I only fit one jump in today. The first load I could get on was load 3. An 8-way, and me. After the 8-way got out (including Tonya, Rocky, Jim Smith), I moved to the door, watched them for about 5 seconds, then dove out in perfect position to watch them come together. I just hung out watching, checking altitude, and correcting body position with as little thought as I could until it was their pull time. I had another few seconds, then I pulled.
With the 45-50 mph uppers, I got out well past the end of the runway. Jump run was 240, 1/2 mile past. By the time I pulled, I was over the road past the field at the "6" end of the runway.
I had the 230 today, and I'm glad I did. It wasn't making much movement at all when I steered into the wind. The ground winds were 13-14, just at my legal limit. When I turned downwind, I was screaming along the runway. Turned to base across from the corn, turned to final over the corn, and watched the corn get closer as the wind almost balanced out my canopy speed. I landed well past the corn in the grass. Very soft easy landing with into the wind.
Rocky and I talked afterwards about adjustments I could make to my landing pattern in this kind of wind. Start 200 feet lower, turn to base roughly parallel to where I want to land.
Then, I worked on packing the rig I just jumped. I hovered over Tracy as he packed the training rig for JR and he talked me through it. I started on the 230 I had just jumped, and got completely stuck on the lines. Tracy gave me some help, then Dave gave me some help. In the end, Dave told me it was definitely jumpable. Unfortunately, the wind never came back down. In the end, I put the rig on the floor and put a ticket on it.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
2 more solo jumps
Today, I made two solo jumps. On both, I spent some of the time in free fall just hanging out, relaxing, enjoying the view. This month's profile in the magazine offered advice to try that.
The first jump was uneventful, except for getting kicked off the plane. There was some miscommunication between manifest and one of the instructors, so 2 of the 3 solo fun jumpers had to get off. It would have broken my heart to make Celine get off, so I volunteered. I got on the next load, which was a turn-around load. A couple of turns, some tracking with less de-arching, but mostly just freefalling. Landed in front of the hangar.
The second jump gave me a little scare. Van and Brent went out first for a D-2. I waited 5 seconds, watching them the whole time, then dove out still watching them. I watched Brent tumble, then spin for a while until Van came in and stopped him. I turned 90 degrees away from them to track a little. When it was almost time to pull, I saw a canopy starting to inflate pretty close to underneath me. I quickly got into a track, got clear of him, got stable, and pulled. I looked for Van later to talk to him. He was pretty laid back about it, but said that I should have waited longer to get more separation. OK, lesson learned. Landing patterns were all over the place. Not sure what happened there. I followed Gary down, and landed into the wind, which was coming over the buildings, near the picnic area. There are some little hills there, so I didn't quite stand up the landing.
Another day went by when I really had no opportunity to pack. Maybe I really need to come up on a Friday. It wasn't very busy today, but there were no dedicated packers, so the coaches were scrambling to get the tandem rigs packed.
The first jump was uneventful, except for getting kicked off the plane. There was some miscommunication between manifest and one of the instructors, so 2 of the 3 solo fun jumpers had to get off. It would have broken my heart to make Celine get off, so I volunteered. I got on the next load, which was a turn-around load. A couple of turns, some tracking with less de-arching, but mostly just freefalling. Landed in front of the hangar.
The second jump gave me a little scare. Van and Brent went out first for a D-2. I waited 5 seconds, watching them the whole time, then dove out still watching them. I watched Brent tumble, then spin for a while until Van came in and stopped him. I turned 90 degrees away from them to track a little. When it was almost time to pull, I saw a canopy starting to inflate pretty close to underneath me. I quickly got into a track, got clear of him, got stable, and pulled. I looked for Van later to talk to him. He was pretty laid back about it, but said that I should have waited longer to get more separation. OK, lesson learned. Landing patterns were all over the place. Not sure what happened there. I followed Gary down, and landed into the wind, which was coming over the buildings, near the picnic area. There are some little hills there, so I didn't quite stand up the landing.
Another day went by when I really had no opportunity to pack. Maybe I really need to come up on a Friday. It wasn't very busy today, but there were no dedicated packers, so the coaches were scrambling to get the tandem rigs packed.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
3 more today - short stories only
I'm a little tired, so I'm going to keep it short today. 3 jumps, very cloudy, a couple of weather delays, very little wind.
Jump 1:
3-way out first, then me. Tried some back flips to prep for my check dive. Worked fine, but I ended them a little flat and had to remind myself to get back to a good arch. Tried some front riser turns. Very difficult to get any leverage. Maybe the 240 is too big for this? Beautiful landing by the fuel truck.
Jump 2:
Only got 10,000 feet because of cloud ceiling. Turns and tracking. My tracking has become a little wobbly, and I'm turning a little. I clearly recognize the turn and can correct it by dipping a shoulder, but it's still there. Beautiful landing by the fuel truck.
Jump 3:
I got yelled at by Grant for not getting out quickly enough after he spotted. He only had his head out the door for about 10 seconds, so I thought he was just coming in to check the light or redirect the pilot. Dove out, turned to watch Grant climb out to do video for a tandem. Turns and tracking. Wobbly tracking with a turn that I can fix. I talked to Casey about it at the end of the day. He thinks I might be de-arching too much. Makes sense, because I felt like I was really trying to flatten out my body to track. I realized that I was going to hit the taxiway again, so I tried to fly in some brakes to extend my glide. Not enough. I tried to keep pulling my feet up as I flared hoping to clear the taxiway. Stupid. I skidded on my butt for about 1/3 the width of the taxiway and stood up in the grass. I never completed my flare. I should have just stood up the landing on the taxiway and taken the verbal abuse, which I got anyway. No injuries, except for a little blister on my finger.
Jump 1:
3-way out first, then me. Tried some back flips to prep for my check dive. Worked fine, but I ended them a little flat and had to remind myself to get back to a good arch. Tried some front riser turns. Very difficult to get any leverage. Maybe the 240 is too big for this? Beautiful landing by the fuel truck.
Jump 2:
Only got 10,000 feet because of cloud ceiling. Turns and tracking. My tracking has become a little wobbly, and I'm turning a little. I clearly recognize the turn and can correct it by dipping a shoulder, but it's still there. Beautiful landing by the fuel truck.
Jump 3:
I got yelled at by Grant for not getting out quickly enough after he spotted. He only had his head out the door for about 10 seconds, so I thought he was just coming in to check the light or redirect the pilot. Dove out, turned to watch Grant climb out to do video for a tandem. Turns and tracking. Wobbly tracking with a turn that I can fix. I talked to Casey about it at the end of the day. He thinks I might be de-arching too much. Makes sense, because I felt like I was really trying to flatten out my body to track. I realized that I was going to hit the taxiway again, so I tried to fly in some brakes to extend my glide. Not enough. I tried to keep pulling my feet up as I flared hoping to clear the taxiway. Stupid. I skidded on my butt for about 1/3 the width of the taxiway and stood up in the grass. I never completed my flare. I should have just stood up the landing on the taxiway and taken the verbal abuse, which I got anyway. No injuries, except for a little blister on my finger.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
3 jumps
The weather wasn't great. Hazy all day, and a couple of storms came through.
First jump:
3rd out. Dove out. Turns & tracking in freefall. Tracked before pulling @4500.
Tried some braked turns under canopy to see how they felt. Did some spirals.
I checked my altitude at 1,000 feet and entered my landing pattern. Since it was such an easy wind day, and since there wasn't any other canopy traffic at my altitude, I flew the rest of my landing pattern without checking the altimeter. Everything felt right, and I landed straight out in front of the hangar.
Second jump:
Spotted with Mike M. First out. Dove out. More turns and tracking. Worked on how to slow my fall rate.
I got into my landing pattern with another jumper to my right at about the same altitude. Since he was coming down faster, I expected him to cut in and under me, so I stretched out my pattern to avoid a problem. Well, he didn't, so I ended up turning lower than I wanted to to get into base and then final. Not dangerously low, just lower than I should have been. I landed on the taxiway. Beer. Grant and I talked about what I did wrong, and what I should have done. I easily could have turned into base sooner and landed in the other field.
Third jump:
A bunch of tandems, AFFs, and me. By the time we got to 3500, the clouds were coming in pretty heavy. The pilot and the guys up front decided that we weren't going any higher. Kathie asked Mike M and me if we wanted to do a hop-and-pop. Sure. Beats landing with the plane. Mike went first, and I waited about 5 seconds. I got stable in about 5 seconds after diving out, and pulled at about 3000 feet.
Not my smoothest landing. Very low winds. I did a nice landing pattern and landed in the main area a little toward the picnic tables. Ran a few steps, bounced off one knee, and stood back up.
First jump:
3rd out. Dove out. Turns & tracking in freefall. Tracked before pulling @4500.
Tried some braked turns under canopy to see how they felt. Did some spirals.
I checked my altitude at 1,000 feet and entered my landing pattern. Since it was such an easy wind day, and since there wasn't any other canopy traffic at my altitude, I flew the rest of my landing pattern without checking the altimeter. Everything felt right, and I landed straight out in front of the hangar.
Second jump:
Spotted with Mike M. First out. Dove out. More turns and tracking. Worked on how to slow my fall rate.
I got into my landing pattern with another jumper to my right at about the same altitude. Since he was coming down faster, I expected him to cut in and under me, so I stretched out my pattern to avoid a problem. Well, he didn't, so I ended up turning lower than I wanted to to get into base and then final. Not dangerously low, just lower than I should have been. I landed on the taxiway. Beer. Grant and I talked about what I did wrong, and what I should have done. I easily could have turned into base sooner and landed in the other field.
Third jump:
A bunch of tandems, AFFs, and me. By the time we got to 3500, the clouds were coming in pretty heavy. The pilot and the guys up front decided that we weren't going any higher. Kathie asked Mike M and me if we wanted to do a hop-and-pop. Sure. Beats landing with the plane. Mike went first, and I waited about 5 seconds. I got stable in about 5 seconds after diving out, and pulled at about 3000 feet.
Not my smoothest landing. Very low winds. I did a nice landing pattern and landed in the main area a little toward the picnic tables. Ran a few steps, bounced off one knee, and stood back up.
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