Friday September 18, 2015
AFF Category B Jump

I showed up at Skydance about 9 am for AFF Cat B. Daniel McLaurin picked me up as his student for the day. Matthew had a baseball game. Compared to Cat A, Cat B seemed to go very fast. There was far less training necessary because the dive flow was exactly the same as Cat A with one added task: Try to turn 90 deg.

Dive Flow

  1. Climb out, count and Exit (same as before)
  2. Relax
  3. C.O.A. (checking with both instructors.
  4. Three Pull Tests
  5. C.O.A.
  6. Right 90 deg turn.
  7. C.O.A.
  8. Left 90 deg turn
  9. C.O.A.
  10. Repeat as altitude permits. Stop at 7,000 ft.
  11. Lock on at 6,000 ft.
  12. Pull at 5,500 ft.
We practiced this a few times on the free fall trainer. "ARCH!!!!" We practiced the exit at the door mockup. "ARCH!!!!!"

Then Daniel pointed to a large diagram of the landing area on the pavement just outside the door mockup. I must have looked surprised because he said, "No one ever showed you this before?" "No", I said. He had me practice my landing pattern there a few times with various wind conditions. I'm suppose to flare hard at the point where I would be able to kick someone in the head if they were standing there. I thought that was a funny way to visualize the height, but whatever works! :-) He also taught me S-Turns. He says if I come out of check point 2 too high (above 500 ft), I can burn off elevation using S turns. Once I am at 300, I should start the final.

Daniel asked if I was ready. I said, "Yes!" and manifested us. That took all of 30 minutes.

Waiting

RocksSo, turns out, Daniel was needed on another AFF so I had to wait for him to get back from that. I practiced PLFing and practiced at the door mock up and watched Diego pack. He found a big dirt clod in one of the parachutes he was packing. "Oh man! Another Rock. These Students. They say that they try to get the rocks out but they always pick up rocks with the parachute." He added this new found rock to the pile.

Gear Call

Daniel was joined by Nic DeBonis. It was decided that I should be using the 260 rig, so I put that on. I put on the birthday present (blue altimeter). One more trip to the door mockup. We checked the winds. No wind landing, so land to the north.

Taxiway Call

We were late again for the taxi call. Everybody already in the plane and outside it were very patient. There seems to be some required order of boarding. Not sure what it is yet. Different plane this time: Pac 750.

Take Off

Seat belts on. Lift off. Lots of hoots! At 1000 ft, seat belts off, door open. At some point, the door is closed again. Not sure what the whole protocol is about the door. Have to look that up.

I was all nervous again as we gained elevation. I suppose that is the sane part of me working as it should. I just rehearsed the flow in my head and practiced touching my handles, this at the promoting of my instructor of course. Daniel asked me to walk him through the dive flow. That helped me to relax. He tested me on hand signals each of which ended with a question, "What does this mean"? He showed me them in turn. Then he asked, "What does this mean" while flipping me off. "Pull?" I asked. "Fucking Pull!", he replied smiling. I was finally relaxed, which was the purpose of the humor, I gather.

At 9000, helmets off, goggles on, helmets back on. At this point, some kind of ritual happens where people give a gentle low five and fist bump to each other. Is this for good luck, or is this because they may never see you again and want to make sure you touched everybody possible before leaving this earth? Not sure. :-)

 The plane has a different door. There is a step outside just below the floor they instructed me how to use. I was more aware this time. It was still surreal, but not quiet as automatic. The exit went well. I think I got a "legs out" signal again like last time. The pull tests went well. After the next C.O.A, I started the turn. Now, was it me or them doing the turning? I'm not sure, but we turned. C.O.A. Turn to the left. C.O.A. Still time. Turn to the right. 7,000ft. Stopped maneuvers. 6,000ft. lock on. 5,500 feet, wave off....

I reached, but forgot to arch. In fact, I put my head down. I think I got this bad habit practicing before AFF Cat A in the bathroom at home for 3 weeks. Silly me. Oh well, have to unlearn that!

The parachute opened with 2 and a half turns of line twist. The parachute started to turn. I reached up and pulled the risers apart. It came straight easily and the turn stopped. Then, I let out a "Wooo Hooo!" Not sure if anyone heard me.

Under Canopy

Canopy test went well. I felt good about the free fall. I could see no wind on the wind sock, but hey, I was over half a mile high! I practiced flaring and turning while altitude dropped. I was determined to hit my check points this time. At 1000 ft. I was exactly over check point #1 on the tree line. I went down the tree line towards the power lines. I'm a little shy of those scary power lines, so I turned early and was at about 700 ft. I should be at 500. Daniel came on the radio and told me to do S turns. So, I did. Once I got down to 300 ft, he said go to final. I did and then he told me to flare. I did, but forgot all about the PLF. So, I put my feet up like I was doing a tandem and landed on my butt. Fortunately, it was really a soft landing, but I could have hurt myself there.

Like a Rock Star

Man! I felt so good after that! I was stoked. I had done good in free fall. I had nailed the landing; well, I didn't stand up, but I got in the correct student field! It felt really good to have a whole 4 jumps under my belt. Man I am smoking! :-)

During the debrief, I asked Daniel how he got into Skydiving. He said, he was living in Texas and there was this girl. She moved to California, so he moved here too. While he was out here, he tried a Tandem jump and just loved it. The girl did not work out, but Skydiving defiantly did.

After the debrief with Daniel, I had some lunch.

Warning! Warning!

Over confidence can bite you. It was pride before a fall.

The End