First Cat C jump

It's been a long time coming. So much time that I really didn't have a good feel for my arch, etc.

We exited the Csssna 182 at 10,000 feet. Fairly low winds (5-8 mph, 230 degrees almost straight along the runway), mostly clear, mid-50s on the ground. Matt (from my Cat A) on reserve side, Doc Larry on main side.

Negatives:
- Again, I didn't get my foot far enough out on the step.
- Average arch, then crappy arch.
- Matt let go, and I never got really stable again.
- Tilted upwards about 45 degrees when I pulled.

Positives:
- Hotel check & exit count.
- Practice touch.
- Altitude awareness.
- Clean pull.
- Good canopy work.
- And let's not lose sight of the fact that I got to skydive today!

Bad weather again

How miserable do the last few titles look, all lined up like that. Ugh.

When I called at about 8:05 this morning, there were instructors available, and AccuWeather said there was a 15,000 foot ceiling. Yeah, 15,000 inches maybe. By the time I left at about 12:30, the plane hadn't come out of the hangar yet. Stupid clouds.

On the positive side, John gave me a pretty long refresher session. This is the first time I've really got my hands right on the outside parts of a rig. I was a little leery about it - I don't want to screw it up, but I need to know this stuff, and the worst that happens is that it needs a repack. I came away much more comfortable with the equipment.

Now, if only I can get good enough weather to jump again someday.

Bad weather again

I guess I should just cut-and-paste, but it was a different sort of bad weather. A front came through and started clearing up the clouds, but the wind picked up, and was blowing across the runway. As sort of a test run, 5 experienced guys jumped from 3500 out of a Cessna. Only one of them managed to hit the landing zone.

Bad weather again

Sorry, people of Chambersburg. I am your Rain God.

On Wednesday, the weather forecast for Chambersburg said partly cloudy. I called to reserve a slot for a Cat C jump, and the forecast instantly worsened.

I hung out for an hour and a half or so. Just long enough to watch the C-182 take a couple of loads up to 3500 feet for hop-and-pops. Then the rain started.

Oh, and the Casa was here today. Damn.

I'm apparently the rain god of Chambersburg

Heavy, overcast, and a couple of very light sprinkles. 2400 foot ceiling, maybe?

On a better note, John was repacking a reverse chute. I watched a lot of the process and learned some more about how it's packed and why it's different from a main chute. Doc Larry showed me the computer attached to the AAD control unit, and the automatic knife that cuts the reserve chute loop.

Refresher training from Dave, a coach. I'm good for another 30 days, unless I decide to make it rain in Chambersburg again.

Tandem with Bob

Jump #3 was a tandem jump with Bob, Art, and Don at Skydive Orange.

Steve (who runs the place) was willing to work with me to try to get my Cat C-1 jump in, but after a morning rain delay and a mid-afternoon rain delay, it became obvious to me that I wouldn't be getting my jump in until well after the rest of the guys did their tandem. Maybe I wouldn't get a jump in at all!

My tandem instructor was Chris. On the way up in the plane, we talked about the dive flow, and I mentioned that I was an AFF student. That was just the extra info he needed to turn our tandem into an amazing ride! We took us through a bunch of horizontal spins in freefall, and let me do a lot of the canopy work. We did some fast turns, both directions, switching directions without slowing down. Unbelievably amazing, and someday fairly soon I'll be able to fly like that!

After the jump, and on the video, it looks like Bob loved it, too. Hopefully, he'll get the video up on YouTube or Facebook!

Some details:
Exit from the side of a Twin Otter. Except for smacking Chris's head on the ceiling (he's about the same height as I am), I had a pretty good climbout and exit.
13,940 feet, 50 second freefall, wave off at 6,000. I found the golf ball to pull, but had a little assistance from Chris on the pull. He later said that it was a hard pull for some reason.
Max speed - 168 mph!
Ground winds from the south at 10 mph.
Slid to land in the soccer field.

The weather didn't cooperate

I spent the day at a picnic table watching the weather. The forecast wasn't looking too good, but a few tandems went. Mostly just hung out with John, Doc Larry, Jay, and some other people waiting.

John did the Cat C training. We practiced the dive flow. Kathy gave me the Cat C quiz, so at least I got checked off on something!

At just before 3:00, the rain started, and we were all grounded.

Cat B AFF jump

Jump #2. Category B.

Hazy, some clouds, almost no wind. Doc Larry was the outside (main side) guy and John was the inside (reserve side) guy. Jumped from a Cessna at 11,000 feet.

Doc Larry called my climb-out hesitant. I think it was more awkwardness. I wasn't delaying or stalling, I just didn't move my legs quickly or smoothly. My left foot was also way to far away from Larry's. Damn it's windy on the wing!

I got into an arch right off the bat. It could have been a better arch, and I improved it when I got the arch signal from John.

I was letting my feet come up to my butt. One of the guys gave me the signal to straighten out my feet. I did, but then I let them bend back up.

My practice touches (why I did 3 and not just 2 is a mystery to me) were rushed. Doc Larry wants me to grab the hacky firmly, not just touch it.

My left turn wasn't a full 90 degrees. I was thinking more about the mechanics and didn't pick a spot to turn to. My right turn was about 90 degrees. After both turns, I was at 6,300, so I had time to do the forward motion before 6,000.

Good wave off at 5,000. Good pull at 4,500. Good canopy when I looked up. Released the brakes and had good controllability. Tanya was on the radio from the ground. Larry and John landed very quickly (forgot to ask if they waited to pull or if they did something with their parachutes to descend faster) and Larry took over the radio.

With no wind, Larry wanted me to extend my downwind leg of the landing pattern a ways. Unfortunately, I stuck with the dive flow that's been beaten into my head over a few training sessions. At 600 feet, I turned left into my base leg. At 300 feet, I turned left into what little wind there was for my final leg. Because there was so little wind, I was floating more than normal. Larry tried to get me to do some S-turns to burn off some altitude, but the damage was done. I executed a perfect flair and did a PLF right on the taxiway. All I had to show for that was a minor scratch on the edge of my right hand. Oh, and my legs and back are stiffening up a little this evening.

Pretty good dive, not perfect, but I passed the Cat B level! Now, with vacation coming up, when can I squeeze in C-1?

Maybe a tandem with Bob?

Bob O saw my video on facebook, and asked if I wanted to join him and some others on a skydive. He followed up with an e-mail today that says August 29 at Skydive Orange in Virginia.

Although I always said that I didn't want to skydive with another guy strapped to my butt, I think I can make an exception for Bob. Also, now that I've started and mentally committed to continuing the AFF program, a tandem jump won't interfere at all.

And, hey - it's Street!

Cat A AFF jump!

(backdated post)

Jump #1. Category A. Weather got better and better as I drove out. Mike from York and his friends were there. Winds were very light, and varied in direction. Jumped with Matt (young, clean-cut) and Bill (a little older, bald in front). Exited at 13,000 from the Casa. Sat down after exiting plane. Tumbling. Matt broke off. Might have arched upside down at some point. Bill flipped us over. First COH missing Matt on main side. Matt came back in after 2 practice touches. Did third practice touch. Second COH, getting close to 6,000. Locked on altimeter at 6,000. Bill reminded me to lock on, but I was already locked on. Just as I was about to wave off, Bill gave me the pull signal at 4,900. Waved off, pulled. Stable position, strong pull. Surprised how much of a jerk there was when the chute deployed. Felt like I was going up. Good chute ("Is it there? Is it square?"). Started controllability check when Henry gave me some directions on the walkie-talkie to make sure he was looking at the right chute. Very relaxing flight in to the drop zone. Henry thinks he gave me the instruction to flare a little early, or possibly a gust of wind came straight into my face when I flared. I released my flare, big mistake, flared again, came in a little fast, and did one of the greatest PLFs the instructors have ever seen. Landed with the buildings on the right.

Will I make the AFF Cat A jump today?

(backdated post)

Hoping for better weather today. When I got to Chambersburg, there were patches of blue sky, but a lot of pretty low clouds. Since skydiving is a VRF (visual flight requirement) flight, the rule is that you have to be able to see where you're going. You don't jump out of a Cessna with a cockpit full of instruments!

The forecast was iffy. There was a reasonable chance that the weather would clear, so I hung around. I sat in on parts of the same AFF Category A training from June with Drew from Severna Park. I took a long lunch break and went down to Wilson College to take a hike on the nature trail and grab a geocache. I gave Tonya the third degree about what it takes to complete the Class A license requirements, at least until I thought I should let her get her own work done.

Unfortunately, the weather never cleared. It wasn't a total loss, because I got some refresher training and picked up some info about what to expect in the upcoming months.

AFF Cat A Training

(backdated post)

I had a 6 hour AFF instruction class with Mike from somewhere around York, PA. JR Sides did most of the instruction. Toward the end of the class, Dr. Larry and John stepped in to finish it off. Unfortunately, we had bad weather. The radar showed thunderstorms coming in quick from the west, so there was no chance of making the jump.

6 hours sounds like a lot, but there's a lot to learn. The Chambersburg Skydive Center teaches the jump in reverse. The first thing we learned was how to do a parachute landing fall (PLF) so that we didn't end up with injuries. Then we talked for a long time about what we had to do in freefall, and how to fly the parachute. Too may details for here, but this part included the activities to pass the Category A requirements, and how to handle parachute problems. We also learned how to safely exit a small Cessna. We went over the dive flow multiple times.

This was time definitely well spent!

Decision Made

(Backdated post)

I've finally made the decision to skydive. I've always wanted to do it, but I had a deal with Jennifer to wait until we had two healthy kids. Well, we've had two healthy kids for 8 years. Every time skydiving has popped into my head, something else has come up. Either I think of it while we're out of town, or just before vacation, or just as the weather is turning cold for the winter. This spring, a friend was on vacation in Las Vegas (somebody's birthday weekend, maybe?) with a bunch of her girlfriends, and did a tandem jump. Many thanks to Kristen for reminding me that the time is now!

I started calling the Chambersburg Skydive Center to schedule my Category A Accelerated Freefall jump.