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.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
A jump, packing, and wind
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
1 jump today
After last week's freefall debacle, I wanted to do a solo jump just to get myself back into shape. Frank and Rocky went out first, I got in the door, counted to 5, and dove after them. I made sure that they were a good horizontal distance off, then stopped looking at them. I just thought about having a nice, relaxed skydive. I stuck in a couple of 360 degree turns for fun. Nailed those. At 5000 feet, I turned roughly parallel to the runway (to be perpendicular to the flight line), tracked for 5 seconds, got stable, and pulled.
I was amazed at how quiet it was under canopy. Very little wind? No, that shouldn't be it. I figured it out later.
I played around under canopy. Some flat turns, some aggressive (for me) spirals.
The landing pattern was pretty much straight into the buildings on final. I talked to Frank & Rocky before getting on the plane. They gave me some tips about burning off some altitude with S-turns, flying in half-brakes, making a flat turn into the wind when I was fairly low. In the end, I guess I blew it a little by not being far enough upwind when I entered my pattern. I solved my problem by flying next to the runway for a little extra distance and landing on the flat, grassy area on the other side of the picnic tables. Seemed like a good second choice, and the walk back to the hangar was about the same as from the fuel truck. Stood up the landing.
Now, about the peace and quiet... When I was gathering up my canopy, everything sounded a little funny. When I got back to the hangar, I realized that I could barely hear. After a minute of talking (yelling?) at Brian and a couple of other people, I grabbed my nose and blew. Both ears popped, but the right one hurt. I guess I'm not really quite over that cold from earlier in the week. I decided to call it a day rather than screw up my ears. I still hung around for about another hour and a half just soaking up the drop zone energy.
Only 1 jump, but it was a good one, and I learned a couple of things.
I was amazed at how quiet it was under canopy. Very little wind? No, that shouldn't be it. I figured it out later.
I played around under canopy. Some flat turns, some aggressive (for me) spirals.
The landing pattern was pretty much straight into the buildings on final. I talked to Frank & Rocky before getting on the plane. They gave me some tips about burning off some altitude with S-turns, flying in half-brakes, making a flat turn into the wind when I was fairly low. In the end, I guess I blew it a little by not being far enough upwind when I entered my pattern. I solved my problem by flying next to the runway for a little extra distance and landing on the flat, grassy area on the other side of the picnic tables. Seemed like a good second choice, and the walk back to the hangar was about the same as from the fuel truck. Stood up the landing.
Now, about the peace and quiet... When I was gathering up my canopy, everything sounded a little funny. When I got back to the hangar, I realized that I could barely hear. After a minute of talking (yelling?) at Brian and a couple of other people, I grabbed my nose and blew. Both ears popped, but the right one hurt. I guess I'm not really quite over that cold from earlier in the week. I decided to call it a day rather than screw up my ears. I still hung around for about another hour and a half just soaking up the drop zone energy.
Only 1 jump, but it was a good one, and I learned a couple of things.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
2 jumps, mixed results
After dropping off Matt's foot locker and working the temperature table for the summer camp departure, I got on the road for Chambersburg. Drizzly rain, low dark clouds, thought about going back home. I arrived at about 10:15, and got on the first load at about 12:15. Ugh.
NW winds, 11-13 kts. Jumped the same 260.
Jump 1 - solo
Dove out, keeping my eye on the other solo jumper. In freefall, I used him as a point of reference for some 360 degree turns in both directions. Fast turns, stopped them easily, right back on heading.
From pull to fully open canopy - completely on heading the entire way. I attribute that to a good pack (not me) and a stable pull (me).
Worked on braked turns with different amounts of brakes and different amounts of letting up a toggle to see how it felt. Flew around some clouds. Playing a little by skirting the edges of the clouds and trying to stay out of them but close to them.
Flared a hair high, held it for a second, flared the rest of the way. Half-hearted PLF that I easily could have stood up. Landed in front of the other hangar.
Jump 2 - 3-way (sort of) with Brian (Marine) and Frank (coach)
Frank was front-float, Brian was rear float, I exited right after Frank from inside right in his chest. Plan was that Frank and Brian would be gripped, and I would dock with them, then undock so they could back off and sink, then I would redock. I ended up way lower, and they never stopped a slow spin. I didn't think they'd be able to sink down to me (which was the plan), so I tried to spread out and come up part way to them. Never made it. I got unstable, and ended up on my back. No biggie, I just rolled out of that. Then I started spinning horizontally. In my mind, I said that a spin is just a turn, so all I had to do was stop the turn. I still spun about 4 times very rapidly. I think that I was trying to hard, and stiffened up, which was what led to the whole problem starting with the flip. I stopped worrying about fixing the spin, arched fully, relaxed as best as I could, and the spin stopped. Altitude said under 4500, so I waved and pulled. And forgot to track away from Frank and Brian. Honestly, this was the worst freefall I've had since Cat B or so. Very strange, since I've been having so much fun in freefall this summer. Writing this off as atypical, but using it as a reminder that I need to remember to relax.
I had some fun under canopy. Some slightly more aggressive turns and spins. Stood up a nice landing in front of the other hangar.
NW winds, 11-13 kts. Jumped the same 260.
Jump 1 - solo
Dove out, keeping my eye on the other solo jumper. In freefall, I used him as a point of reference for some 360 degree turns in both directions. Fast turns, stopped them easily, right back on heading.
From pull to fully open canopy - completely on heading the entire way. I attribute that to a good pack (not me) and a stable pull (me).
Worked on braked turns with different amounts of brakes and different amounts of letting up a toggle to see how it felt. Flew around some clouds. Playing a little by skirting the edges of the clouds and trying to stay out of them but close to them.
Flared a hair high, held it for a second, flared the rest of the way. Half-hearted PLF that I easily could have stood up. Landed in front of the other hangar.
Jump 2 - 3-way (sort of) with Brian (Marine) and Frank (coach)
Frank was front-float, Brian was rear float, I exited right after Frank from inside right in his chest. Plan was that Frank and Brian would be gripped, and I would dock with them, then undock so they could back off and sink, then I would redock. I ended up way lower, and they never stopped a slow spin. I didn't think they'd be able to sink down to me (which was the plan), so I tried to spread out and come up part way to them. Never made it. I got unstable, and ended up on my back. No biggie, I just rolled out of that. Then I started spinning horizontally. In my mind, I said that a spin is just a turn, so all I had to do was stop the turn. I still spun about 4 times very rapidly. I think that I was trying to hard, and stiffened up, which was what led to the whole problem starting with the flip. I stopped worrying about fixing the spin, arched fully, relaxed as best as I could, and the spin stopped. Altitude said under 4500, so I waved and pulled. And forgot to track away from Frank and Brian. Honestly, this was the worst freefall I've had since Cat B or so. Very strange, since I've been having so much fun in freefall this summer. Writing this off as atypical, but using it as a reminder that I need to remember to relax.
I had some fun under canopy. Some slightly more aggressive turns and spins. Stood up a nice landing in front of the other hangar.
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