instructors.
Heading Control: Holding Your Direction in Freefall