Cat 8 Video and Stills
Posted 20th June 2008 at 1:14pm by M1ke, tagged as Skydiving | Commenting Closed
Before clicking "Play" be warned that you'll want to turn the volume down (bottom right corner) - 120mph air rushing past the camera is rather loud even on a compressed video.
Many thanks to Lee for taking the video and for getting it online.
I also used VirtualDub to take stills from the video and put them on Flickr, along with some explanation as to what I was doing at certain points.
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Unlucky for Some, a Friday 13th Tale
Posted 14th June 2008 at 1:03pm by M1ke, tagged as Skydiving | Commenting Closed
Well well, what a day yesterday was! A more superstitious person may have decided that it wasn't the best day to go jumping out of planes, and initially it didn't look like I would. Then at half two I rung the DZ and was told they were jumping and al hesitation went out the window. I got there as quickly as I could and had the shortest retrain of RAPS so far (about three minutes) and supervised Tom who was packing my rig. I kept practicing all the moves I'd need for my Cat 8 qualifying jump and was fairly confident of getting it, but I was really feeling the nerves. We watched as some static line students were dispatched, then waited for the plane to taxi back. It was great to see the camera strapped to Lee's helmet as he got out of the plane - though it would mean that if I cocked up the jump everyone would be able to see.
Unlike the very warm Monday (when the plane ascended as if through treacle) we made good progress, dropping a static line student before heading up to 6,000 feet for Ben to do his fifteen second freefall. Deserving of mention is Ben's comical attempts to get into position before his jump - he was sat behind me and had to turn round onto his knees in the same small space, which was difficult because he's quite tall. Lee had to restrain himself from laughing and I didn't really know what was going on behind me. The tomfoolery ended and Ben did his jump with Dave the pilot banking the plane incredibly steeply (I swear the wings almost went vertical) to allow Lee to watch the whole delay and set us up for the climb to the top.
As this was my Cat 8 dive I needed all the time in freefall I could, so we were aiming to go higher than the usual 10,000 feet. I was sat next to the door (well the hole in the side, as the Cesna is once again without a proper door) and at points really felt the need to hold on as we were climbing as steeply as we could without stalling. By the time we circled to run in we were over 10,000, and as we went over the village we passed 11,000. When Lee eventually started spotting and called the cut we were at 11,200 feet, so that's a new record for me. I got my feet onto the step, let go of the strut and dived towards the rear of the plane, arching hard to bring myself belly-to-earth. The first move once I was stable was the backloop, bringing my legs in and waving my arms like a crazy man to send me tumbling over. The point is to prove that I can go unstable and regain stability, so after one spin and stable I counted that as done. Next were two 360 degree turns in either direction - these also served as a good time to find where Lee was in relation to me. Having done them, and seen Lee, I tracked towards him, turning off to the left slightly but holding it. At this point my altimeter read 7,000 so I decided to do the turns and track again. This time I held the track for longer and straighter, and knew I must have it by now. I looked around for a bit to find Lee (I had planned to give him the thumbs up once I'd finished) and eventually spotted him hovering above and behind me. With the geeking done I waved and pulled, watching Lee plummet below me as my canopy opened.
The ride down would have been pleasant, but for the fact that my mum was correct when she warned against jumping with a cold, as it felt like my sinuses had exploded. Admittedly they had just been cleared at 120mph and I felt better for it after the pain subsided and my hearing returned fully a few hours later, but it was somewhat distracting during my canopy flight. There was no wind and I ended up landing near the runway again, but it was a good landing even if I didn't stand it up. Roy had driven the quad bike up to collect the plane, so when it landed I hopped back in and rode it back to the hangar. I waited around for a bit before Lee finished packing and came over to congratulate me - Cat 8 at last! We did the usual paperwork and I completed the ridiculously easy CH1 written test and that's it - I'm now an A certificate skydiver, able to jump anywhere in the country with BPA membership, and able to jump at any drop zone in the world with temporary membership to their organisations. Aside from that I no longer have to be retrained every time I go down, don't need an instructor to dispatch me any more and can jump in higher winds (a relief considering the weather at Peterlee). RAPS has been a long adventure but I've enjoyed every jump, got to know lots about the sport and made a lot of friends too. Here's to wherever skydiving takes me next!
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!
Rocket Man
Posted 15th May 2008 at 9:06pm by M1ke, tagged as Skydiving | Commenting Closed
Some people go fishing on their day off. Yves Rossy likes to jump out of a small plane with a pair of jet-powered wings on his back and loop the loop above the Swiss Alps.
Rocket man flies over Alps with jet-pack strapped to his back | News | This is London
One of the reasons I love skydiving so much is that it has always been my dream to be able to fly, myself, not just in an aircraft. Whilst skydiving is to flying as a water slide is to a sailing boat, the height and the amazing window on the world is there - it just doesn't last long and takes a lot of effort to get there. This man, however, has really flown - using jets strapped to wings he was able to climb as well as fall, reaching fast horizontal speeds as well as controlling his height. He was also apparently able to land the creation.
He intends to do a crossing of the English channel and then fly the grand canyon - the latter task will require him to increase significantly the manoeuvrability of his wings. If it was me I'd be working on a way to take off from the ground - as yet he still needs to be dropped from a plane to begin his flight. They say it isn't commercially viable yet - but developments like this can easily effect new thinking in the technology business. If no one else does it first, I want in on this!
Finally, a Skydiving Video
Posted 15th May 2008 at 5:04pm by M1ke, tagged as Skydiving | Commenting Closed
As someone who likes to have photographic or moving-photographic evidence of everything I do I've been wanting to get a video of one of my skydives for a while now. That time has come, and whilst it isn't the best video (apparently I fall too slowly so the instructor had to go below me and on his back), its a video nonetheless and its good to finally have one. I look forward to getting better ones in future, but I'm happy with this for now.
Points to watch for are my turns when Dave (the instructor) was on his back underneath me, and my canopy opening (which was unfortunately made all unfocused as we went through some mist, but you see my legs flailing wonderfully).