Consol 4: 14 Sept 2013

So I got to the briefing shed and Katie had just finished her briefing - oops!  Chris C went through a few drills with me and then it was back to the usual "Hurry up and wait" scenario.  The day was very overcast and the clouds were pretty low so no-one was going up.

After a while, the accuracy jumpers started going up as they exit at 3,500'.  Even so, they were in wispy cloud for the first lift.  Gradually as the day went on, the cloud base lifted and more people started going on lifts.  It was late afternoon by the time the conditions were deemed suitable for students, and since the Caravan was already in the sky, we were going up in the Dornier G92.  It's a bit bigger than the Caravan with a larger doorway so the Speed 8 teams were all using it for a fast exit for the competition.  It also climbs to altitude much faster than the Caravan so will often go higher for fun jumpers.  For the Speed 8 teams, the first 50 seconds of attempting to create the formation of 8 jumpers is all that counts, so we were only going up to 11,000 feet to give them enough time above the cloud base.

From our perspective, the exit was going to be exactly the same as from the Caravan, out - stable - check alti, then whatever we wanted to practice. We would have slightly less time in free fall than normal as we were getting out 2.5k lower but would still have plenty of time to try out turns or tracks.  
Since I have done a few consolidation jumps now and have passed my level 8, I am going to be deploying lower than I have been used to so actually my time in free fall is going to be similar.  I will lock-on at 5,000' instead of 6,000 and deploy at 4,500 instead of 5,500.  The Speed 8 team will leave first, then me, then Katie closely followed by Chris C.  Ok, sounds good.  I am a little bit nervous of being in a new plane but if the exit is going to be the same, it should be fine.  
Chris M and Chris C have warned us both that if the cloud closes in, we will not be permitted to jump - fine by me, I don't like cloud, lol.  
As we reach 11,000, the Speed 8 team get ready to leave when suddenly the pilot tells us we're going higher.  Apparently several canopies have taken longer to descend than expected so we are too close to allow the Speed 8 team to free fall and then track over them.  Ok, up to 13.5k after all.  

Except that the pilot has decided that since we're climbing anyway, he might as well take us all the way up to 15k.  Okay, a few seconds extra in free fall, no big deal.  Only a couple of things different from normal, I get a bit longer to practice :-)  We get to altitude, the door opens, the Speed 8 team jump .... and suddenly the plane bucks as 8 of the 11 passengers exit in one go!  And my stomach lurches!  I try to inch forwards and am stuck - I am still clipped in!  Chris had asked me earlier if I had unclipped and I couldn't find it so presumed I hadn't done it up properly - oops!  When in fact, it was clipped from the centre of the plane, not the side, so I was still firmly attached.  So another jolt to my already churning stomach.  Katie has been feeling unwell on the ascent and has decided not to jump, so I'm going on my own and Chris will land with her in the plane.  Ummm, ok.  I get to the door and all I can see is cloud and I freeze.  My brain fries.  Not so much a hesitation in the doorway as total paralysis!  After a moment Chris yells *Either jump or don't* and I fling myself out of the door.  
And for the first time, have a completely uncontrolled unstable exit.  Later he tells me I was windmilling my arms and legs, though in my head, I was yelling "Arch, arch!" and wondering why my body wasn't assuming the familiar position.  I've flipped over onto my back - arch, you need to arch, ok, I'm stable.  Err, oops, no, I'm on my back again - for heaven's sake, ARCH!  You can't pull like this, push your hips out, arms back, ARCH!   

And thankfully I am stable.  I set a heading for the sun, do a couple of 360 degree turns to assure myself that I am in fact in control, and try hard not to look down at the thick cloud cover below me.  I attempt a couple of side slides but my heart is not really in it.  All I can think about is the cloud and how I can't see where I am.  Ahh, maybe I can slow my descent a little.  A big stretch of the arms, curve my body around a big beach ball, suck in those abs and I can definitely feel a difference.  Ok, that worked but the cloud is rapidly approaching and I want to be stable in it so back to the arch.  Ugh, I hate this, I can't see anything but mist, what height am I at?  6,000', ok, plenty of time, I'm doing 120mph, I'll be out of this in no time.  Umm, nope, still not out, 5,500, it's got dark.  This is horrible, at this rate I'll have to pull in the cloud.  Not a big deal because I know there's no-one above me but somehow I want the familiarity of being able to see where I am.  5,000, lock-on ready to pull, it's getting lighter and wispy, throw the pilot chute, oh, thank goodness, I'm out and can see!  
And I'm actually pretty much on target for my holding area.  I have the pattern firmly in my head and am determined not to make the same mistakes as yesterday.  It's a right hand pattern so I head towards the left of the landing area and turn downwind to see how fast I will travel.  Pretty quickly, ok, don't go too far past then because flying forward into wind isn't really going to happen!  
So I 'S' off a lot of the height parallel to the landing area and turn in close to the edge.  I turn on schedule and am following the pattern I was briefed on, but something isn't quite right.  The winds have turned again and the wind sock is now at 90 degrees to my expected pattern.  Ok, gentle turn again into wind and keep it level.  The wind is slowing me right down so I'm dropping gently - start to flare, a little too high, bring it down slowly, gently, final flare just before my feet touch down, 3 steps and I'm down, on my feet :-)

Ok, NOW I'm starting to get it!

I am happy with my landing and gather up my parachute to head back towards the bus.  It has left to take the first load of jumpers back (fair enough, they'll have been down for a while!) so I have a few minutes to wait for it to come back for me and I watch one of the accuracy jumpers land.  He comes in hard onto the inflatable target - rather him than me!!

I drop off my rig at the packing shed and head back towards the bar.  After that particular exit, I am DONE for the day.  It is definitely beer o'clock!  Chris C comes over to meet me to give me my debrief and it is clear he isn't happy.  My smile slides from my face, oh hell, here we go again :-( 
I took way too long to exit and was within a second of being grabbed back into the plane and being escorted back down.  Having actually jumped, I took far too long to get stable which was also not good.  I'm crushed.  So much for being delighted with my landing, I've still messed up the jump.

Maybe this skydiving thing really isn't for me.....

Consol 3: 13 Sept 2013

I drop off my rig at the packing shed, pick up the one I'd jumped previously and meander back to manifest.  *You're on again, hurry up!*. Woah, what?  I've just done 2 back-to-back, I'm not ready.  *Well, get ready, you've got a rig in your hand, what more do you need? Get on up there!*  Umm, ok, might as well rattle through these consols, each one is a step closer to my A licence and it's all going well so far :-)

On the plane, I work out what I might practice this time.  I haven't done much except turns so far so maybe a bit more tracking.  And I still haven't really tried out my side slides either. Or my de-arching to slow my descent.  Or moving forwards and backwards.  Ok, lots to think about, maybe I'll try side slides this time.  

Out I go, stable, nice heading, for the first time I actually see the plane above me.  Ok, let's turn around and see where we are.  Umm, where's the ground?  All I can see is cloud!  Not a very happy bunny :-(  I know I've turned around downwind as the plane would have been heading into wind so I'm facing the landing area.  I tentatively try a couple of side slides in each direction but it's difficult to tell if anything is happening.  And every time I look down, I still can't see the ground.  I decide to turn back 180 degrees so at least I'm facing into wind and won't lose too much ground if the winds have picked up.  Uh oh, here comes the cloud.  Yuk.  And ouch! What are these needles in my face?  It must be raining! Great, 120mph and I'm catching rain drops on my skin and it feels like I'm getting sand-blasted.  I try to shield my face with my hands, keeping my elbows out for some stability.  Not liking this one bit!  I'm still quite high when I drop below the clouds so I can see where I am when I deploy. Although I am a little confused when I get to my holding area and try to work out which way the wind is going.  Either I misunderstood the directions on the ground, or it has changed direction.  Ok, find the wind sock and check - somewhat difficult as the wind sock is bouncing around all over the place.  Ok, take an average, you can trim as you come in.  I turn onto my downwind leg and find I am going much too fast and will overshoot by some distance so I start trying to 'S' off the extra.  I arrive at the far side of the landing area and turn in - so far so good, I'm in line with the grass!  I'm dropping lower and trimming the canopy and staying on target.  Cool, I'll land on the grass twice in a row.  Except I'm a bit low for turns now so need to keep my hands up.  Ok, I can do that.  Wait! What's happening??  I'm being pushed sideways!  I'm going to land in the field after all! How did that happen?? And now I'm going faster and swinging under the canopy and this is looking like another splat landing.....  Sure enough, I flare a little too high and am travelling a little fast as my feet touch the ground and yet another PLF for the log book....

I am confused and a bit disappointed.  It all seemed to be going so well, what happened??  I trudge back to the bus and am met by Mark and Chris M who don't seem too impressed.  *What on earth was going on there then?*  I don't know, I think it must have been a gust.  *Really?  A gust?  Did anyone else feel a gust?*  Other heads on the bus are shaking and there are a couple of laughs.  Now I'm even more confused.  And Chris tells me Mark will debrief me about my landing when I've dropped my kit off.  Uh oh, this is getting worse by the minute.  I've obviously done something wrong but have no clue what it is.  I thought everything was going quite well until the last bit but the implication is that I've royally screwed up :-(

I drop off my kit and bump into Rich in the packing shed.  *What were you doing? You were all over the place*.  I was doing my S turns so I didn't go too far downwind.  *That might have been what you thought you were doing but it's not what it looked like from the ground*  Oh heck, I guess I'm really in trouble now.  I've obviously messed up the approach as well as the landing.  Best go and get the debrief aka dressing-down over with :-(  

Mark is looking somewhat concerned as we head to the debrief and my heart sinks even further.  This is really not looking good.  He gets out the big map and asks me what I thought my landing looked like.  I explained what I was trying to do and why, and how it all seemed to go wrong at the last minute.  At which point he explained it had been going wrong significantly longer than that!  I had actually approached on the downwind leg over the landing area instead of to one side of it.  That might not have been quite so bad, but then I had started adding in S turns, and hence constantly changing direction, which was very confusing for people approaching the landing area correctly heading into wind.  
And then I had been lined up correctly for my final approach but had stopped trimming into the wind, so the edge of my parachute had been pushed around by the wind and started turning me downwind.  As I failed to counter that turn, I was being pushed further and further around into a downwind landing, which was also accelerating my pace.  Hence why I had suddenly ended up quite a long way down the field after looking like I was going to land neatly in the grass!  

We discussed the difference between a low level turn and a trim turn and established that whilst low aggressive turns are definitely very dangerous, gentle trim turns to stay heading into wind or to avoid hazards are perfectly ok, almost right up to the flare.  So long as the canopy stays level and flat, rather than tilted or curved, gentle steering is not only acceptable, but often necessary in stronger winds.  Ok, so that dealt with veering off course into the field.

Then we looked at acceptable approach patterns.  And as he drew in my approach over the landing area on the board, it became very obvious just how much I had messed up :-(  How could I have been so stupid?!  Luckily it takes me a long time to get down so most people had already landed, but to fly against the pattern right over the landing area is a pretty cardinal sin.  He was very gentle about it but I was left in no doubt whatsoever that what I had done was totally unacceptable. 

I headed back to the tent feeling utterly miserable.  What on earth did I think I was doing trying to be a skydiver, when I can't even remember basic rules of landing patterns?  I'd already established I didn't like clouds, now I also don't like rain and I didn't even have the common sense to keep my canopy trimmed into wind when things were actually going ok, so messed that up too.  

Needless to say, I didn't feel like celebrating with the Speed 8 teams so I grabbed a snack and went to bed for a nap.  In the event, I didn't wake up again until the following morning.  It was hammering down with rain and it didn't seem like there would be much point in getting up for an 8:15 briefing so I stayed snuggled up in my nest.  Eventually, the rain eased and I heard the tannoy calling for AFF and consol students to come and get their briefing.  Oops, that'll be me then.  How fast can I get up and dressed and over to the briefing shed....???             

AFF Level 8: 13 Sept 2013

I drop my rig off at the packing shed and head back over to manifest to see what everyone else is up to.  Chris M grabs me *Get another rig, you're on this lift in 15 minutes*.  Hey, what?  I just got down. *You wanted to do your level 8, you're doing it.  Get a rig on and I'll brief you!*  Umm, ok.  The other Nav 260 is available so I get myself ready and head over to the pen.  I know pretty much what is expected of me - out-stable-pull within 10 seconds.  Doesn't sound too hard, I've been stable on every exit up until now, it's just going to be a somewhat lower exit than normal and I'll pull straight away.  Chris clarifies on the plane *out-stable-pull is the general idea, but for a perfect level 8, it's out-stable-check alti-wave off-pull, within 10 seconds.  The most important part is stable and pull, DON'T RUSH*.  Ok, that sounds do-able.  I repeat the routine to myself a few times to make sure it's firmly in my head.  I remember my level 7 where I was out and stable and doing a backflip within a couple of seconds and that reassures me that this should be straightforward.  Chris points out that I won't be at terminal velocity when I pull so the opening will be a bit slower than usual but will be absolutely fine.   Give it another couple of seconds compared with a usual opening.  Hooray, maybe I won't get flung about so much this time :-)
I'm going to be out at 6,000' which is way higher than I was expecting, because we're dropping accuracy jumpers out at 3,500' and Chris wants them well out of the way before I go.  The jumpers behind us are going up higher so Chris will follow me out.  

Ok, here we go.  I get to the door, look at Chris and ask if I can go. Yep, so bang! out the door, straight into a hard arch.  Quick glance at the alti, wave off and reach. I feel myself wobble slightly so push harder into the arch as I deploy the chute.  As with the previous jump, I look up as the pilot chute flies.  What's this?  A lovely gentle opening, I can actually see the canopy unfolding :-)  So much softer than the usual slam!  If this is what is meant by a snivelly opening, maybe I'll reconsider options when choosing kit of my own.....

I'd completely forgotten about Chris following me out so was a bit startled to see a canopy way below me when I did my CATTS checks - I hadn't expected to see anyone as all the accuracy jumpers would have landed whilst we were still climbing or soon afterwards.  Another quick check of the altimeter confirms I am at pretty much the same height I would have been if I'd done a normal jump from 13.5k and locked on at 6'000 so I was obviously fairly quick with my pull.  Later on the ground, Chris confirms that I was stable and checking my alti within 3 seconds and pulled at 6 seconds so definitely well within the time required to pass the level.  I was at 5,500 when I deployed so only took 500' from exit which would be perfect in the event of an aircraft emergency.  

I'm floating under canopy, relaxed and happy now that I've done my hop and pop and it's all gone according to plan.  My frequent assessments on the way down from other jumps meant I was fairly comfortable with the idea of a hop and pop from 4,500' (as per the BPA manual) so 6,000' felt fine.  And most experienced jumpers pull somewhere between 3,500 and 2,500 so even a hop and pop at 3,500 doesn't hold much terror.  
Another advantage of coming out so much lower than usual is that I'm in exactly the right place and don't need to find the landing zone or travel to my holding area, I'm right over it :-)   I drift down and discover the wind has picked up a little, so as usual, I struggle to make much headway directly into the wind.  Best not go too far past the landing area then.  I turn in at 500' and realise it's going to be a close call as to whether I actually land on the green or just fall short into the field.  No way, lol!  If I have to scrunch myself up into a little ball to get a few more feet of glide, I WILL land in that wretched landing area that keeps evading me!!  And I make it! Just!  My feet touch down on grass instead of mud and I run forward a couple of paces and punch my arms up in the air.  Yay! I did it!! Landed on my feet on the grass, finally!!  My canopy isn't quite so obliging and has landed on the field so I still get a bit muddy gathering it in but I don't care.  My landings are finally improving :-) 

Consol 2: 13 Sept 2013

Up and about by 8 ready for my briefing – a bit cloudy but very little wind.  Might brighten up a bit so Merline and I get a refresh briefing from Mark.  He decides to give us a little more instruction so we go through the flight run-in and landing patterns in a little more detail, including how to judge the landing area and how to pick a spot to actually land on (my problem seems to be that I get on a line and take potluck as to how far I will actually travel along that line before reaching the ground).  It’s less confusing for anyone who may be following me down but doesn’t make for accuracy.  Will need to be very vigilant of my airspace before trying this but the theory sounds reasonable.   We also tried out a few exercises of slightly more complicated malfunctions and how to attempt to resolve them.  Slowly building confidence in our ability to cope with the unexpected!

Unfortunately the cloud cover is still too low for students so we watch as some of the accuracy teams do some practice hops from 3,500’. 

I spend a lot of time in the cafe, chatting to people and asking about the weather conditions up in the air.  Multiple layers of cloud so it's obviously I'm not going to be jumping for a while.  Maybe the sun will burn some of it off later.  

By mid-afternoon, the sun is quite warm when it's actually visible and suddenly, I'm on the manifest.  Ok then, let's go!  Merline had other things to do and has left so I'm the only consol student on the lift, with an AFF level 2 behind me.  I had asked to do my Level 8 hop and pop to get it over with but this is complex lift with multiple drops so it was deemed easier for me to go to the top.  We drop out some accuracy jumpers at 3,500', then some CreW at 8,000'. (Canopy Relative Work - i.e. those people who think it's fun to walk on each other's canopies!!)  
A bit more confident with my exit (and still no door monster) so I'm out and stable in short order.  A bit more practice with turns and this time I try 180 degrees in each direction. Yep, I can stop and start when I want to, so they are progressing nicely.  How about a bit of a track?  Umm, where am I first?  Where do I want to track to?  I can't really see where I want to be as there is cloud cover so I turn my back to the sun and do a short track but am not confident and stop as soon as I feel myself wobbling.  Ok, forget that for now, what height am I at?  Hard arch on a heading and look for the landing area.  There it is, I swear it moves just to confuse me, lol.  

Having had another hard opening yesterday, I follow Rich's advice and tilt my head back to watch the canopy open immediately after throwing the pilot chute.  It works!  My legs are still thrown about as the canopy snatches, but my head doesn't feel like it's getting whipped off my shoulders!  And now I understand a bit more about how canopies open, it's fascinating to watch the mushroom slam out into a fully opened canopy.  These things really do want to fly.  For the first time I realise that my occasional line twists aren't actually twists from the canopy deploying out of its bag, but from me getting swung one way as the canopy opens the other way and then me swinging back around.  I swear these huge student canopies are pretty much indifferent to me, lol. 

I play with some turns in the holding area and test out how fast I'm moving over the ground upwind and downwind.  Doesn't seem to be making much difference in any direction so the winds are obviously fairly light.  Better stay fairly close to the landing area then.  

An interesting version of a landing pattern ensues, along with the familiar PLF.  When will I get the hang of not flaring too early???  I'm slightly off, but not too far and I'm pretty happy as I head towards the minibus. 

Consol 1: 12 Sept 2013

I have a new jumpsuit!  Well, new to me anyway.  For a non-girly girl, new clothing is not normally a source of excitement but the thought of not having to scrabble around for student kit that’s small enough to actually fit me vaguely sensibly is a bit of a novelty, lol.  I think I need to get a few more stand-up landings sorted before I wear it to jump in – let’s get the hire kit muddy instead, ha ha. 

Wasn’t actually expecting to jump today as the weather has been quite overcast and we spent most of the afternoon at Langar with Chris and Dawn, after Rich collected his rig from Rugby.  I haven’t done my Level 8 yet so couldn’t jump (and didn’t have my medical certificate with me anyway) so once Chris and Dawn had manifested, we headed back down the road to Sibson.  As we arrived, the minibus was just delivering a load of jumpers back to the packing shed but the area looked pretty quiet so we assumed jumping had finished for the day due to lack of people.  

We sorted the tent and then I thought I heard an announcement for anyone wanting to get on a lift so we grabbed Rich’s rig and headed over to investigate.  Sure enough, manifest were trying to get enough people together for a final lift.  Tegan had just arrived from work and was getting a refresh briefing and Grant yelled from the window to see if I wanted to go up.  Er, what? Me? Now? I’m not ready! Oh, what the heck, yes, ok then.  *Get over with Paul and Tegan and get a refresh, then get kitted up!*  Right, ok, dump all my stuff on the table, grab a vest and try to get my brain in gear. 

Duly refreshed and kitted up, we headed for the plane.  No time for nerves, Paul had told me to focus purely on a stable exit, then hold a heading until 6,000’ and normal pull at 5,500’.  No wind so slightly different brief for landing – yay, I may actually land going forwards for a change, lol.  

First surprise was the lack of door monster when the door was opened at 3,500’ for the accuracy landers.  My brain registered the door as being similar to the wind tunnel and didn’t fire off all my panic buttons for once.  Same again at 13,500’ – no door monster.  Barely had time to absorb this fact before Rich had popped out of the door and Paul was beckoning me.  Uh oh, haven’t actually planned this exit, bit late now! So I crouch by the door and I can’t see anything familiar.  Like a landing zone! [That could just be because I didn’t actually stick my head out of the door and look down, lol.  Not many landing zones materialise several miles perpendicular to the plane!!].  Um, how do I get out?  Dive exit? Face the front of the plane? Tail of the plane? Um, you’re over-thinking this, just GO! So I just launched myself out of the door into a hard arch and it was fine.  My eyes still don’t register that first second but my body knows what to do so I respond to the physical inputs until my vision catches up.  And I’m on a lovely stable heading towards the setting sun, that is hovering above the cloud base.  Woah, what’s that?  A flash of colour in front of me.  Has someone fired their reserve and that’s the bag falling [not actually likely to be a bag falling at 120 mph, but I’m not used to seeing anything other than instructors when in freefall !].  Not a bag, a bird maybe?  Very big, and bright yellow markings? Oh, it must be one of the jumpers who was in the plane behind me, I fall relatively slowly and this person is definitely in a hard dive.  (When I got down, I found out it was Greg, one of the wingsuit flyers, probably doing something in the region of 200+ mph!!).  

So where am I?  Wait a minute, the landing zone will be with my back to the sun so I need to turn around.  The clouds in front of me are a brilliant white as I pull at 5,500 and it is only as I deploy that I suddenly realise the cloud is a lot thicker than I was expecting and I can’t actually see the landing area or the airfield.  Another hard opening which distracts me for a moment, then I’m looking around for Tegan who will be in the air somewhere above me.  I spot her as I drop into the clouds so decide to avoid any aggressive moves until we’re both back out.  Except that the cloud lasts for much longer than I was anticipating and I’m confused as to which direction I’m heading in.  3,500’ and I can’t see the sun and can’t see the ground properly.  Not liking this!  Where do I go?  Find a field, any field and work it out from there.  Ok, the cloud is a bit wispier, but it’s gloomy, can I see anything yet? Where’s the caravan park?  Where’s the runway?  And I discover I’m a bit off course, but not so far I can’t get back comfortably.  I hover in the holding area for a couple of minutes and work out where I think I want to land.  With no wind, I’ll need to go past the landing area and work my way back up – something of a novelty!  I don’t want to go too far past, so do some S turns to lose height without covering too much ground.  Turning back into wind, I can see several canopies on the landing area and a big landing pad for the accuracy competition.  Not being too confident of my landing skills, I decide to just give everyone a wide berth and head to the edge of the landing area.  Coming in to land somewhat faster than normal, I find it very hard to judge my height. Wait for it, wait for it, feet level with the top of the fence, start to flare, no, wait, I’m too high, ok, hold it there.  Right, 3-2-1-flare, oops, still a couple of feet too high.  PLF coming up! 

When I got back to the bus, Rich reckoned I’d started the flare at about 20’ – so much for feet level with the fence then, lol.  Shame there isn’t some way I can practice the flare height from a rig in the hangar…..

Overall, I was happy with the jump – my first time up with no radio and only my second landing without any guidance at all.  So lots to think about, lots to practice but still early days :-)

Drop off my rig in the packing shed and head to manifest to actually pay for the jump as there hadn’t been any time before I went up.  Consols are £40 each or all 10 for £360 including kit hire. 

Tunnel time! Sun 8th Sept

On Dawn's advice, I decided that getting some early practice for my FS1 during my consol jumps would be a good idea and would give me something to focus on.  So yesterday afternoon, I went back to Airkix in Basingstoke to meet Tarn again for more coaching :-)

I was a little nervous to start with as I wasn't sure I'd remember all of the things we'd gone over the last time, never mind cope with a load of new instructions.  And as before, Tarn was brilliant, putting me at ease and reminding me endlessly to 'breathe' and 'relax', lol.  

It was a bit different this time, as I'd actually done freefall and was more confident in my ability to turn and to hold an arch.  Though now I'm relearning my arch because a hard arch is for dropping lower then a 'core pull' and rounded shoulders is for rising (equivalent to increasing and decreasing my fall rate in free fall) so I need a more relaxed arch for neutral.  

 And after the first rather tentative cycle of 2.5 minutes, it was much easier in the following cycles to just focus on Tarn and follow her instructions.  So I learned to go up, hover, drop down a bit, hover and then we worked up to moving forwards and backwards, with me docking on Tarn at one side of the tunnel, then dragging her back to get the feel for the body position.  I say 'docking' in the loosest possible sense - a panicked grab might be more accurate for the first couple, lol.  Though after a couple of practice goes, I figured out how to stop myself from crashing into her and was able to take hold of her presented forearm more gently.  Mainly by watching her like a hawk and doing as I was told :-D
I'm fairly confident at going backwards - trainers bumping into the tunnel wall aren't really that scary and I can't see the wall coming.  Going forwards was definitely more tentative - face-planting a tunnel wall or Tarn are not particularly appealing options, lol. 

Stepping into the tunnel and dropping into a stable hover turned out to be a little easier than I was expecting.  Definitely a LOT more graceful than the scrabbling crouched launches I'd been attempting on my first session, most of which ended up with my upper body flying and my legs still sticking out of the door until the tunnel rat dragged me bodily fully into the wind.....  

So far so good, then Tarn announced I was going in by myself and should watch her for instructions through the window.  Say what??  By myself?? She obviously trusts me more than I trust me!  But in the event it was fine.  A couple of wobbles but mostly I was able to do the little circuits she set me - start close to the window and get stable, rise up, hover stable, go backwards to the other side, hover stable, drop down, hover stable, forward to the starting position.  The only times it went a bit wrong were when I lost focus for a moment and stopped looking at her.  And now I've also learned to fly myself to the door so I can get out :-)

OK, this seems to be going quite well.  Lots to practice on my consols. Oh wait, Tarn's not finished with me yet.  Side sliding is next.  We haven't talked this through outside, so I'm on my tummy on the floor of the sealed corridor of the wind tunnel with Tarn explaining the leg movements and guiding me into position.  This could be challenging.....

The phrase 'trying to run before I can walk' comes to mind with this exercise, lol.  I can slide to the left quite well, but my right leg seems to be somewhat reluctant to play ball, ha ha.  This is the same leg that wants to curl instead of being symmetrically straight with my left leg and has a tendency to make me spin when I forget about it.  But I did manage to move both left and right eventually, so more stuff to practice.  I'm going to have to be VERY careful of my altitude because these 2.5 minute slots race by and they're 3 times longer than I'll actually get in free fall !

Overall, it was fantastic session - I learned loads and can't wait to get back up in the air to start trying them out in some space.  I only had one really mad out-of-control moment where I flipped onto my back and before I could attempt to control it with a hard arch, I was being smothered by a tunnel rat, lol.  Though I did get back over and got to the door - I can't play the video on my laptop for some reason so I'll have to wait to see what I actually did that caused it.  I suspect an overly aggressive pull of the arm when attempting not to bump into the wall of the tunnel.  But that might be quite fun to try when I have some space.......

AFF level 7: Sun 01 Sep 2013

Solo dive exit - Paul; backloop with recovery; tracking on heading with a carving turn at the end; 360 degree turns.

How on earth am I going to have time to fit all this in??? I didn’t even manage to start any turns before getting to 7000’ and having to signal “no more” so how will I do this?  Talked it over with Rich and worked out how much time I probably lost with going unstable and recovering twice.  Also got a tip to start the backloop on the hill as soon as I felt stable, rather than waiting to level out.  I’ve been stable on every single exit, they’re not looking for that, they’re looking for recovery :-p And don’t hesitate between manoeuvres, that will lose several hundred, if not a thousand feet each time.  So – dive exit, hard arch – stable – back loop – hard arch – level, check altitude. Tracking on heading.  Carving turn at end, check altitude. Wait for Paul’s signal, then 360 degree turn and stop.  Check altitude.  Possibly another turn the other way.  “no more” at 7000’. Okaaay – nice theory, how’s it going to work in practice???

We’re not last out this time, there’s Chris and Georgie on a tandem being videoed for Chris’s assessment on a new type of canopy. So I will have to be aware of someone else around too.  Deep breaths, it’s ok, this is fun! Honest! Deep breaths again.  Then Paul tells me *all you have to do to pass this one is pull, that’s it!  We know you can do the rest* and suddenly I feel so much better.  *oh, and you have to smile too. Don’t forget to hard arch either – I let you off wearing the weight belt :-)*. And then we’re in the door.  

And somehow, it all went according to the plan in my head.  I absolutely nailed it! I was still at over 11,000’ when I started my tracking – did a few seconds on heading, then went back to hard arch. Did a couple of seconds more and carved off to the left. Stable on heading again and Paul is in front of me looking like a Cheshire cat, he’s grinning so hard.  Big thumbs up and I’m grinning insanely too.  He indicates turn left so I spin neatly round to face him again – still loads of height. The other way – so round I go again.  Still 9000’, lol. What do I do now?? I’m laughing my head off and he is too, no question that I’ve passed.  I stay on heading until 6000 just falling stable, then pull.  I’m sure they heard my “yee hah” on the ground!! :-)

  

I wanted to come down all by myself so Paul had promised not to talk unless I was really looking in trouble.  Having waited all day for the winds to drop again, it was quickly apparent that I was probably very borderline for being allowed up again as I was struggling to make any headway at all.  I got to my holding area but wasn’t moving forwards, in fact, I seemed to be drifting backwards.   

I tried to spiral down faster but that lost me a lot of ground after the first 360 degree turn so I stopped that.  By 3000’, it was apparent that a downwind leg was out of the question, I was coming in backwards!  All I could do was keep facing into wind and just keep trimming the canopy to stop any more drift away from the landing area.  I spent a lot of time looking over my shoulder to see where I might be going to land, then crabbing sideways to avoid a hedge and a lane.  It’s going to be a long walk back!  Still nothing on the radio so I’m probably doing the right thing – not a lot else I can do really, and I know Pete will be watching me from the tower so they’ll know where I land.

Down, down, back and back – how do I judge my height going backwards?? And can I even PLF??  Turbulence at 1000’ and I’m bouncing all over the place, trying to keep crabbing to the left to stay closer to the landing area.  Down and down, not so fast backwards now – going to land on a slope in a harvested cornfield, great, could have done without that! Ok, legs together, this is definitely going to be a roll of some sort.  Wait for it, wait for it – Paul is yelling *flare* on the radio but I’m definitely too high. A second after I think I should is when I need to flare, so…. Now, steady, yes! Still flared slightly early but very gentle landing with a tumble backwards and a hard pull on my brake to collapse the canopy.  Managed to free the brake line and feed all the lines to the slider all the way to the canopy so picked up the whole thing very neatly and slung it over my shoulder.  What a fabulous end to the day! 

Back to the bus and everyone is standing around, enjoying the last of the evening sun.  It was the last lift of the day and I am the last one down.  And look at Paul’s beaming face.  Even better, Rich was on my load doing a 5-way, so he’s there too.  One look at my face tells it all – I’ve passed, I’m done, just 10 consols and Level 8 to go.  And Paul is still beaming!