I did a diving exit, and immediately tucked my legs in and grabbed my knees causing me to do flip after flip after flip. It was a blast! After that, I tried to sitfly. I was able to get it for a little bit, but then slipped onto my back and did some barrel rolls.
I downsized to a 210 sq. ft. canopy from the 230, and the time under canopy was noticably shortened. I did do some corkscrews on the way down which was a lot of fun. I also played a bit with the front risers to descend on final when I realized I was going to overshoot my target significantly. I ended up about 30 feet away.
#38
This was my first jump on the Caravan as opposed to the Otter. It's a lot smaller, with no seats--only some beams on the floor that jumpers had to straddle. My buddy Brian F. was sitting in the right-hand seat, next to the pilot because he's been hired as a pilot. It was fun to see someone I knew in the cockpit. I also had the opportunity to chat with a guy, who was trying a new wingsuit, about what it's like to fly a wingsuit. I am now more thrilled about getting to the point where I can try one myself.
I was the second to last person out of the plane, with the wingsuit jumper the only one left after me. Again, on this jump, I did a diving exit with tuck. Lots of flips again, and I was able to keep myself from tipping over on my side like on the previous jump. The flips were very fun.
I had forgotten to tighten my sunglass keeper, and so my glasses were moving all over my face. It was very uncomfortable, not to mention distracting. So, even though I had plenty of time to do other things, I ended up just arching and enjoying as much of the fall as possible.
I didn't do much under canopy. Again, with the 210, the canopy ride felt too short for me. I guess I'll have to start braking more to extend the ride.
During the landing I went into half brakes a bit to high, so there wasn't much lift to be had when I went to full brakes. As a result, the landing was a bit hard.
#39
I did a diving exit again, but this time I wanted to get stable immediately. Everything worked just right so I decided to ditch some of the stability to try out other things. I put my hand or arm into various positions to see what would happen. It was fun to get flipped and spun around. I went into a sit for a little bit, but quicly lost it and went onto other things. All in all, this jump was sit, spin and rock! Super sweet jump.
#40
Back on the Caravan again for this jump, and this time, I was the last one out of the plane. I went back to the diving exit with tuck because it was so much fun. Flips, turns, and fall rate were what I worked on. The canopy ride was fun and I had a great landing, 5' away from the target.
#41 - A License Checkout Jump
When I first arrived at the DZ, I told Blake I wanted to do my A-License checkout jump. I had really wanted to get it done on my second jump so I could have the rest of the day to play. Unfortunately, there were a gazillion tandems scheduled, so he couldn't do it until late in the day. That sucked, but I figured I'd just have to jump all day long, maybe getting to do a bandit with Rocco or a simulated checkout jump with Donald. Things just didn't work out that way though. Donald was busy filming Pack'D all day and Rocco and I either were on a flight full of instructors or he had arranged to jump with someone else. After four jumps I was getting a bit tired, so I tracked down Blake to see if we could get it done. Finally, he gave the thumbs up, and I set the manifest team into action. The moment of truth had arrived after a day of jumping.
At first Blake started by asking me to tell him everything I knew about the parachute rig I was going to use. I wasn't exactly certain what he wanted me to tell him, so I just started babbling about this and that. I guess I was giving him all the information he needed, so after a few minutes he said to get my rig on and meet him over by the packing barn.
He came out in his rig and asked me if I knew what all the different aspects to the pre-jump and jump that I needed to accomplish to get my license. I threw out a few things, at which point he interrupted me and told me all the things I needed to do, and the criteria by which I needed to pass. Of course, in typical Blake style, (or is that lack of style) he bluntly stated that if I fucked up A, B, or C, that I'd fail even if I did everything else perfectly. We finished going over the skills I needed to demonstrate and then we started in earnest.
The first order of business was a gear check on him. Of course, I knew that he was going to try to trip me up, but there's not much to a gear check that I'd miss. So, the first thing I noticed was that his chest strap was just looped through the buckle, but not properly. So, I pointed that out and continued with the check.
His rig was significantly different than any of the student gear, plus, I normally would have done the gear check of the back first and then the front, from top to bottom both times. However, now I was doing things backwards, so I was a bit disjointed, skipping from here to there. I covered everything, but it wasn't smooth. He mentioned to not just check all the things that are there, but all the things that weren't too. That was a bit tough, because I had never encountered a rig that didn't look like all the student rigs. He doesn't jump with an AAD or an RSL. I assumed that because there wasn't the window showing the AAD, that there wasn't one. But the RSL I completely didn't think about. The disjointed order probably was the cause of my lack of recognition, but the fact that the rig was already on him rather than sitting on the ground in front of me could have had an impact too. In any event, I finished the gear check and we headed out to get on the plane. We were joined by Candice, who was shooting video of my jump.
On the ride to altitude, I tried to calm myself and make it seem like I wasn't nervous by asking Blake about any mountain biking he's been doing recently. After a terse statement about a ride done early in the week, and a lack of any interest in anything about me, I just looked out the window and enjoyed the ride.
We were the last to leave the plane. Candice climbed out onto the camera step. Blake got into a rear floating position, and gave the count. I dived out after them, but somehow, I completely flubbed the exit and spun around. Recognizing that, I did a fast flip and got stable. Then, I descended to where they were and came up to Blake. When I was a few feet in front of him, I did my front and back flips. Then I docked for a second, let go and did a 360 to the left, docked again and did a 360 to the right. I was just about to dock again when he waved me off. We were still above 6000', so I'm not certain why he waved me off, but I turned, tracked and pulled by 4000'.
The canopy ride was nice, but nothing spectactular. I did a few corkscrews and then I was at 1000' and ready to get into the landing pattern. The wind had completely died, and I turned a bit soon into final, so I knew I was going to be long. I grabbed the front-risers to lose some altitude, but I was a bit scared to drop too much. I got to about 20' and went to half-brakes. Unforunately, that was way too high, but I held it until just at the ground. Of course, because I slowed down so much, I didn't have the speed I needed when I went to a full flare and had to PLF.
We went into the office and Candice put the video on the big screen. We watched the whole thing and then he asked me how I thought I did. I had done everything I was supposed to do, even if it wasn't as smooth as I'm capable of doing, so I knew I didn't have any problems. He gave me a few pointers on how to do some things better (like my tracking), but told me I had passed.
So, now I've got my A-License. I figure in a few weeks time I'll get my B-License, since I already have 41 jumps. So, I'm not even going to send it in until I finish the B-License (plus that way I don't have to pay for the A-License).
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