This should be two different posts. Whatever.
King Air, almost no wind, early heavy cloud cover that broke up by about 9:15 or so. Both jumps were with Grant.
On my first jump, the D-1, Grant let me spot. He briefed me on spotting on the ground. I've read about it in the SIM, read some stuff on the USPA web site, and still had no solid idea what I was supposed to look for. Grant explained that spotting allows the jumper to see straight down, which the pilot can't do. We're looking for the place on the ground that is the agreed upon place to start exiting the plane. Based on the jump run, which is based on the winds, there is an imaginary line on the ground that we should be past before getting out. OK, cool, makes sense now!
I had a good exit. I forgot to do the practice touch until about 3 seconds later, and decided that I should just go on with the skydive. I have 100% confidence that I can find the hacky and pull it - I've never had any problem with that. Grant must have agreed, because he didn't give me the practice touch sign.
I turned a little too far on most of my turns. I had a little trouble stopping them, and I broke my arch trying to stop. As soon as I got back into my arch, the problems resolved themselves. Grant had to approve every turn with a head nod after I checked altitude and asked for permission for another turn. The rule is that as long as we're over 6,000 ft., I can make another turn. I was surprised when Grant shook his head when we were at about 6,800 ft. Well, he's the boss, so I just stayed in a stable position until 5,500 ft., waved off, and pulled.
Under canopy, I did some rear riser turns with the brakes set. Then I started playing around and heading back toward where I wanted to enter my landing pattern. Grant asked if I wanted landing assistance, and I said that I didn't. Again, I was surprised that he was telling me that I needed to stop playing and get into my landing pattern when I was at about 1,500 ft. Again, he's the boss. I started the downwind leg, turned into base leg way too high because Grant told me to. I turned into the final leg at around 1,100 feet! Where the heck is he putting me? One more surprise - the ground was coming up pretty quickly, so I got ready to land, flared at about the right time, slid a little on my knees, and ended up standing up. The altimeter read 700 feet, which explained all of the other altitude related surprises! All I can think is that I must have slid the adjustment knob around while spotting.
The 2nd jump was a Cat D-2. Solo exit! I spotted, climbed out and held on to the bar along the top of the plane. My exit count was just a 1-2-3 swinging of my left leg out (1), back in (2), and out again (3) as I stepped away into an arch. I was unstable, ended up on my back, kept a good arch, and rolled over into a good stable freefall position. 180 degree turn away and back. 360 degree turn. Again. On the ground, Grant said that he wanted me to move toward him after that and grab his arms. I didn't get my forward motion going, and we ran out of altitude.
I had a hard opening. I leaned way back to watch the canopy open, and for a second thought that I was either going to have to start pulling risers to get it open or maybe even cut it away. The slider was down, and the canopy was only about 1/3 to 1/2 as wide as it should be, and it was staying that way. Until, wham! It opened all the way!
More rear riser work. 180 degree turns in both directions with brakes set. 360 degree turn with brakes set. Then the same again with the brakes released. Played around, got into my pattern. I didn't account for the almost zero wind this time, which made my downwind and final legs be about the same length. Grant got on the radio to tell me to go over the taxiway and land in the other field. OK, no problem. I flared a little early, reached a little for the ground, so I didn't stand this one up.
Except for the Cat-D quiz, I'm cleared for Cat-E! Yeah, do I really want to do front flips, back flips, and barrel rolls?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Grounded - winds
I knew by the time I got to Hagerstown that the winds would be a problem. That's when the minivan started blowing all over the road. I got to the airport at about 9:45 and stayed until about 3:30. Not a single load. Or even the thought that we might get a load up.
I talked to Nate while he was putting a new main canopy on his rig. He showed me some stuff I had never quite understood, like how a little string can hold the risers to the container.
Henrik (Hendrick?) from West Point, who was filling in as a tandem instructor today, gave me and Ryan a packing class. Not a total loss.
I talked to Nate while he was putting a new main canopy on his rig. He showed me some stuff I had never quite understood, like how a little string can hold the risers to the container.
Henrik (Hendrick?) from West Point, who was filling in as a tandem instructor today, gave me and Ryan a packing class. Not a total loss.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Cat C-2 jump
I've spent the last several weeks trying to keep the memory of how I felt on my last C-1 jump with Grant & Matt. Instead of slamming by body into the arch position, I sort of pushed my hips down. The feeling was completely different, and to me it felt like that was the eureka moment.
Today, I did a C-2 jump with Henry, who lives off Marriottsville Rd. We talked first, and did some practice in the mock-up by the picnic tables. This time, there's a King Air on the ramp from NY someplace. This plane rocks! Climbs to altitude very fast. Even though you're sitting on the hard floor, you hardly have enough time for your butt to start falling asleep.
We got out at 14,000 feet. Good climbout. I thought my hotel count was a little weak. Henry didn't say much about it.
Got stable very quickly. I did my first COA while we were still on the hill. Practice touch, 2nd COA, and Henry moved out in front of me.
His extra twist on the jump was that he wanted me to move forward toward him. He was about 5-7 feet away. I had a little trouble getting started toward him, but I made it. He grabbed my shoulders, I checked my altitude, and we did it again. I had a slight turn to my right that I fixed before I moved in on him again. Now we're at about 5,700 feet, so it's time to lock on to the altimeter.
Wave-off and pull at 5,000 feet. Nice looking canopy, controllable, but holy crap we're a long way from the airport.
Henry didn't even try to get back. He pulled lower than me, so he found a clear area and landed. I had some altitude, so I tried for a while. I pointed myself at the airport and flew. While under canopy, Henry got on the radio and told me to let the brakes go and pull down the rear risers. This should flatten out the canopy to allow me to make more distance over the ground without losing as much altitude.
By about 2,000 feet, it was obvious I wasn't making it to the airport. I turned toward the area where Henry landed and started planning how to set up for a landing pattern in that same place. Henry gave me some tips, and I landed about 15 or 20 feet away from him.
The field was surrounded by trees, except for one gap. That took us to the farm. We followed the path with cables on fence posts, and ended up heading to the cow barn. We cut underneath the wires (is that an electric fence?) and found the road. Google Earth says 1.12 miles. 1.12 hot, sweaty miles.
Cleared for Cat D.
Oh, and I STOOD UP THE LANDING! Since that was my first stand-up landing, I owed beer. A case of the Sam Adams variety pack seemed like a good purchase.
King Air
exit 14,000
open 5,000
light variable winds
PD 280 - student rig 3
Today, I did a C-2 jump with Henry, who lives off Marriottsville Rd. We talked first, and did some practice in the mock-up by the picnic tables. This time, there's a King Air on the ramp from NY someplace. This plane rocks! Climbs to altitude very fast. Even though you're sitting on the hard floor, you hardly have enough time for your butt to start falling asleep.
We got out at 14,000 feet. Good climbout. I thought my hotel count was a little weak. Henry didn't say much about it.
Got stable very quickly. I did my first COA while we were still on the hill. Practice touch, 2nd COA, and Henry moved out in front of me.
His extra twist on the jump was that he wanted me to move forward toward him. He was about 5-7 feet away. I had a little trouble getting started toward him, but I made it. He grabbed my shoulders, I checked my altitude, and we did it again. I had a slight turn to my right that I fixed before I moved in on him again. Now we're at about 5,700 feet, so it's time to lock on to the altimeter.
Wave-off and pull at 5,000 feet. Nice looking canopy, controllable, but holy crap we're a long way from the airport.
Henry didn't even try to get back. He pulled lower than me, so he found a clear area and landed. I had some altitude, so I tried for a while. I pointed myself at the airport and flew. While under canopy, Henry got on the radio and told me to let the brakes go and pull down the rear risers. This should flatten out the canopy to allow me to make more distance over the ground without losing as much altitude.
By about 2,000 feet, it was obvious I wasn't making it to the airport. I turned toward the area where Henry landed and started planning how to set up for a landing pattern in that same place. Henry gave me some tips, and I landed about 15 or 20 feet away from him.
The field was surrounded by trees, except for one gap. That took us to the farm. We followed the path with cables on fence posts, and ended up heading to the cow barn. We cut underneath the wires (is that an electric fence?) and found the road. Google Earth says 1.12 miles. 1.12 hot, sweaty miles.
Cleared for Cat D.
Oh, and I STOOD UP THE LANDING! Since that was my first stand-up landing, I owed beer. A case of the Sam Adams variety pack seemed like a good purchase.
King Air
exit 14,000
open 5,000
light variable winds
PD 280 - student rig 3
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Weather. Especially frustrating today.
When I arrived, I got on the board behind 4 other AFF jumpers. There were also a bunch of tandems ahead of me. OK, fine, I'm on the board, I'll get my shot.
Except for two problems:
1. Weather. Clouds limited visibility, and we had some higher winds (18 or 20 knots, but AFF students need winds less 16 or less).
2. No instructors. Well, not actually zero, but so few that we couldn't keep the plane going. This was probably also because of the weather. There was some rain in the morning, so a lot of people apparently wrote the day off as a loss.
It was pretty frustrating. Matt shut the plane down after every load. Why not, right? There wasn't going to be another load going right up. I just watched the clock ticking by, and watched the board sloooooowly get erased.
On the upside, I met some nice folks from Rockville, Rockville, and Hershey. I spent some time talking skydiving with Aaron & Jonathon. If these weren't all a fun bunch of people, I think I'd have packed it in.
Except for two problems:
1. Weather. Clouds limited visibility, and we had some higher winds (18 or 20 knots, but AFF students need winds less 16 or less).
2. No instructors. Well, not actually zero, but so few that we couldn't keep the plane going. This was probably also because of the weather. There was some rain in the morning, so a lot of people apparently wrote the day off as a loss.
It was pretty frustrating. Matt shut the plane down after every load. Why not, right? There wasn't going to be another load going right up. I just watched the clock ticking by, and watched the board sloooooowly get erased.
On the upside, I met some nice folks from Rockville, Rockville, and Hershey. I spent some time talking skydiving with Aaron & Jonathon. If these weren't all a fun bunch of people, I think I'd have packed it in.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Cat C-1 jump - #5 - A couple of loads later...
After the morning's debrief, I think I had a better handle on why I had such a crappy climbout. Grant and Matt told me not to worry about time. They factor in more time for students. This time, I took my time, watched my hand placement, watched my foot placement, and shoved my knees and belly and everything in between out the door, then stood right up. I was still a little weak on the exit count. I just need to push up on the balls of my feet a little more for "up" and that will probably fix that. Because I was completely (except for my right hand) outside the plane, I didn't kick off hard. I did sort of roll to the left a bit. I'm close on this part.
Matt was debating what, if anything, to tell me as I checked with him on reserve side during my first COA. I got impatient and moved to Grant on main side. I knew I shouldn't have done that. I did. I got a legs-out from Grant.
Both Matt and Grant released. We're not 100% positive about this, but it looks like I made way too much motion checking altitude and started turning left. I went around 1 and a half revolutions. Matt came in and did a block stop. Basically, he put his hands on me enough to stop the spin. I thought he redocked with me, because I definitely felt him. I also knew that this meant that he had switched sides, which also meant that both guys had released, which I didn't know before then!
After Matt stopped my spin, I stayed on heading, stayed in good body position, and did the rest of the skydive just as planned.
I could have stood this one up on landing, too. I felt like I had complete control of everything, flared at the right time, flared smoothly, and I knew that I was going to hit the ground just about right. At the last second, I made the conscious decision to PLF. I'm not exactly sure why - maybe it was a reaction to the training that says that landings with very little wind are harder than with a steady 10 mph or so breeze. At least I now know that I'm fully capable of standing up the landing!
And, I'm cleared for Cat C-2! Woo-hoo!
Matt was debating what, if anything, to tell me as I checked with him on reserve side during my first COA. I got impatient and moved to Grant on main side. I knew I shouldn't have done that. I did. I got a legs-out from Grant.
Both Matt and Grant released. We're not 100% positive about this, but it looks like I made way too much motion checking altitude and started turning left. I went around 1 and a half revolutions. Matt came in and did a block stop. Basically, he put his hands on me enough to stop the spin. I thought he redocked with me, because I definitely felt him. I also knew that this meant that he had switched sides, which also meant that both guys had released, which I didn't know before then!
After Matt stopped my spin, I stayed on heading, stayed in good body position, and did the rest of the skydive just as planned.
I could have stood this one up on landing, too. I felt like I had complete control of everything, flared at the right time, flared smoothly, and I knew that I was going to hit the ground just about right. At the last second, I made the conscious decision to PLF. I'm not exactly sure why - maybe it was a reaction to the training that says that landings with very little wind are harder than with a steady 10 mph or so breeze. At least I now know that I'm fully capable of standing up the landing!
And, I'm cleared for Cat C-2! Woo-hoo!
Cat C-1 jump - #4
Grant prepped me. Really, not much to prep. I know how this is supposed to go. I did ask to spend a few minutes in the King Air mock-up, which has roughly the same opening as the Caravan. Definitely close enough to get the feel. I thought I had it.
Didn't have it. I'm not completely sure where my mind went wrong, but I had some trouble getting my feet right, I never really got completely outside the plane, and I wasn't up straight. The advice I got was to not worry about rushing it, to take my time to get my feet right, my hands right, and my knees and hips right.
Reserve side - Vic. Main side - Grant.
Kicked on exit. Flipped over. Vic released until we got stable.
Pretty good arch, until my practice touch. I flattened out and brought my feet up toward my butt. The consensus is that I'm just over-thinking everything. I'm concentrating so hard on my arch that I completely lose focus of it when I have to think about my practice touch. That doesn't sound like me at all! (Uh, that's sarcasm folks.)
I had some trouble picking up a heading. Possibly because I'm aiming myself at a certain point, rather than taking in the big picture.
Maintained good altitude awareness. Locked on at 6000, waved & pulled at 5500. Clean opening, good canopy. I had some fun flying around. Did some complete 360s, some hard turns, S-turns, flares. Grant radioed that the landing pattern switched, so I had to readjust my mental picture of my entry point. Got in the pattern OK.
I was focused too much on the ground at flare time. I should have been looking more out toward the horizon. This wasn't my best PLF, but I didn't get hurt, so it must have been a good enough PLF!
Vic helped my understand the flow of gathering up the chute. Velcro toggles, move the lines up toward the canopy while pushing the slider ahead. Get a grip on the bag, pilot chute, and tail (label) of the canopy. Throw it over my shoulder and walk.
Didn't have it. I'm not completely sure where my mind went wrong, but I had some trouble getting my feet right, I never really got completely outside the plane, and I wasn't up straight. The advice I got was to not worry about rushing it, to take my time to get my feet right, my hands right, and my knees and hips right.
Reserve side - Vic. Main side - Grant.
Kicked on exit. Flipped over. Vic released until we got stable.
Pretty good arch, until my practice touch. I flattened out and brought my feet up toward my butt. The consensus is that I'm just over-thinking everything. I'm concentrating so hard on my arch that I completely lose focus of it when I have to think about my practice touch. That doesn't sound like me at all! (Uh, that's sarcasm folks.)
I had some trouble picking up a heading. Possibly because I'm aiming myself at a certain point, rather than taking in the big picture.
Maintained good altitude awareness. Locked on at 6000, waved & pulled at 5500. Clean opening, good canopy. I had some fun flying around. Did some complete 360s, some hard turns, S-turns, flares. Grant radioed that the landing pattern switched, so I had to readjust my mental picture of my entry point. Got in the pattern OK.
I was focused too much on the ground at flare time. I should have been looking more out toward the horizon. This wasn't my best PLF, but I didn't get hurt, so it must have been a good enough PLF!
Vic helped my understand the flow of gathering up the chute. Velcro toggles, move the lines up toward the canopy while pushing the slider ahead. Get a grip on the bag, pilot chute, and tail (label) of the canopy. Throw it over my shoulder and walk.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Weather? What weather?
Argghhh.
I did some more ground training with Doc Larry. More is better! This would have been my first time in a Caravan, so we used the mock-up down by the picnic tables to work on that. Seems more difficult that the Porter we used in May, but still easier than a Cessna.
If was a mostly beautiful morning. Hot, but mostly clear. The clouds starting rolling in when I was getting geared up. It got worse over the next 15 minutes.
We got on load 5. Grant (Shipley? Shurtleff?) was going to be the outside, reserve side guy. Harold (White? Stone?) was going to be the inside, main side guy. A group of 3 went first to do some formation stuff. 3 tandems went next. That left us. Being an AFF student, I need a bigger hole to jump through. Matt flew us around and around. Seems like 4 or 5 passes. The clouds kept closing everything up. Eventually, we landed with the plane.
I saw my first cut-away today. A guy who apparently doesn't usually pack his own rig packed his own malfunction. One of the control lines wouldn't come down.
Mental note - if I ever have to land with the plane again, turn around and face the front of the plane.
I did some more ground training with Doc Larry. More is better! This would have been my first time in a Caravan, so we used the mock-up down by the picnic tables to work on that. Seems more difficult that the Porter we used in May, but still easier than a Cessna.
If was a mostly beautiful morning. Hot, but mostly clear. The clouds starting rolling in when I was getting geared up. It got worse over the next 15 minutes.
We got on load 5. Grant (Shipley? Shurtleff?) was going to be the outside, reserve side guy. Harold (White? Stone?) was going to be the inside, main side guy. A group of 3 went first to do some formation stuff. 3 tandems went next. That left us. Being an AFF student, I need a bigger hole to jump through. Matt flew us around and around. Seems like 4 or 5 passes. The clouds kept closing everything up. Eventually, we landed with the plane.
I saw my first cut-away today. A guy who apparently doesn't usually pack his own rig packed his own malfunction. One of the control lines wouldn't come down.
Mental note - if I ever have to land with the plane again, turn around and face the front of the plane.
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