4 Cessna jumps

First time jumping out of the Cessna 182. Seats 4, but you really have to be OK with giving up personal space.

#1 - 4 of us. Cloudy. Got 5,000 feet. We were the first load, and were testing how much altitude we could get. Exited off step, stable quick, pulled at 4,000. Played with brakes under canopy (the 230). Landed in front of the other hangar.

Started to pack, but JR suggested that if I get Tara to pack it, I could get on the next load. Sounded OK with me.

#2 - 4 of us. 5,000 again. Exited over a thin cloud that I could vaguely see through, and I could still see the runway beyond the edge of it. Pulled @ 4,000 just as I was at the bottom of the cloud. Played with brakes under canopy (the 230). Landed in front of the other hangar.

I planned to pack, but Doug wanted to switch off and jump this rig, so I couldn't.

#3 - 3 of us. I spotted. John Howard said that he was a little long on his last jump, so I got us out a little earlier. We exited at 8,500 feet, so I worked on fall rate changes. I was completely stable when I slowed my fall rate, and I could really feel the speed change. Brakes and turns under the canopy (240). I must have flared a little more quickly than I should have on this canopy, because I ended up getting a little lift. The canopy just sort of set me down after that, so not really a big deal. Just need to remember that when I jump a different canopy, I should do more practice flares before landing.

Didn't really want to pack the bigger 240 sq. ft. canopy.

#4 - 2 of us. 5,000 feet again. Exited from step again. There was some rain in the air (not on the ground) that really stung my face. Felt like ice, but at only 5,000 feet it probably wasn't cold enough. Turns and spirals under canopy (230). Landed in front of the other hangar.

1 jump, wind.

I got one jump in today. Load 2. I was spotting. Surprised to see a plane directly below us. Grant said it was on final to the airport, and it turned down the taxiway. I wanted to extend jump run a little bit because of the wind. Green light on, Grant said go.

Got out just before the rainbow field. Did some tracking and turns with legs only.

Opened roughly over the 6. By the time I did control checks, I was in front of the hangar. Flew back to the 6 easily enough. On landing, I realized the winds were definitely higher than the 15 kts when I got on the plane. Got just enough penetration into the wind to land well into the grass up from the picnic area. Ground winds were 20 when I landed. Still, easy landing.

Spent the rest of the day waiting for the winds to drop. Swapped skydiving stories, watched malfunction training videos, worked on packing. My flaking part of packing seems to have taken a step backward.

One jump, packed, then wind

Sounds like the last entry doesn't it?

I arrived a little late today. Ended up on load 4, which went at a little after 1:00.

Floating exit, nice easy freefall. Did 3 backflips to send some love up to Celene, who was going to be getting out after me and trying to finally get a backflip right. She didn't, but mine were great. Also worked on turning with my legs rather than my arms. Tracked 90 degrees from the flightline for a solid 10 seconds. Much more stable than last time.

Slow opening, which was fine. Flew easily back to the holding area near the 6. Somehow, Celene got down to my altitude. We were sort of heading toward each other, so I turned right with no real concern about any accident, just to make sure we were separated. I did some spirals to get below her. When I started my approach, I knew where she was. As I turned, she ended up behind my canopy. I decided to land in front of the other buildings just to make sure she had plenty of space. Easy landing.

Then I packed the 230. JR gave me an assist on the canopy. John gave me some tips on closing. I wanted to jump it, but the wind got up to 21. It dropped as low as 17 once, but never low enough for me to jump.