Weird weather day. Sprinkled on and off as I drove out. Got on load 2 first. After load 2, Alan (the pilot) said that we may as well tie down the plane because the weather's going bad. 20 minutes later, we had beautiful skies with some puffy white clouds. All under the 280.
Jump 1 - Solo jump in the King Air. Lots of tandems. Wanted one to shake out the cobwebs anyway. Spotted. Good spot, dove out. Worked on the swoop to get ready for some swoop-n-docks on my yellow card. Did some tracking perpendicular to the jump run. Rain in freefall, stung a little. Landed right between Grant and Wayne.
Jump 2 - Still lots of tandems, so I did another solo from the King Air. Had some miscommunication. The lights in the plane got worse. I was spotting, waiting for red light to open the door. Well, the red light was no longer working, and the signal to open the door was the flaps going down, but I didn't get that message. Casey called for the exit, so I opened the door, took some time to check for traffic and to see where the airport was, and dove out. Talked to Chad and Casey afterwards - not a big deal because there were just 3 tandems with no video after me, so nobody ended up long. Tracked & swooped, tried sliding sideways. Aimed for the grass in front of the hangar, but overshot a little. Ended up just a little further down the grass than I wanted, but still before the taxiway.
Jump 3 - 2-way with Wayne from the King Air. He was in the door, I dove out after. Lots of separation, so I guess I waited too long. Didn't close too quickly, and he gave me some tips later on how to get forward motion better. Closed, not quite level, turned, tried again, closed once, then broke off because we were at 5,500. Did a braked approach. I had already talked to Grant about it. Landed roughly where I hoped to land, but from 1/2 brakes, I didn't get much flare. PLF-ed and managed to end up with a step-through, which I haven't done in years.
Jump 4 - Coach jump with Casey from the King Air. Both outside, me toward the front, my count. I think I got too eager to turn and find him, and ended up upside-down for the first time in a lot of jumps. Got stable, found him, dove, closed. He dropped, and I couldn't get to him before our 5,500 break off. Landed in front of the hangar. Grant gave me just a little grief about my final. I honestly had no idea that there was an imaginary line between the runway and the buildings that I wasn't supposed to cross. Learned something, so that's good.
Jump 5 - Coach jump with JR from the King Air. He got in the door, I dove out. I dove down to his level, closed, broke off. He sank, signaled me, and I dove down again. Got a little low, floated up, closed a 2nd time. At 6,000, broke off while he did some celebratory 360s! Landed about 25 feet from JR in front of the hangar. Great skydive!
Jump 6 - Check jump with Casey from the Cessna 182. I swooped down to his level. I closed a little, then did a backflip, well, sort of a backflip, but it was mostly a backflip and I got stable easily enough. I was supposed to dock with him then, but forgot and started a 360. About 1/2 way around, I realized I screwed up, got completely stupid, couldn't figure out how to fix my screw up, and ended up somehow going upside down in the 360. Especially weird, since my first jump this spring with Jamie after not having jumped for 3 months included 2 beautiful 360s! Well, I got stable, checked altitude, broke off, tracked away, and opened. Landed right where I wanted to land in front of the hangar.
I'm down to a final exam and a check dive. Sat around bs-ing and drinking a beer (which, sadly, I was not responsible for supplying) and headed for home around sunset. Next weekend, maybe, or Independence Day weekend. I'm really that close.
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