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.
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