First, the annoying part. I arrived at the DZ about 2 minutes before load 1 took off. Very cool that Grant got to jump with his son! The down side is that JR swung some deal to fly a demo jump in Johnstown, so the plane didn't come back until almost noon. At that point, the tandems scheduled for noon were here, so we waited for them to get trained. I got on that load and did my jump. I didn't go right back up on the next load (although I could have) because I wanted to talk to Doc Larry or Grant about how to do the 5000' clear & pull. Load 3 turned out to be the last load of the day.
Doc Larry told me to do a blind exit. I got positioned in the door so that I could dive out chest into the wind, closed my eyes, exited, and kept my eyes closed for 10 seconds. Maybe a little more, because I was at about 12,500' when I checked. Completely different feeling. I felt myself go steep, felt myself level out, felt a turn that I was easily able to correct. When I opened my eyes, I was stable, belly-down, and in great position. Worked on turns & tracking until 5500. Waved off at 5000', opened at 4500'.
Under canopy, I did some more braked turns, some steep turns, some spirals. Quite a bit of turbulence at 1700' that messed with my control of the canopy somewhat.
Pretty good landing pattern. Landed right in front of the hangar. Flared at the right time, but I think the almost 0 mph winds contributed to my skid on the landing.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Started working Cat F jumps
Two jumps today before the wind picked up.
The first was a solo jump. I was 2nd to last out. I tried the delta position for tracking and was amazed that I didn't start tumbling.
Nice, on-heading opening just across Airport Rd. aiming at the 6. Turns, sharper turns, spirals. Got in the landing pattern at the right time, followed the pattern, and landed right in front of the hangar. Flared all the way through, but I still slid and skidded a little. Took a divot of grass with me in my right sneaker.
The second was a coach jump with Casey to do tracking. We were both outside the plane, I did the count, pushed off into the wind, ended up diving and flipped. The plan was to come together first before doing the tracking, so I wasted some time trying to get back to him. Finally gave up, turned 90 degrees, and tracked for about 3 seconds. Got stable, turned around, did it again. Now at about 6200, so I did it again. At the end of that one, I got stable and saw that I was at 4,500 or so. Waved off and pulled. Casey told me that I should start waving off in front of my face to get that last look at altitude.
Easy opening, on-heading. Did a bunch of deep brake turns. Braked until stalled, backed off, then eased up on one side to turn the other direction 180 degrees. I did that about 8 times before it was time to get into my landing pattern.
On landing, I thought I maybe flared too low, because I hit kind of hard. PLFed, so no injury. Afterwards, a guy I never met before said that he was getting caught in rolling thermals from the heat off the runway getting blown by the breeze, and that he had gotten slammed into the ground. Maybe the hard landing wasn't all my fault.
The first was a solo jump. I was 2nd to last out. I tried the delta position for tracking and was amazed that I didn't start tumbling.
Nice, on-heading opening just across Airport Rd. aiming at the 6. Turns, sharper turns, spirals. Got in the landing pattern at the right time, followed the pattern, and landed right in front of the hangar. Flared all the way through, but I still slid and skidded a little. Took a divot of grass with me in my right sneaker.
The second was a coach jump with Casey to do tracking. We were both outside the plane, I did the count, pushed off into the wind, ended up diving and flipped. The plan was to come together first before doing the tracking, so I wasted some time trying to get back to him. Finally gave up, turned 90 degrees, and tracked for about 3 seconds. Got stable, turned around, did it again. Now at about 6200, so I did it again. At the end of that one, I got stable and saw that I was at 4,500 or so. Waved off and pulled. Casey told me that I should start waving off in front of my face to get that last look at altitude.
Easy opening, on-heading. Did a bunch of deep brake turns. Braked until stalled, backed off, then eased up on one side to turn the other direction 180 degrees. I did that about 8 times before it was time to get into my landing pattern.
On landing, I thought I maybe flared too low, because I hit kind of hard. PLFed, so no injury. Afterwards, a guy I never met before said that he was getting caught in rolling thermals from the heat off the runway getting blown by the breeze, and that he had gotten slammed into the ground. Maybe the hard landing wasn't all my fault.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Back in the air for 2011
I only managed one jump today. I got on load 2, then the clouds came in. Hung out, went to get some lunch, and finally the clouds cleared out. Then the winds were too high. Hung out, watched the wind, saw two readings of 15 & 16, then got a 21, which set my clock back to an hour. Done.
I had a brief refresher with Grant. Talked about a couple of things, then talked about what I wanted to do today. I had been thinking about that, and my preference would have been to do a couple of solo jumps just to get back in the swing. That sounded good to Grant, so I geared up for load 2.
I was going to be first out. Spotted with Mike M, who was video for a tandem. Jumped out, got stable quick, and tried some turns. I was much better at stopping them when I wanted to than last fall. Felt the head-to-toe rocking once, arched better and fixed that.
Hard opening with a fast turn. Enough to make me lose my sense of where the airport was, which sucked because it was now hidden under some clouds. I had a decent idea, so I flew toward a hole and saw the airport. I was between the 6 and the road. The clouds came my way, and I tried to stay out of them. After one of my turns, I found myself completely inside a cloud. Weird. Cooler, and damper. I got out quickly to see where I was, and I was still in good shape for my landing pattern.
I turned off the downwind leg a little early. I ended up in the other field toward the big hangar. Flared too high, flared unevenly, didn't complete my flare, so I PLFed.
I had a brief refresher with Grant. Talked about a couple of things, then talked about what I wanted to do today. I had been thinking about that, and my preference would have been to do a couple of solo jumps just to get back in the swing. That sounded good to Grant, so I geared up for load 2.
I was going to be first out. Spotted with Mike M, who was video for a tandem. Jumped out, got stable quick, and tried some turns. I was much better at stopping them when I wanted to than last fall. Felt the head-to-toe rocking once, arched better and fixed that.
Hard opening with a fast turn. Enough to make me lose my sense of where the airport was, which sucked because it was now hidden under some clouds. I had a decent idea, so I flew toward a hole and saw the airport. I was between the 6 and the road. The clouds came my way, and I tried to stay out of them. After one of my turns, I found myself completely inside a cloud. Weird. Cooler, and damper. I got out quickly to see where I was, and I was still in good shape for my landing pattern.
I turned off the downwind leg a little early. I ended up in the other field toward the big hangar. Flared too high, flared unevenly, didn't complete my flare, so I PLFed.
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