how i became a skydiver

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Jump #1

Okay everyone; check out the new photo album to see all the jump pictures.. In a few days I'll have all the video too, just have to wait for them to finish it.. I got all the pictures though just about as soon as we landed the plane...

If anyone is interested... I'll think I.ll be heading up there next weekend for my first Category B jump, as I just passed my Cat A with this first jump...

I can only say that this is an absolutely amazing adrenaline rush... 50 seconds at 120 mph while heading straight AT THE GROUND... I jumped at about 5:30pm (about 7 and 1/2 hours ago) and my heart is still racing... This isn.t no quarter mile sprint... This is a nearly three mile high jump out of a perfectly good airplane, just to see if you can DO IT... AND still save your ass!

Everyone, head over to my pictures and check them out... leave some comments... and hey, let me know who's joining me next weekend!!?

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Jump #2

Went up again on Saturday, had a bunch of you that said you were going to come with... but as expected, no one else would go through with it! Except Kat, she made her first tandem jump!

This time they showed me how to make turns... 90º turns, right and left. Anyhow, passed the Cat B jump with flying colors, and on my next jump (Cat C) will be my solo dive... no instructors holding on anymore! Once I pass that, I.ll only need one instructor (save some $$$) for the next ones, and I.m only two or three jumps away from learning the barrel rolls and back flips!

We'll be going up again two weeks from Sunday... July 8. Everyone says this is something they got to do... lets see who'll come and do it!?

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Jump #3

Had to wait two weeks for this one, then on Friday the day before I was going up, Mike at NSC calls me and tells me they won't be flying for the weekend... Thought about letting it drop at that... but could bare to make myself wait another week. So I started looking for another DZ in the area that was open... I found my way to Tecumseh Skydiving... decent place... busy for sure. I got my jump in, but it took awhile though, seemed I had to wait in line behind any tandem jumper that walked in. Stayed the night out there, but Sunday morning the winds were to high for me to jump (as a student I can't jump in anything past 15 mph) so had to go home with only one jump in for the weekend... better luck next time I guess.

Was nice to use some different equipment though, I used a 235 sq ft main chute this time, rather than the 288 sq ft I had been using, also the deployment method of the rig was different, BOC vs. the rip cord. I do have to say I preferred the equipment at Tecumseh...

Other than that... I'll just say that there is a difference between DZ's and there is a difference between different teams of instructors... and next weekend, I.ll find my way back to NSC.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Jump #4

Well, this was a different one! After the jump last week at Tecumseh, I was looking forward to jumping with my regular instructors again. I finally tracked them down at Midwest Freefall, as there is still an ongoing problem with the airport at Frankenmuth, although I will say I did like the place, all the people were great (just like the NSC people) so I.ll be happy to keep going there as long as the NSC crew stays there. I guess I was really thinking that this was going to be a quick and easy jump... and although parts of the fall went good, some... well not so good.

First off... for those that don't know (apparently me included for about five seconds today!) there are essentially two different ways to deploy a parachute on different equipment. The older standard was the 'rip cord'. Pulling the cord is easy, grab the handle and pull until it comes all the way out of the rig and the pilot chute launches out of the back, and then hold onto it so you don't lose it (or they charge you 20$ to replace it!). The other way is called a BOC, (stands for Bottom of Container)... here, the handle you pull is attached to the pilot chute. You have to pull it and throw it out the side and into the wind... So far in four jumps, I've used each type twice... today it seems, I must have forgot what was on my back because when I pulled, I held onto it .. And nearly developed what is one of the worst types of parachuting malfunctions, a horseshoe malfunction (where the parachute it attached to you in two places, forming a horseshoe shape).

Now, that might sound bad... but wait, there's more! Lets back up about four seconds before the pull... when you go to pull you have to reach your hand down to the bottom of the parachute on your back (BOC, duh). In order to keep your symmetry and balance, you have to move your other hand to the center of your body... once again, something I know, but just didn't seem to do at the time. So end result....

... (Wait for the suspense)...

After a mostly good jump, I went to pull, went off balance, pulled and held the BOC (but didn't realize it at that moment), and did a front flip into and through the horseshoed bridle loop that had developed between my hand holding the BOC, and the parachute... right after I came all the way around on the front flip, I saw I was having the malfunction and though the pilot chute was stuck in the bubble of dead air behind me, so I released the handle (which I should've just done in the first place!) and began to reach for my cutaway handle, at which point the pilot chute deployed (and didn't tangle in me, thank God), and other than a hard deployment, and having to pump the brakes a few times to get my end cells to inflate, all went well!

I had a great canopy flight with another smaller canopy (down to 224 sq ft) and with only 7 cells (the previous ones all had nine) and had another easy landing about 30 meters off target (anything within 100m is passing at my level)... So far I.m starting to see that I.m feeling a lot more natural under canopy than in free fall... but practice makes perfect, and I.m a long ways from done with this.

So... end summary for the jump...
A. work on balance/form/arch position...
B. Stay Stable & balanced when going to pull...
--And--
C. If wearing a BOC chute... pull and THROW the damn handle!!

Oh well... next jump will be better...

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Jump #5

Got to get up again this weekend, was nice to get away for a while. NSC is still working out of Midwest Freefall, so it was another hour and a half drive through the highways of Detroit, but oh well, it.s more than worth it.

Had a nice surprise when I got there... no waiting! About 10 minutes after I got there I was manifested and set to go... worked with my two instructors for a few minutes about what had went wrong on my last dive, and what I was supposed to be doing (again) on this dive. At this point I was a little bit leery, as this would be my third attempt to pass the same level (Category C).

Got up in the plane and was a bit nervous... after all, the pull is the most important part of the jump, and last time I.d messed it up... After we jumped out (me with two instructors holding on) I got in good body shape with my arms up high and both let go of me. Same as the last jump, I had issues holding a heading, kept doing a slow turn/orbit to the left... but when pull time came (5500 feet) it went great. Good position, stable, and THREW the pilot chute! Canopy ride was another plus... getting pretty good at that (really easy)... and a good stand up landing. All in all, a successful jump, and... Finally passed Category C!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Jump #6

After a good jump Saturday night I was feeling real good about the jump Sunday morning. I was finally past the Cat C jump, and could move on to my Category D jumps (two jumps in this category). In this jump, I was finally down to only one instructor, which saves some money, jumps are only 150$ instead of 185$. In this jump I had to work on turning, which I really needed the help on after not being able to maintain a heading on the last two... we went over all the techniques on the ground, how to move your arms to make the turns... left arm down, turn left, right arm down turns right.. But it didn't seem very natural to me... yet.

Once we got on the plane and were headed up to altitude I started to get a little bit nervous again... but then thought about it... after the last jump, I knew that even if I went out by myself, I could arch, get stable and pull on my own.. So what could happen? After that crossed my mind, I was a lot more relaxed... So I started thinking about my movements to do my turns... right about then I was looking out the window, and the plane banked hard to the left to turn... (Think about it) the planes left wing dropped and the plane turned left... and I was "oh.... it just kind of clicked. I kept watching the wings for the rest of the ride up... the plane banked right, right wing drops down, plane turns right... I just seemed to make a lot more sense to me.

Came time to get out of the plane, with only one instructor, I had to get out in the door of the plane first... and I noticed there is a lot more wind up there (plane is moving 90 mph) than before, mostly because I didn't have the wind block (the second instructor!) already in the door in front of me! Anyhow, did my count and got out of the plane... got stable, the instructor came around in front of me. One he released me and nodded yes to start my turns, I started to drift a little to the left like on the last two jumps... but then i got the mental image in my head of the plane banking right to turn right, i banked my arms and turned 90 degrees! Arms back to level and my turn stopped! Banked left and turned back 90 degrees to face the instructor, banked left and turned left again 90 degrees and stopped with arms level. Checked my alt and I was still at 7100 feet (I was told to stop all turns at 7000 feet) so I started my last turn by (like the plane) banking my arms to the right and turned 90 degrees right to be back face to face with my instructor.. At this point, I just held the position and waited for my pull altitude, 5500 feet. My pull was great, the best one yet, hand in good position, and I felt no 'dip' when I went to pull, and once again THREW the pilot chute and that was it... under canopy and ready for the ride back to ground level.

Ends up the first jumper out of the plane (I was last out of ten jumpers) 'spotted' the plane of a little bit, so I ended up jumping a lot further from the airport than I normally do, which was okay I guess, I just couldn't do any fun stuff 360's, turns, flares, etc.. I just had to work up as much speed as possible to get back to the landing area. But it went fine... I think after as well as the whole jump when, I got a little relaxed about my landing, I flared a little bit late (think brakes) and hit the ground with a little bit more speed than I should have, but otherwise, it was fine.. I guess you don't get a stand up land every time...

And now, I have to wait a WHOLE WEEK to go jump again... it will be my CAT D2 jump... so i get to exit the plane by myself.. Then instructor will be there and will jump at the same time, but not holding on to my straps at all... If the next three jumps go well, I'll graduate the basic AFF training course on jump 9, then just need 16 more coaching/solo jumps until I.ll be able to take my class A check ride on jump 25, pass that, and I.ll be a licensed skydiver!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Jump #7

Getting closer and closer, and easier and easier... After a few great jumps last weekend, I just couldn't bare to wait two more weeks to jump, so I decided to sneak over to Tecumseh this afternoon for a quick jump. Honestly, I felt a lot better about the place and the instructors (at least the one I had today) today, then I did a few weeks ago.

After getting there and meeting up with my instructor, Keith, and after we reviewed all the emergency procedures, and went through the dive flow, we got manifested and started getting my equipment together... unfortunatly, some clouds rolled in and they wouldn't let me fly on the next load.. So, a bit disappointed I put away all the equipment and got a refund. Then I ended up bullshitting with everyone for a few minutes before I was going to leave, and then the jumpers came down from the load and said the clouds were moving back up, so I could jump! (Yay!)

So hurry up and get the equipment back on, pay again (lol) and get ready for the load. I thought Keith was really good at this point, as I.ve been going through a few different DZ's he was more than happy to do the exit routine that I.ve been using, rather than force me to learn something new on a moments notice. Up in the plane I found myself in that same comfort zone I was in last jump... and for the first time, i actually noticed that it DOES get a bit colder up at altitude!

Any how, did a solo exit with one instructor (he jumped at the same time I did, but not holding onto me at all) and actually did a barrel roll out of the door! LOL, all I really noticed is that when I "arched" out of the door, all I saw was blue sky so I just stiffened up my arch real good and it came right around (stable in about 3-4 seconds). Checked heading and alt while waiting for my instructor to come around in front of me then nodded to start turns... This part went great, two 180's, and two 360's done by 9000 feet... i had time to do 3 more 360's before i had to nod "no more turns" to my instructor at 6000, then just locked on and watched my alt drop to 5k.

This part was fun, right when I had to reach & pull, I hit clouds, so at the moment I pulled my chute, I couldn.t' see anything but cloud all around me! Anyhow, pulled and landed... not very eventful at all... Although, right at landing I flared a bit early (20'), but I think I was just over compensating for my late flare last week.

And that was it... just an easy & comfortable solo exit from 13,500 feet above ground level, a few 180's, a five 360's, a pull in the clouds, and a decent plf 'stop and drop' landing. With the in-laws here, I only have time for one jump this weekend... but hey, at least i got my fix to get me through another week!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Jump #8

Wow, what a good weekend... left town Saturday morning, just before noon and got up to Midwest by 2pm it didn't take long to get on a load. This was the jump I.d really been looking forward to, back flips!

Still getting used to exiting by myself, I always seem to barrel roll out of the door, but oh well, arch and stable after that with no problem. As soon as I was stable I did a quick COA (Circle of awareness) basically just check heading and alt, then did a back flip (just bring your knees up and flip yourself backwards) which really is pretty fun up there, then did a barrel roll (lol, intentionally, for the first time!) which is really easy too, just pull one arm in and you roll, stick it back out and stop. then had to practice tracking (like, when your in a group of people, right before pull time, everyone 'tracks' away from each other so there is enough separation when everyone pulls). Wave and pulled at 5000 and done. Landing was just a little bit off the field in the beans, but I stood it up with no problem (and limited bean damage). Passed the category and on the level 7

Jump #9

This was really the big one. Level 7 is basically the 'check ride' to pass the AFF training. The first 7 jumps are always with an AFF instructor to make sure you know all the basics. Then, up till jump 25 when you can get your class A license, you jump with coaches, the big plus here..? Much cheaper to jump with coaches! The first AFF jumps are 185 with two instructors, then 145 with one instructor, compared to the solo and coach jumps for 50 or 70 (depending if your coach makes you pay their spot on the plane, some do, some don't.. some you just pay with beer at the end of the night!) So on to the jump.

Normally they make you do an unstable exit on this one, a cannon ball or something out of the door, but I think because I always barrel roll out of the door anyway, they didn't tell me to do anything different! The biggest object I guess of all the unstable exits, flips, & rolls, isn't about how good you do the maneuvers, but how quickly you can regain stability when you lose it. But I.m having no problems with that. Anyhow, same as before the jump went well, barrel roll out of the door, then a quick COA once I was stable. Started with a front flip, then a back flip, then two 360's right and left. And then started tracking at 5500, counted to five, then stopped waved and pulled. Landing was great and spot on, dead center of the student landing area, came in and had a nice slide into a stop on my knees.

As soon as I made it back to the hanger, Ed (my instructor) told me the jump was great, and I only had 24 problems to correct.... My first beer rule! Upon any great achievement, any skydiver is required to provide a case of beer for the group. I was immediately sent to the store to solve each of my 24 problems with a beer. (Hence, now I see where all the free beer that I.ve been drinking up there comes from!) Once I was back with the beer Ed was happy to sign off in my logbook and transferring me from "student" status to "unlicensed skydiver". Yeah!!!

Jump #10

Now this was the one! Actually, this was the one I thought I would be getting the first day! I remember when I first called up Mike at NSC in may, just starting the planning for the jump on my birthday (jump 1) I had the choice between a tandem jump for 200$, or a solo jump for $300.. (Training 115, jump 185). Now, when I heard "solo", I thought I.d ride the plane, step up to the door myself, and jump. Of course once I got there that day, I learned how the AFF training works, two instructors, holding your straps to keep you stable, you jump and they jump with you, together as a unit (check my first jump video, you'll see). Of course, I.d really hate to see how awful I.d flown had I not had nine previous training jumps before I got to do this one! Anyhow...

Now off student status, I had to go up and manifest myself for the next load. Track down my equipment myself, try to rush the packer to hurry up and finish my rig before the plane was ready and all that. Once I was geared up and heading towards the plane, I had to figure out for myself (by discussion with the other jumpers) what the jump order on the plane would be (who goes out first, in what order, with how much time in between) and for the first time, I had no one going out with me!

On the load, we had a three way of experienced jumpers going out first. Then me, then behind me was two sets of tandems and video jumpers for each. On the way up, some asked me what altitude I was pulling at and it kind of stumped me for a second (previously, an instructor has always told me when they wanted me to pull...) so I just answered quickly "5000". A few minutes later Cliff (one my instructors on jump 4) asked me what kind of dive I was doing... and was again i was stumped (previously, the instructors always told me what to do.. 360's, turns, flips, whatever) so after a second of "ahh...um.." i answered "i'm gonna do some flips then 360's down to 5500, then track to 5000 and pull". He just nodded okay. He was taking a tandem, and you always need to know what the person going out the door in front of you is doing, so you know how long to wait before you follow them out the door.. Such as if I planned on pulling high, he would have wanted to be further away (wait maybe 10 seconds to follow me out the door).

Around about the same I talked to three way, to figure out how long I had to wait after they went, and since they were pulling lower then me (planned on breaking at 3500 and pulling by 3000) we decided I.d give them about five or six seconds lead before I went. Anyhow, we got to altitude and the three way opened the door and spotted the plan. When they went, I stepped up to the door myself (no instructor asking me "okay, are you ready to skydive" or even "okay, lets step up to the door"). I just walked over to the open door and kind of waved by to everyone on the plane, put my toes on the edge of that door, and jumped!

60 seconds. Doesn't seem like much. Sometime it's too much time, sometimes not enough. Just depends.

60 seconds at 120 mph. Wow. Jumping out of a plane 2.5 miles high. Wow. Reaching 0 to 60 in four seconds. Wow. Then hitting a quarter mile in about 10 seconds. Wow. Then get stable and look around you... and there is no one there. Wow. Ten jumps, six weeks, and $1,683.00 later, here I was, all by myself, doing back flips at 10,000 feet. Priceless.

No one there to save my ass if something went wrong; No one but me, my training, and my ability to use that training. I did my flips, front and back, then a just started a slow 360 to the left and for the first time, just took a few seconds to look around me. At a mile and a half above Romeo Michigan on a clear day, I could see downtown Detroit, Lake St. Claire, and Canada even.

On my first jump, 60 seconds was barely long enough for me to get out of the plane get stable, do a COA and my three practice pulls. But now, 60 seconds was more than enough time... jump, stable, flips, 360's, watch the scenery, and still had plenty of time left. So I did another slow 360 and took one last look at everything up there, this time just watching the horizon, seeing clouds coming in from the west. At 5500 I did a 'break away' just for practice, just turned 180 degrees and tracked for a few seconds then stopped and pulled at 5000 feet.

Canopy came up as it should have, I did my controllability checks with my toggles, then dropped them and did it the control check again using my rear risers (more practice for some future day if I ever lost my toggles). This time, I wasn't given a radio, so there would be no help from the ground if I couldn't find the DZ, but I didn't need it. Found the DZ, got into my holding area, did some fast 360's to get down to 1000 feet, then came in for my landing. One more on target standup landing.

Some people have asked me if I kiss the ground when I land, glad to be 'safe' again... but i find the ground upsets me... once i land, i just want to go up and be in the air again.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Jump #11

Wow, this is kind of sad... the novelty is starting to wear off... normally on the drive to the dropzone i'd get butterflies in my stomach... but not so much anymore. It's definitely something that I love to do, just not with the same anxiety as before. Today I was hoping to get a few jumps in, but the weather turned for the worse, so I only got one. Actually, I could.ve had one more, but after the first, I was done for the day.

This will be a quick post here... nothing real exciting about this jump, just my first coaching jump, and i had to practice 'tracking'. Tracking is basically forward movement in set direction... you try to maximize your forward speed horizontally vs vertically. Anyhow, when the load before got done (about five minutes before we'd go up) they said they noticed it just started raining at altitude, my coach, Brian, said he'd still go if I wanted to, and I was like "yeah, why wouldn't I?" and all he'd say is don't be surprised if I saw him on is back and I was just like okay, whatever..

So anyway, long story short, rain falls at about 15 mph... Standing on the ground, rain hitting you at 15mph doesn't hurt... but do the math, if you're falling at 120 mph out of an airplane, and hitting raindrops that are going a slow 15, the effect is being hitting by raindrops at 105 mph. Lets see.. This isn't as bad as a paintball or BB gun... but close... imagine a raindrop sized paintball... lots of them... all over your face and hands...

Also, do to the fact that I was doing a tracking jump, I couldn't block my face at all (to track effectively, your legs are straight out behind you, and your arms are swept back to your sides) so I was literally diving face first into the rain. My coach, like he said he would, took the easy route and just flipped onto his back and watched my dive from there.

Once we got down, I could've taken the next load... but i thought i could just as well wait for next weekend. Oh well, just wasn't worth the rain to get in two today. Better luck next time.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Jump #12

After a week of rain, today ending up being great! Blue Skies all over! Anyhow, got to the drop zone and met up with a new coach today, Steve. Working with him went pretty good, I pretty much called out what I planned on doing on the jump and he was just like "wow, okay, we'll just go with your plan" and that.s what we did. I did a 'front floater' exit and he had given a few tips and I pulled it off great, no barrel rolls this time! The jump went pretty well, we finished off the 3rd tracking run I missed on my last jump (because of the rain!) then we did the 2 forward movement to dock, (my first time docking on someone!). I did three attempts to dock, but only successfully did two, on the first one I moved forward but slowly (was too arched) and then reached out unevenly and barrel rolled (had to get at least one on the jump!). But then next two went well.

Another thing I had to do for the jump was initiate the break off at the proper altitude, I almost missed it (4500) but at a 4250 I check the alt, pulled a 180 and tracked out. He had told me I should look between my legs as I tracked away but it slipped my mind at that moment. Stopped the track and pulled at 3700 and was under full canopy by 2800. Would have been faster but I had some minor line twist and my slider was stuck up a bit, nothing to big. That being my lowest opening, I was really kind of surprised by the 'size' of the ground when I first looked down... with the low opening (low for me) I pretty much killed about half of my canopy time. Still had enough to pull off two 90 degree front riser turns though... few more marks off my A card...

And, a great standup landing just 15m off target to finish the jump.

Jump #13

Second jump of the day, always nice to get at least two in. We decided to change up the exit this time as Steve (my coach) wasn't able to see my count very well on the first jump so we did a diving exit this time. As always, even with this exit I tend to either barrel roll or flip, but Steve had told me on the ground that all I had to do was lead with my left foot, and it would put me in a more naturally stable position; and it did! Two great exits today!

This jump was a little bit trickier, same idea as before, motion to dock, but this time I had to go up and down, rather than back and forth. The idea is simply, the more you arch the faster (and more stable) you fall (and move down, relatively), if you de-arch, you slow down (move up, relatively). After we got those done (with only one near miss, when I almost moved down on top of him and he had to dive further out from under me!) and tried to do a "swoop to redock" which is basically the combination of the last two 'movements' I.ve done. Steve moved out to about 40 feet away from me, and 20 feet below me, so I had to move diagonally down to dock onto him. I finally (hey, its hard) got almost to him but couldn't close the distance and checked alt, 4100 feet, so I stopped trying to dock, turned a 180 and tracked off. I think I tracked a little longer than I should have this time (I.m thinking 6 or 7 seconds instead of 3 or 4) because by the time I stopped, pulled, and was under canopy, I was at about 1800 feet! I really need to start watching my low end alt better (or buy a dytter) because at 1800 feet I.d only have about 9 seconds till impact if I had a malfunction... not much time to respond if something happened!

My landing was a little off... i had tried to get in some 180 degree front riser turns, but i was still aways off the airport and being so low i was more worried about getting back. To make it at all, I did an alternative (cross-runway) landing approach and came down... i saw i was gonna over shoot, so i went half-brakes all the way in and still went 40m past.. All the way to the back of the landing area... oh well. But it was a perfect half-braked stand-up landing, so I was still happy...

Friday, August 31, 2007

Jump #14

As to the fact that Midwest would be closed on Sunday & Monday for the holiday, I decided to drive up there right after work on Friday. Which in hindsight, driving through Detroit at rush hour is NOT fun... getting there was 10x more dangerous that whatever I could do one I got there!

Anyhow, by time I got up there and met up with Mike, my coach for the weekend, we walked through the jump on the ground. As always with Midwest, the instructors & coaches seem a lot more dedicated to making you into a good jumper, than just taking your money to get your jump done. The jumps we would be doing were called "Swoop & Docks", basically, he would have to dive out about 20 feet away, and 10 feet below, and I.d have to go to him and take grips (AKA dock on him). He said that this was one of the most important parts of the coaching because being able to safely approach a formation in the sky, without slamming into them, is very important...

On this jump, we had time to do four S&D's, but each one I was trying to rush out so I keep doing them too hard & fast. The idea is that you push your legs straight out behind to give yourself forward movement, but then about 5-10 feet away, to put your legs back to a neutral position and just 'coast' into the dock.. But it's tricky. Right when you come close to a person there is a column of air coming up around that person (and yourself). The two columns will repel each other... So the trick is, you have to put out the legs to build speed, then coast into the point where you hit the column of air, then legs back out to 'push' through and take grips... He said, with practice this looks very smooth... just like making a nice controlled stop at a stop sign.

Anyhow, it was a fun jump, but needed more practice... unfortunately we'd just make it on the second to last load, so when we landed the last load was already going up in the air... beer time! More jumps tomorrow.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Jump #15

Ahh, the beginning of a long day...

Met up with Mike and got ourselves manifested for the load. We didn't have a lot to go over on the ground as we would be doing the exact same jump from last night, more swoop & docks until I got them just right (or at least close enough to be safe to other jumpers in the sky).

On this jump we switched up the exit and I took the rear floater position, standing up outside on the back of the door.

I was trying to go a little slower with these docks, I.d done four on the last jump, but I was 0-4 for quality... the first one was good, slow, but good, the second was a little faster, but good... The third one I think I scared him a bit! after the second, I let me legs up and backslide a bit while he was going back to setup for the next dock, so we ended up about 50/60 feet from each other. I knew I had time to get the dock, if I pushed it... so instead of just legs out to cover the distance, i tried cupping my shoulders and slid my arms back abit in a track, i built up plenty of the speed and came rushing at him.. At the last moment, I pulled in my legs, and de-arched my body in a forward position (AKA Slammed on the brakes at the last moment before a stop sign you almost missed). I did effectively stop in the perfect position to take the dock, but because he had thought I was going to slam into him, he had popped up about three or four feet so I would go under him instead of hitting him (head on collision at 20mph horizontal speed is not fun). But I had stopped right were I should have been and just looked up and gave him a look like, 'get down here', so he dropped back down and we took a last dock before we turned and tracked away..

Jump #16

One more time, same jump... gotta get it right... slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Switched up the exit again, this time Mike took the rear float and I would dive out after him. I finally got it all right on this one, just slowed it down a little more, and did two perfect swoop & docks.. As he said, doing it slowly might mean less time in the formation once you get there, but it's a lot safer to everyone than having a mid-air collision. Both docks were great, pushed forward and then coasted into the column of air, then pushed through and took the dock... text book... why didn't i just do that the first time?

Jump #17

This was my last coaching dive. The idea here was that I, the student, had to make the plan for the dive, and then execute it as planned. The only 'objective' I had to do was I was the one that had to signal breakaway. After some thinking, I decided we'd do alternating flips, front & back, separated by 360's left and right... On most dives, you have a short sequence of maneuvers you'll do, then you repeat them as much as possible until you get to break away altitude... as he said, he would keep repeating until i told him to break and track.

The dive went just as expected, I kept him on the rear float and I dived out after him. We did our flips and 360's all the way to 5k, when I gave him a quick wave off and pointed him a direction to track, and that was it.. I turned 180 myself and tracked out.

This is where the moment of truth came for me. Over the last few weeks I.ve been learning to pack my own parachute... and this was the first pack i'd done completely un-assisted with no help, no supervision.. Just me and 265 sq ft of nylon to put into a tiny little bag... Did I do it right? Would it open? Would I have to cut-a-way my first pack job? These thoughts all dropped threw my mind briefly as a tracked away, at 4k I stopped tracking, checked my alt and pulled...

Hey it chute worked!!! The opening was slow, and my slider was stuck up for a second, but it came down with a quick pump of the brakes. It was kind of exciting to knew that I was flying my own pack... until i got the the ground and was reminded of the "first" rule... first jump on your own pack job earns a case of beer!

Jump #18

Well, now I.m all done with the coaching jumps... no longer have to pay for someone else to jump with me... i still have to wait for 25 jumps to apply for my A license, so i'm stuck solo jumping until then. (Other than my two hop-and-pops, I.ll probably do those next weekend at Tecumseh).

This time I wanted to do something different... about ten jumps ago, i was having problems holding a heading because i was looking at the ground and not the horizon, so i stopped looking at the ground, now i wanted to see if i could do it.. And I could...

I basically just did a tracking jump and just watching the airport below me as I flew all around it in the air above... I flew myself right into my holding area then stopped at about 5k and locked on the alt until 4k and pulled...

Another exciting opening... (Very, actually)

I think when I packed this one; I rolled the nose too much, and/or pushed it too far into the chute when I packed it because at open I had two dead cells on both left and right sides... (9 cells, only 5 inflated... AKA cutaway situation)

I really didn't want to cut-away my own pack job (be another case of beer) so I since I was still pretty high (3200 feet) I though I.d try to work it out.. A few pumps of the brakes and the left side popped out, but the left side refused. I remembered that one-cell dead on either side is okay, as long as you could still control the chute, but two ends cells dead.. I was thinking that was supposed to be a cutaway, but wasn't sure...

Anyhow, I decided to do a short controllability check, I did two 180's (left and right) and a flare, and it was all fine... i decided i would keep the canopy and land it gently.. At about 1200 feet, out of nowhere, the two cells decided to pop open anyway and I ended up landing normally without incident.

Oddly enough, on the same load there was another jumper, Shannon that did have a cutaway. I guess she had a spinning malfunction developed after she did her controllability check. She said it started slowly, but kept spinning faster and faster and couldn't stop it... so she cut and landed safely on the reserve.

Jump #19

Another solo, I had planned to just play around doing some more 360's and flips, but on the load, I was going out behind a big 8-way formation... i dove out after about 5 seconds and was amazed how well i could still see them.. They were maybe about 1000-1500 feet below me and about 400 feet away. I spend most of the jump just watching them turn points... was kinda cool.

These solo jumps are getting a little bit boring... but until i get 25, i can't jump with anyone else... :( I pulled at 4500 again, and had a normal parachute ride. Seems my packing skills are improving, it opened just as normally as ever.

Jump #20

What a day, six jumps in one day, double my previous record; and trust me, I feel it now, jumping is actually a lot more physically demanding then you might think.

This would be my last jump of the day. In the plane, I was sitting in front of cliff, the rigger on staff (AKA, the guys that knows everything about parachutes, assembly, design, maintenance, etc...) and he decided to start playing with my parachute... first he unsnapped my riser covers and starting showing me a better way to stow my rsl line, then he finished that (this is something another jumper would never do, especially while on the plane, but he the rigger, and me the student, i quietly let him do whatever he thought he needed to do), then he untucked my pin cover to check my pin, once he closed it he asked who packed my chute, and i told him that i did. He said... "Oh". Then I asked "why?" And he said, "well it's packed wrong, but don't worry, it could still open".

Wow, let me tell you, this is not what you want to hear at 10,000 feet!

He said the flaps on the container had been closed in the wrong order (bottom, left, right, top, instead of bottom, top, left, right) and I told him I.d just been doing it the same way all day as what I had been shown that morning. He asked who showed me that, and I told him, Mike, my coach had... who happened to be on the plane with us!

The next few thousand feet climbing to altitude were hilarious... a mock argument between cliff and mike on the likelihood of my parachute opening, the proper closing order of Racer parachute rigs, the difference between a "new" model and the "old" model, and of course, all comments from all the other jumpers on the load "oh well, I.d still jump it", "no don't trust it, leave it in the plane and jump without it".. Lol

Basically, I.m to the point where I.ll no longer quite the "newbie" that I was a few months ago... You can tell that most jumpers try to be "nice" while there are new students or tandem jumpers in the plane, to not scare them by "joking" around and such... but at this point, i was just laughing and joking with them... "Hell with it... if the damn thing doesn't open, Mike, i'll make you pay for the reserve repack!.

After I finally got out of the plane, I did a lot of 360's, alternating left and right, but practiced doing them on heading using the sun as my reference point. Trying to stop the turns at exactly 360 degrees, not more or less... by now it was about 8:00 and this would be the last load of the night, and it was getting cool on the ground, and was actually pretty cold up in the air.. But it was a good jump, and a good way to end a long day of jumping...

One more weekend like this, and I.ll be licensed!!

Monday, September 3, 2007

Jump #21

Well, I bummed around the house for an hour or two, and then finally decided to head over to Tecumseh for a few dives. I got there just in time for a caravan load going up, so I started to get my stuff together and be ready. I ended up using a Falcon 215 sq ft parachute, my smallest to date.

The winds were really high at altitude, about 35 mph, and I could almost fell the 'drift'. For most of the jump I just stayed in a neutral freefall position and tried to measure my drift across the ground... while up there i think i did one front flip and a few 360's. Only other difference was the handle to deploy my main parachute... instead of the standard orange cylinder, it was a round 'hackey-sack' design... no big deal, i just did a few more "handle-touches" in the airplane on the way up to altitude to make sure i had the 'feel' for it.

I pulled at 4k and the landing was great, about 15m from target. I think it's a lot easier for me to land the smaller chutes on target than the larger ones (like the 265 I had to use at Midwest all weekend).

Jump #22

Apparently, once I got to the DZ, that made enough jumpers to fill the caravan for a few more loads, I got on the second load, planning to do another solo, but in line while discussing what everyone on the load was doing, Keith and Karl mentioned they were doing a duo, I asked if I could join is (as they are both AFF Instructors, I could jump with them even though I.m still un-licensed) so I made my first three way. (Some might say my first three-way attempt! But I'll count it because we did make one point!!!

On the ground we had a few seconds to do a quick dirt dive, we were going to do a "three-way drive-thru", basically, we make a circle first, then those two would open up there hands and I would 'drive' thru the circle, turn on the other side of it and rejoin the circle between them, then each of them would go, then me again. I'm sure 'experienced' jumpers could each have four or five rotations doing a simple formation like this.

However, (lol, like you thought this would go well for me on my first time!) Karl was exiting on the rear float position, and I would be diving out right on his chest, and Keith was diving out right beside me, I watched Karl.s count and went with him, that part went really well, I stuck right next to him down the hill then docked once we were stable. I looked up to see where Keith was coming from so we could 'let him in' our circle, when I looked up, the wind caught my goggles (my new ones) and pulled them up, the wind instantly teared my eyes and I was probably down to about 40% vision capability. Keith docked in the circle and we had our point! (Yay! my first point!) Those two released their grip on each other and me, for me to drive thru, i drove across the circle but when i turned my 180, i lost a lot of altitude. I spotted them above me, so i de-arched to slow down and rise back up, and rise i did! Right up under Karl slamming into him and pushing him up and out of the circle and he flipped over onto his back before recovering. All this time, my goggles are still on my forehead (letting the wind blind me), so I thought I.d try to pull them down quickly while we waited for Karl to rejoin. When I pulled my hands into my face I front flipped into the partial circle and the whole thing just broke up at about 7000 feet, so I tracked for while (now with my vision re-stored!) and pulled at 4k.

Parachute opening was perfect (my pack job) and landed standing up about 15m from the target again... I would have been spot on the beans; except I flared a bit early and it seemed to give me a little bit of lift that carried me past the beans.

Jump #23

This was a jump I was and wasn't looking forward to at the same time. My first clear and pull (AKA hop and pop). The idea is that you should be able to exit and immediately deploy your parachute at low altitude, in case you ever need to, such as an airplane emergency. The first one you do (this one) is from 5500 feet, compared to the 13,500 feet I.ve been jumping from, after this one, I have to do another from 3,500 feet!

Also, because it's a low altitude jump, you do it from a Cessna 182, rather than a caravan (appearantly its more fuel efficient for the smaller plane to go to that altitude). So this was also my first jump from a Cessna.

The idea is, you get to altitude, open the door, climb out onto the landing/wheel assembly while holding the wing strut (so you don't get blown off!) Then you inch your hands out on the strut to a point where your not over the wheel anymore, and take your feet off the wheel, and just hang there for a few seconds until your body isn't swinging around anymore.. The wind is strong enough to push your body back at about a 45 degree angle! Once you're stable... you let go!

The part that had me worried, was I though the strut would be hard to hold onto (clammy hands couldn't help!) however, once I got out and in position, I paused for a good six or seven seconds just amazed about how oddly natural it felt for me to just be hanging from an airplane wing strut a mile above the ground and just be loving it!

Suddenly the notion of time struck me and I was like "oh yeah, I.m supposed to let go!"

At this point I had one tiny error, my coach had told me before the jump that doing the hanging exit put you in a nearly perfect stable position, except for your arms, and you have to pull them back into the 90 degree 'goal-post' position. That part I missed, as I let go of the plane, I kept my arms extended, but also I kept my legs strong in their position too. The result is that when I let go, I stayed in a vertical 'feet-to-ground' position, rather than belly-to-ground. But just for a second or two while I lost forward speed and my body leaned forward towards the ground, that.s when I pulled, just as my body went from upright to about 45 degree (about half-way from feet-to-ground to the belly-to-ground position).

The parachute ride was nice... it's been a long time since i've had so much time under canopy... as i've progressed from my first jump (wave and pull above 5500) to my last few jumps (wave and pull at 3,500) i've gained about 10 seconds freefall, but lost about a minute and a half canopy time.. It was a nice and relaxing (and slow) drift back to the ground.

And now I.ve VERY close to being licensed; only two more jumps! One more clear and pull (from 3500, only about 2/3'rds of a mile high!), and then will be my Class A check ride... AND THAT.S IT!!!

Next weekend, or perhaps the next one for sure... we'll see!

So what a day it's been for Labor Day...

My first...
...perfect opening on my own pack job!
...three-way.
...point in a formation!
...jump from a Cessna.
...hop and pop!
AND, no one made me by beer! I love it.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Jump #24

Wow... getting very close! Only one left to go.

This jump was very similar to the last one, another clear & pull, only this time, from ONLY 3500 feet. (Let.s do some math...) I'm sure everyone remembers a mile is 5,280 feet (right?) and 3500/5280 = .663, so my just was from LESS THAN two thirds of a mile... and let me tell you, it looks very close! There were a few clouds up there, so it took us a minute to find a clear spot, then the door opened and I had to lean out and spot the plane (make sure we'd be jumping out exactly over the ground where we wanted to). I climbed out, held onto the strut for just a moment, and then let go.

This time I got my arms down a little more (like I should have last time) and I was deployed within two or three seconds. It really seemed like I was so low that I needed to hurry, although my math tells me I really had at least about 23 seconds until I would have hit the ground! (yeah I know.. to a whuffo, 23 seconds till impact might seem like you're knocking on deaths door, but really, 23 seconds is plenty of time, an easy margin of safety).

Anyhow, I got this last jump marked off on my A card and got the "spot w/o assistance" and my third "land within 20m w/o assistance" for my Category 'H' at the same time!

Right after the debrief, my coach, Allison, let me dis-assembly and re-assemble the three-rings on her rig. (The three ring assembly is what hold your main parachute onto the rig, it's very strong, but designed to be very easily cut-away at the same time). Then we pulled out her closing loop and showed me that two, my last two check marks off my A card...

Now, just one week away, next Saturday I'll be taking my 25 jump; my "check ride". This will be the first in 15 jumps that I'll have to do with an AFF Instructor again, and basically just show him all that I.ve learned from the AFF jumps and all the coaching jumps... and that.s it... I'll be a licensed skydiver!

September 18, 2007 - Tuesday

25th jump - check ride !!

Finally here... last dive to get my A license. To celebrate even, my mom and my little sister came up to watch, and i talked my mom into doing a tandem too!

On this jump, i was a little bit nervous again, not because of the jump really, I'm comfortable with that, but i just wanted to make sure this jump went well. I've seen a few students go beyond the 25 required jumps to get all the stuff on their A card filled out, their hop & pops, etc.. And I really wanted to have it all done when I landed. So before we went up, me and Todd went over my A card and had to finish up a few of the category quizes, then we got ready for the load. The ride up was pretty nice, everyone knew it would be my check ride, and were really supportive, as always.

The dive was flawless. Todd got out on the rear float, and i took a diving stance and gave the count.. out.. in... go. The exit was really nice, i was about four feet away from Todd all the way down the hill. All i had to do was a 360 right, 360 left, and a backflip, then turn 90 off jump run and track back and forth, five or six seconds in each direction til pull time.

I was done with the manuevers by 9,000 feet, then starting tracking. At 7,000 feet some clouds had blown in (i swear, we didn't see anything when we spotted ;) ) and i went right through them for two thousand feet! When i first went into them i stopped my track and just held my position until i dropped through the bottom, then started my track again til 4500, did my wave off and pull.

The spot was a little long, but since i had the wind at my back i used my brakes to push myself a little faster forward and made it back for a perfect on-target stand up landing..

Once we got back into the packing area Todd was happy to sign-off and stamp my A card (now my official temporary license untill i get my new membership card from USPA).

And that was it! Now I'm a licensed skydiver!

Well, first I have to send $20 to the USPA...

...then i'll be a licensed skydiver!

October 4, 2007 - Thursday

Well, it took a few weeks, but i finally got it in the mail. So now, after three months and three thousand dollars, I'm a licensed skydiver!

Wow, what a way to spend the last summer of my twenties.

Jeromy D. Alexander
A-51917