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10,000 Foot Diving Board
Posted 5th June 2008 at 12:30am by M1ke, tagged as Skydiving | Commenting Closed

Never fear I'm not dead - neither from skydiving nor from those horrible horrible exams. What I am reporting on is the latest in my free falling adventures, as I'm sure everyone is dying to find out "whodunit?"

The answer is in fact not yet me, as I still have two jumps to go until the fabled A certificate. Since writing about my unstable exit and turns I've only managed to do three further jumps due to two weeks of exams and two windy weekends on the trot. I got over to Peterlee on the Saturday before exams began and hammered out my dive exit (there were actually no DIY tools involved, but describing it that way sounds cooler than "I flopped out of a plane and took too long to regain stability"). before cycling home in the hot sun to revise.

Three and a half weeks later I had an even hotter cycle ride there (10 minutes slower over the 8.5 miles as a result) and was packing from the moment I'd manifested. It was a big day for students with every load having a few of us, all over the scale of progression. I shot-gunned the 220 for my first jump (I had packed it after all) and packed Paddy's static line rig (it isn't actually his but he's Irish and it was green and orange so go figure) before I was called up to the flightline. After the quickest retrain ever (about 3 minutes, with my jumpsuit and altimeter already on) I got my kit on and we headed to the plane. Today we were all jumping from the Airvan because the Cesna is away being re-sellotaped (or on its yearly service, as it's otherwise known). I never used to like the Airvan because I always screwed up the seated exit, but having done my first dive from the Cesna I could do so out of the Airvan so I was both excited and nervous. We dropped a free faller at 5,000 then headed up to 8,000 so I could get out. Mal briefly discussed what position I should be in for the dive, then let me get on with it once the pilot had throttled back. I went from being down on one knee and supermanned it towards the tail. It felt like I flipped over on my belly but I think it was just the dive position - regardless I held the arch and was stable very quickly. That didn't last long as my aim was to to backloops, bringing my legs in and whirling my arms so I flipped over backwards and hopefully back "belly-to-earth". On the first I got to my back but obviously hadn't pushed hard enough as I rolled sideways onto my belly. The second I went right over and I got stable but turning. Not being able to stop the turns and noticing I was about the right height anyway I just deployed there and gave myself a few twists.

I had a quick ride down because of the smaller canopy (so fun to fly) but got rather muddled when it came to reading the wind sock (something which has never happened before). Having read the wind as coming from the opposite direction to its actual one, and thanks to the upper and lower winds being in different directions (hence calm up there, faster near the ground) I was coming in fast by the time I realised my mistake. Thankfully despite not expecting the speed I'd planned for it and had a large area of grass to land on, so I didn't do something stupid like turn low. Another nice thing about the 220 is a more powerful flare, and I heaved it right in for landing. As a results my heels touched down and I settled on my legs and kept going for a good distance before halting. I was glad to be unhurt and headed back to the hangar, where I was jokingly congratulated for my first swoop landing. Then it was back to the rigmarole of packing (I have blistered hands thanks to cycling and packing).

The second jump was a real special one. Not quite sunset but not far off we flew in every higher circles dropping out some static line students, and 10s and 15s free falls. After that it was just Nick and I in the plane up to 10,300 feet. It was pleasant to be able to sit there quite comfortably watching the wonderful sea of clouds to the west with the sun still shining over them. As we came close to the spot Nick opened the door and as he spotted I also stuck my head out of the door to look at the ground below. Nick called the cut and I dived out, getting stable quickly and turning to face the sea for my first track. I brought my arms in towards my side and straightened my legs (delta position) slowly and felt myself moving horizontally as I tilted forwards. I only held it for a second as I felt myself becoming unstable and arched again. I turned 180 degrees and saw Nick just next to me as I went into another track. My arms were further from my sides this time and I held the track stable for a few seconds before stopping. As I turned this time Nick went right beneath me, which is quite crazy to see - I could have probably reached below and grabbed his rig. This time I turned 90 degrees as I tracked because my legs weren't straight, but I stopped the turn and carried on forwards before checking my altimeter and seeing I was at 5,000 feet - time to stop. I turned to see Nick giving me thumbs up - I returned the salute before spinning back round and pulling. This time my canopy ride down went much more to plan, beginning with a joyful whoop and ending with a nice soft stand-up landing. I was in a good position to watch the plane land and when the pilot had turned round I gave him a thumbs up - they fly all day and that deserves some appreciation.

As I left Ralph went up to do his Cat 8 jump, making that the third A certificate this term for our club. Well done mate - and in another two jumps I'll hopefully be there as well!

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