This is my first jump at swansea in over a month as they have been having problems with the plane, and, they have borrowed a plane, its smaller than the usual one, will hold 9 people, and is called a Finist. I get myself manifested, and the plane consists of one large group, and myself jumping solo. This small plane has struts under the wings, right outside the door, and ive seen pictures of people hanging off these.

I see the pilot by the plane, and, hes putting on a rig. Ive never seen this happen before, and have wondered a few times about what the pilot would actually do if there was an ‘incident’ this pilot already has it planned. I start talking to him, and explain that ill be jumping solo, and last, and would i be allowed to try and hang off the wing strut. He says sure, i can even try and climb all the way along it if i like, so, on the way to altitude, im thinking about how hard its going to be to hold on.

We get to 12,500 feet, the red light comes on and the door is opened, the green light soon follows and everyone except me is gone within 5 seconds. I get one foot out onto the step, hold onto the strut, and step away from the door, im blown backwards but holding on, the pilot is looking at me through the side window, i hold on for about 5 seconds, before letting go and floating on my back watching the plane. After a few seconds, the plane banks hard left, and goes into a nose dive, ive never seen this happen before either whilst ive been in freefall (ive seen it from the ground) and it looks awesome. the plane actually passes me, so i flip onto my front watch watch it go for a few more seconds. I then turn and track, before putting one arm out in front of me (a la superman lol) and slightly put one hand out to also do a few barrel rolls, laughing like a maniac to myself

I deployed my canopy at 4000 feet, and made my way to the landing area, where i landed bang on target 🙂

Over the last 2 days, ive got the blog completely up to date. Ive updated over 20 jumps (dating back to june :/), updated the Logbook page, updated the beer fine page, and updated and revamped the costs page to make it a lot easier to follow. A lot of the updates on the costs page also help me to keep things up to date, theres now some voodoo internet coding magic that automatically does the sums, and spits out the totals. All i have to do is enter the number of jumps, or what ive spent money on. Its taken a few weeks to ensure the coding works properly, and its finally live.

The next updates will be to the videos and pictures sections as soon as i transfer some stuff to youtube etc

🙂

After spending the night in a sleeping back in the back of the van, and getting up at 5am, im ready to go by 8:30, but, theres fog, which doesnt clear untill midday, leaving me an hour before i have to leave. Luckily ive been manifested for lift 1 since 9am, so by half past 12, im in the air, and in the door at 13,700′

A 5 way group has left before me, and im aware that they will be tracking away from each other, so i keep my eye on them, and when they split, i see one heading roughly towards where i will be in 5 seconds time, to i turn and track, away from him, and away from the flight line, as i dont want to be tracking into anyone else, before opening my main at ~ 3,500′. This time i land about 3M to the right of the target, but im still happy with that 🙂

After driving to devon to collect a new van, i  couldnt resist taking my gear, and a tent and sleeping back, and stopping at Dunkeswell on the way back. Upon arriving and going through gear checks, someone said i had missed the last load of the day, but, i had about 10 minutes to get ready, Awesome 🙂

The planes here climb fast, really fast, so less than 20 minutes later, im in the door at 13,800′, and roll out and flip onto my back to see the plane. I flip back over and simply enjoy the sunset views, at 120mph freefalling, before deploying my main canopy at ~3,500′ and taking up a landing pattern. They have a nice big 20M circle cut onto the grass as a target, and, i land within stepping distance short of it, but, im close enough to be happy with the landing 🙂

This post is being typed up from notes taken from logbook

Rolling exit from 11,800′. TRied getting stable on back and failed, eventually got it, and some turns on back, before flipping back over and deploying main canopy at 3,500′, and landing on target

This post is being typed up from notes taken from logbook

2 Way with Alicja. Good linked exit, but when we released we were chasing each other for levels, before linking back up at 6,000′. Broke off and tracked at 5,000′, and deployed main canopy at 3,500′. Upon deployment i finished my 5 second safety count and the canopy was still opening. I grabbed the risers and started to pump them just as my audible started screaming at me as i was about to hit my hard deck of 2,000′ (its set to scream at 2,200′) and the canopy started to fully inflate. Upon looking at the pro track data afterwards the canopy didnt register as fully inflated untill 1,800′

That made my arse twitch

This post is being typed up from notes taken from logbook

A last minute 2 way jump, completley unplanned and just for lols . Good linked exit, with turns, dives and flips, whilst staying fairly level with each other. Broke off and tracked at 5,000′ and deployed main canopy at 3,500′

This post is being typed up from notes taken from logbook

This was a strange jump, i was the 5th person to exit the plane, but, when the red light went on and the door opened, as soon as the jump master looked out and down, he screamed ‘GREEN LIGHT!! GREEN LIGHT!!’ followed by ‘GO! GO! GO!’ to the first jumper

I did a backwards exit from 12,500′ Stable on back and turning left and right, before flipping back over and small track. Deployed main canopy at ~3,500′ and was a LONG way from the dropzone, I turned towards the landing area, hoping that id make it back, and every now and then looking back over my shoulder at other canopies further away than me, and thinking they have no chance at all of making it back. I was getting closer and closer to the landing area, but knew that i wasnt going to make it, so found a flat spot around 200 yards outside of the perimeter and turned into the wind for a safe landing.

This post is being typed up from notes taken from logbook

Rolling exit onto back. Stable on back for over 10 seconds. Deployed main canopy at ~ 3,500′ Aborted target due to number of canopies, landed around 30M short on opposite side of runway

This post is being typed up from notes taken from logbook

Good linked exit at 13,100′, broke up and turned onto backs, then fae was gone. He fell a LOT faster than i did, so i flipped back over onto my belly, to ensure i could see him at all times, before tracking away from him at 5,000′, and deploying my main canopy at ~ 3,500′. Once again i landed around 10M short of my intended target