How do I take off and land solid. Every time I hit a jump I can't help but swing my arms and keep my legs still. What do I need to work on?
Shin pressure on the front of your boots. Keep your hands below your nipples and keep them "Stiff".
Pop a little so your skis don't hit the jump as you leave, and try to set yourself in the air so when you come down on the landing you're angled the way the landing is, also a simple safety grab usually keeps you from going off axis at all. Hope this helps
When you hit a jump you enter freefall briefly. This means gravity is no longer holding your arms at your side. Because we spend our whole lives under gravity's influence it's a hard concept to grapple with the fact that gravity is no longer going to do the work of keeping your arms at your sides for you.
This is why so many beginners do the beginning of the YMCA when they leave a jump. You have to actively hold your arms at your sides (using more strength than you'd think) or else they will naturally float up into the Y position. This can throw you offbalance and make you want to roll down the windows.
A good thing to think about when jumping is doing a cannon ball into a swimming pool. When you leave a jump you want to actively ball up and bring all your limbs in. Tucking your legs in as well as keeping your arms at your sides will make you feel more stable in the air.
When I was starting out I found that just doing a simple safety grab made me complete steady in the air without flailing. Hope it helps!