After a few more up and down jump limits, im on the last lift of the day, im jumping the 230 canopy this time, and planning on being on my back, then trying different things with my arms just to see what happens, when im asked ‘have you jumped with anybody else?’ i answer no, ive always jumped alone, so im now going to be jumping with someone else 😀

We go through a few things, about how i would stay level, or move up or down to get level, turning around and staying level, and how we will hold on to each other to exit the plane, and how at 7000 feet, ill be grabbed, spun round, and thrown across the sky, just for LOL’s, i feel all nervous and excited now, like when i did my AFF levels all over again 🙂

In the plane on the way up, its quite cloudy, but, there are plenty of gaps straight through to the ground. Im right by the door, so i think about asking to do my ‘Spotting’, but, the next time the plane banks, and i see the holes are getting smaller, i decide not to. We nearly get to altitude, and while talking about the exit, change it to ‘ill grab your chest strap and just drag you out of the door’ , this is going to be awesome 😀 and its going to be caught on camera.

The ‘Get ready’ light goes on, and theres a discussion between the jumpmaster doing the spotting, and the main boss. A 100 jump limit is put in place, 10 seconds before im due to jump out of the door 😥

Others leave the plane, and 4 of us take a ride back down, quickly, the plane goes nearly into a nosedive, not as fun as jumping out of the plane, but still quite a fun experience, we are watching our altimeters as we head towards the ground, commenting on how fast we are losing height, the plane then slows and levels slightly, i think this was so our automatic reserve parachutes didnt get set off. We are just under 1000 feet, and its cloudy outside, and raining, we are all watching our altimeters, when we hear and electronic voice, “PULL UP! PULL UP!” then we land, one jumpers electronic altimeter somehow registers as -200 feet.

Its now raining, and we get back in at the same time as those who jumped, and theyre SOAKED to the skin.

So, while some of us didnt actually get to jump, it looks like we were saved from that, and were the only ones in dry clothes

After a while of jump limits being in place due to wind and clouds, im up again 🙂 the plan for this one is to practice turns while on my back, so, dive out of the plane and get onto my back, then do a 360 left, and another to the right, while staying stable on my back 🙂 do a few more turns, before flipping back over and opening at 3,500 feet. The canopy took a VERY long time to open fully, so long that i noticed another canopy opening, fully, not too far from me, and we are at pretty much the same height, eventually though, its fully inflated, so i grab a rear riser, and turn away from the direction of the other canopy, thats my 3rd one of those ticked off the paperwork, as ive turned, the winds now behind me, and im racing along quite quickly, so i get to the end of the runway to ensure im far enough away from the other canopy, as we will be landing at pretty much the same time, and i then turn back into wind. Im constantly aware of the other canopy as a little bit of cloud comes towards us, im still heading into wind and the other canopy is starting their approach to land, so i make some S turns to try and lose some height to give the other canopy some extra room, this seems to be working 🙂 then at 300 feet i line up for my landing. I flared on landing probably a second or two too early, as landed with a bit of a thud, but, still a standing up landing 🙂

Afterwards i was told that i shouldnt have really done the S turns on my approach, I explained my thought process behind why i did them, and was told the other canopy actually had loads of room. Its things like this that get learned with more experience

Arrived at the dropzone nice and early, even though it was the morning after a night out, and i woke up an hour and a half away, and its pretty cloudy, but, looks like when the clouds clear, will be jumping on the north landing area. The first lift goes up, with a 100 jump limit in place, but once they land, the limits lifted, and everyones on lift2 🙂

The plan for this jump, it to practice being stable on my back, i know its going to be cold though, i only have a T-shirt under my jump suit, and the usual excitement feeling in the chest is there, making it feel colder. Im told ill be jumping a slightly smaller 230 canopy, so get it all ready, then as theres so many on the lift, im swapped back to the 240. In the plane on the way up, i go through it in my head, dive out, few rolls then flip over onto my back. Get to altitude, doors open, and im out, dive out rolled in a ball, then open myself out and onto my back. I try to go into a backloop, from being flat on my back, which didnt work at all like i thought it would, and i ended up spinning all over the place, got myself stable and back on my belly, and thats when the wind hit me right in the face. I spent the last 1500 feet with my hands in front of my face to block out the wind, before opening at 3,500 feet. As soon as the canopy was open, i grabbed one of the rear risers, and yanked it, thats another avoidance manouvure ticked off the paperwork, then look for my landing zone. I see the cross and arrow, but cant see the blue flags to the side of them where they normally are, but, do see to small ‘square things’ a bit further away, this must be the marked area for us, so i setup myself to land there. While under the canopy, i see 2 others landing in the same area, so am happy that this is right. As im on my final approach, i see that theyre not actually markers, but small concrete blocks, but, land within my intended area, and flare nicely for a good standing up landing.

Speaking with the others who landed there, they all thought the same thing, that as the blue flags werent out, that these 2 ‘markers’ were meant for us instead, but, it also shows that we are getting better at picking our spots to land 🙂

Not a cloud in the sky, and ice on the ground, but having not jumped for 7 weeks, the colds not going to stop me. Ive got new winter gloves to try out, a new (2nd hand) audible altimeter to try out, and most of my B license paperwork is done, I only need ‘Spotting’ and my canopy control sorted, and jump numbers. Im only here for the morning, so have to get at least one jump in. Im manifested for the 2nd lift, the plan for the jump, some somersaults, backflips, turns, and hope the audible doesnt scare the crap out of me when it starts beeping. I now open my canopy at 3,500 feet, so I’ve set it to go off first at 4,500, again at 3,500, and the emergency alarm at 2,500. Get all kitted up, and im going to be one of the last solo jumpers out of the plane, so I wont get my go at Spotting this time round, but theres plenty of time.

In the plane on the climb up, I was a lot more relaxed than I normally am, I dont know if this was the extra thermal layers I was wearing stopping me from getting the shivers that I normally get. We get to 12,500 feet, and the door opens, and a few jump, and im heading for the door, BANG! theres the feeling, I knew it was there somewhere, 5 seconds later, and im pointed out, and dive out of the door, curling into a somersault as i go. After a few spins, somehow manage to turn the front flips into backflips, before stretching out and stabilising. Do a few practice pulls, some 360 turns and a couple more backflips, before pulling at 3,500 feet.

As the canopy opens, and i begin to slow down, i hear my alti beeping in my ear, id forgotten all about it, and didnt hear ANYTHING at 4,500 feet, yet when i tested it before fitting it into my helmet, right behind my ear, it nearly blew the side of my head off. The canopy opened smoothly, so i now try a ‘Rear riser turn as an avoidance manoeuvre’ this is where you grab one of the risers that connect your harness to the canopy, and pull it towards you, causing a fast and hard sideways turn, thats another signature on my paperwork 🙂 I head towards the landing area, and circle around for a bit, before making my final approach. I misjudged it with the wind, and landed about 30M further from the landing area than id hoped to, but, this is still a LOT better than some of my first landings, a few hundered yards off target, as i come to land, i flare just right, and do a perfect ‘step’ onto the ground landing 🙂

Back in the building, i remove my audible alti from my helmet, and turn the screen on, and its logged my exit altitude, opening altitude and other information, so that all works, and, my hands are not numb, so the gloved worked well too 🙂

Another jump, and another signature on my paperwork towards me getting a B license.

Got to the dropzone hopefull to get a few jumps in at around lunchtime, but, just like yesterday, cloud stopped play. Learned how the reserve and automatic activation system all works and fits together while a rig was being worked on, but, nothing at all this week to add to my jump numbers 🙁

Got up nice and early this morning, with the aim to get to the dropzone, and slam out a few more jumps towards my B license, but, the weather had other ideas, and by 10:30AM, the days jumping had been binned due to low cloud, which just wasnt going away :(, but, every cloud has a silver lining, and what better opportunity to use the instructors on the dropzone to get some B license briefings done 🙂

Previously, my B license paperwork has only had a lonely ‘packing’ signature on it, but after today, its now also signed for ‘Trained in Spotting Techniques’, ‘Received a full safety brief on, be familiar with and be able to carry out the duties and responsibilities of a Jumpmaster’, ‘Received an Introduction to the Operations Manual’, and ‘Received a full safety brief on, be familiar with and be able to carry out flight line checking on other parachutists of Category 8 and above’.

For this, we were taken to the plane, and shown how to actually ‘spot’ the landing area, and the way the plane is traveling, while looking at reference points on the ground, taught emergency procedures, and the importance of exiting of different group types of skydivers. We were taught how to inspect another skydiver, and their equipment, to make sure they are safe, and part of this test involved us being sent out of the room, while fully kitted up skydivers, had ‘issues’ introduced to their kit, for us to find, and while nearly everybody found every fault that skydivers had with their equipment, a half twist in my chest strap, hidden by my hook knife did go unnoticed while i was being examined (I was told to twist my strap in this way by the examiner for the other person to notice), but, I found everything on the 2 skydivers that was wrong that i examined.

Next, I did the CH2 safety brief, and written exam, which I passed and was also signed off, so hopefully, when i return to the dropzone tomorrow, I will get a chance to actually do the practical ‘Spotting’ and this will gain me my JM1 (Jump Master Grade 1), and if the weather allows, and if i can pull it off, do 5 landings, where i say before getting on the plane ‘I will land within 30M of an intended landing spot’ and a few other canopy control manoeuvres, and that will be all of my B license paperwork completed, and will get me my CH2 (Canopy Handling Grade 2), and then i just need to get to the 50 jumps marker, for my B license. Excited much, oh yesssss 🙂

As the weather was poor today, we also got to play ‘OMG!!! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE IN A PLANE CRASH!!!!!’ but, its not as bad as it sounds 🙂 After doing the flightline checking, as we were all kitted up, it was seen as an ideal time to take some new photos to show examples of the BRACE! position in case of an aircraft emergency, so, all kitted up, and onto the plane we go, get strapped in, and then, EMERGENCY!!!! BRACE POSITION!!!!!! and hold, and pretend youre about to be involved in a plane crash, but, dont look like your panicing, but, dont smile. After numerous pictures and positions, and screams of ‘ohh feck we all gonna die’ the pictures were done, then there was the really strange thing of actually stepping out of the plane, fully kitted up, onto the ground. Getting into the plane, even though I knew we were’nt going anywhere, my heart was doing the usual thumping. Getting onto the plane for the spotting excercise, while it felt weird, because i didnt have any gear on, there was still a little anticipation there, but, for these photos, wearing everything as though about to actually skydive, walking to the plane, was the usual ‘excited’ feeling, but then getting on the plane, it was facing the wrong way, there was no noise, and there was no wind from the propeller / engine, but, climbing into the plane, fully kitted up, still had the nervousness that ‘im about to jump out of a plane really soon’, and even after the photos, just about to simply ‘step’ out of the plane, fully kitted up, stood at the door, i had that feeling that makes me keep doing this, and i was only 6 feet off the ground, wishing i could somersault out of the door, into a 120mph freefall.

Tomorrow (today now as im typing this as nearly 1:30AM) I’d like to get my 5 CH2 pre declared landings, and 3 manoeuvres done, within 6 jumps, which will then put me just over 10 jumps from getting my B license 🙂

After a beautifull clear friday, saturday, and sunday, i finally managed to get to the dropzone for around 3PM on sunday afternoon, and with it being winter, and working outdoors, knew that there was less than 2 hours of daylight left, and as it was the first good weekend in nearly a month, the place was RAMMED!!!

there was 2 more lifts manifested, but, as i jump using hired club gear, there was no gear available for me to jump with, even though slots were available on the plane. So helped out for the last 2 hours of the day, and look forward to next weekend, where i have both saturday and sunday free for jumping, and hope the weather plays nice 🙂

Packing test was today, first i had a ‘warm up’ where a rig was all twisted up etc, and i had to sort it out and repack it, then i was taken through how everything is held together, how it comes apart, and how to check it all over, then i was sent out of the room while a rig was ‘prepared’ for my test. I’d have to untangle everything, get it packed, and check EVERYTHING for problems. Was called back in, and told ‘good luck’ and later saw it described as ‘packing test from hell’ by an instructor.

Untangled and untwisted everything, and called an instructor back in, the verify that id gotten them all out and can continue, everything sorted, so carry on, get everything folded up, and get everything verified again, and continue. I get to the point where everything gets put into the container, and the main closing loop that holds it all together, is gone 😮 thats not right, I locate the missing loop, put it back into place, and continue to close everything up, the parachute is packed.

I now start to check over everything, i find the emergency reserve handle is backwards, so sort that out, a leg strap is incorrectly routed, sort that out, the reserve pin is not seated correctly, sort that out, a part is missing from the chest strap, sort that out, then check everything over, and check it again, and just before it goes off to be inspected, am aware that the reserve static line is wrapped around a strap that it shouldnt be, this is a small line that pulls the reserve parachute out if you have to cut your main one away, so that gets sorted out, and then its off to be looked at.

Two of us did the test, and we are then told to swap rigs, and inspect each others, and also told that if one of us misses something, we do it again, if one of us finds something, the other has to do it again. This makes me think theres definitely something wrong with one of them, and im sure mine was ok, as there was so many things out of place on it and i checked it over so many times. I check everything over, and as i pull the emergency reserve handle, it falls out, its meant to be held in place with a velcro grip. I try to put it back into place, but it wont go, is this a problem with the velcro? is this what is wrong that one of us is meant to find or possibly miss? I ask if theres something wrong with the velcro, and am told that ive found what was wrong, well done, youve passed. YAYYY!!! and the next words the instructor said is that the other dude has to retake the test, ahh man, how bad do i feel now, 2 seconds after being chuffed.

Its explained to us what could happen with that handle being loose, and the other guy is fine, it was an awkward feeling though.

After the paperwork is sorted out, i then went on to get another 2 types of container added to my ‘Approved Packing Certificate’ 🙂

All i need now is my own equipment to pack

Got some more supervised packs done today, as well as ‘Intro to entanglements’ signed off and shown to me. I have one more supervised pack left on my sheet, this has been left as a ‘warm up’ prior to me taking the packing test, then hopefully getting my packing certificate 🙂

In order to get good at packing, you need to practice lots, and in order to get a B license, you need a packing certificate, so, as part of these, i have to be introduced to some of the problems that can arise when packing, things all twisted and tangled up etc, and be able to recognise them, and sort them out. So, after the initial packing course that i did a few weeks ago, i now need to do 25 supervised packing jobs, with more complex ‘issues’ introduced at 3 stages as i progress. Today, i got 19 of my 25 supervised packs signed off, as well as ‘twists’ and ‘step through’ signed off. My next ‘issue’ is ‘entanglements’ then another 5 supervised packs, then ill be tested. I also got to ‘break in’ my new packing puller that i received free with my helmet, these things are like gold dust, especially when new, so this has my name on it, and lives in my pocket :). Hopefully next friday, when im on another packing session, ill be posting to say ive done the test 🙂