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Last Updated: 16th January 1999
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| Date: 8/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Exit OK.. Got stable. Delta
track went OK but wobbled right on termination. Tried a second deltra-track to avoid cloud
and went full-circle. Fell into cloud at 6,000 feet. Pulled at 3,500 feet. Good landing. Ian Smith |
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This was the "delta track" practice run. The first delta track (held for 5 seconds) went surprisingly well, although I felt this was due more to good luck than good control. When I came out of the track I wobbled to the right and lost my initial heading. Looking down I suddenly realised that a huge cloud was moving across below me and having heard Mick previously tell a student via radio to "Get out of the cloud" decided to try and track away from the damned thing. Alas, I panicked and the delta track was a mess, wobbling round to the right in a 360 degrees circle. I fell into the cloud at 5,500 feet. It was like being in a very dense fog. The altimeter was visible but not much else was. Stared furtively at the altimeter hoping to clear the cloud soon so that I could pull at my intended altitude of 4,500 feet. The altimeter slid down to 5,000 feet, 4,500 feet, 4,000 feet (oh shit!), 3,500 feet. Still in cloud! Nothing for it (I decided) but to pull. At 3,000 feet I looked up to see a strange shadowy canopy unfurling in what looked like the right shape but it was very hard to make out. Then I cleared the cloud and the canopy had opened fine. Phew! Made me realise how important it is to get delta tracks polished and working correctly to avoid obstacles like thick clouds, but it was kind of fun to fall through one.
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| Date: 8/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Arched a bit late on exit,
otherwise OK. Good delta track. Nice slow 360 degree right hand turn. Fast 360 degree left
hand turn. Held heading and pulled at 4,000 feet. Landing OK. Ian Smith |
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| Was surprised when the delta track went so well.
The right hand turn was nice and slow and controlled but then the left hand turn was much
faster than I'd expected and the speed took me by surprise. I pulled at 4,000 feet, just
before falling through a very small wispy cloud. Slightly miscalculated my height for the
downwind leg and as a result landed on the beer line - which was VERY muddy. Doh!
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| Date: 9/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Good exit. Too tense on getting
stable which lead to a few wonky turns. Stable at 11,000 feet. First practice pull fumbled
about a bit. Second and third practice pulls were fine. Held heading to 5,000 feet. Waved
off at 4,500 feet and pulled smoothly. Good landing. Ian Smith |
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Sebastian students all start off with BOC ("bottom of container") ripcords, but Headcorn starts students with the easier hip ripcord, which necessitated changing to a bottom of container ripcord before graduation. Mick briefed me on the new location and I spent some time practicing reaching for the new location (Mick: "Just find your arse and move your hand up to the ripcord") on the ground. In the air the practice pulls went OK and I felt happy with the new position. The landing was better on this jump and (at last!) my landing was a proper stand-up one instead of a PLF (Parachute Landing Fall).
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| Date: 9/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Good exit. Stable at 12,000
feet. Delta track was good for 4 seconds but then started to turn to the left. Box
position. Slow, jerky right hand turn. Box position. Left turn. Waved and pulled at 4,000
feet. Landing OK. Ian Smith |
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| I decided to go through the whole AFF Level 7
jump in sequence ready for the "official" one. My delta tracks are still very
"hit and miss". I fumbled a bit on the pull as well so the BOC position is
taking a bit of getting used too. My landings are still a bit inaccurate too. I tend to
stay downwind a bit too long and then struggle for the central position I was aiming for
on landing.
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| Date: 9/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Good exit. First delta track
branched left so terminated early and retried. Fine on second time. Right hand turn was a
bit jerky. Left hand turn was far too fast and ended up being three x 360 degree turns
instead of one! Got stable but totally lost it during wave-off and span like a helicopter!
Tried box position to stablise and then pulled but was still spinning quite fast. Nice
stand-up landing on new canopy. Ian Smith |
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| This was actually supposed to be an AFF level 7
retake but Mick told me to write it up as a consolidation jump to avoid problems with my
log book. It really was a disasterous jump. I had wanted a bit more time to
"polish" my performance but Mick was keen to get on and get the Level 7 out the
way and so came up with me. Of course the delta track went all wrong so I lost time doing
it properly a second time. The left turn was a real mess and I was mad that something
which had gone so well when on my own should mess up so badly. Then my nervous fumble for
the BOC ripcord went completely to pieces. I wasn't sure why, but Mick says I just
completely lost it with my legs, leaning them both to the left as I went in for the pull.
This jump was like going back to my failed Level 5's and I was very down about it. The
next jump was supposed to be a conversion to "throw away" instead of ripcord
(the pilot chute that opens the main parachute is manually thrown into the air, instead of
relying on a ripcord that releases a pilot chute with a strong spring inside to release it
into the air) but Mick cancelled this because throw away is far less forgiving of an
"unstable" position than a ripcord pull. I was very deflated and mad at myself
after this jump and it made me feel very nervous about jumping again because it made me
realise how dangerous I could be to myself in the air. The only good thing about the jump
was that it was my first on a Sabre 210 canopy. I'd been jumping a Sabre 230 up to now but
had been advised to order a Sabre 190 as anything any bigger would quickly become
"boring" once I'd become more confident at canopy control. Mick wasn't overly
keen on me changing canopy because the 210 is in much greater demand than the 230, but
agreed when I gave my reasons. I was nervous about landing it but it was REALLY peachy.
For the first time ever I felt actually in control of the canopy and the landing was a
beautiful tip-toe stand-up one. Was it a fluke? Time will tell!
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| Date: 9/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Good exit. Stayed "down the
tube" the whole dive. Waved and pulled at 4000 feet. Good landing. Ian Smith |
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| This was a "get your nerves back" dive
and I wanted to prove to myself I could stay stable and maintain heading so it was a very
dull skydive in the sense that I stayed "down the tube" for the whole dive! The
wave-off and pull at 4000 feet went fine and the landing was again great. Perfect stand-up
landing. I love this canopy!
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| Date: 10/11/98 | Altitude: 10 ft | Orlando/Wind Tunnel | ||||
| 5 "skydives" of about
2 minutes in the wind tunnel. Came out somewhat battered and bruised! Ian Smith |
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The tunnel has a viewing gallery so friends can laugh and wave at you, but unfortunately there are no mirrors so it's very hard to work out where your legs are and what you're doing wrong when you're in the tunnel yourself - a real wasted opportunity, I feel. Over the course of 5 tunnel dives most agreed that the tunnel had improved their skydiving. One guy who'd had terrible problems with turns was able to sort them out in the tunnel because his instructor was able to see and control him much more easily than would be possible in the air. Another AFF Level I guy who'd had terrible problems with body position improved beyond all recognition over his 5 tunnel dives (although in the air he tended to completely freeze with fright and ended up quitting after his level 2 the next day). All except me were agreed that the tunnel had been a very positive experience. Why did I disagree? Basically, it took away what little confidence I had. I seemed to spend the whole time bouncing on the grate on the bottom of the tunnel waiting for the wind (or Chad) to "lift" me. Because my position is not good I just kept hitting the sides and although everyone tells you not to react to hitting the sides for fear of going unstable - you try it when you keep hitting something solid! Easier said than done. I got near the top of the tunnel at one stage but hit the side with enough force to twist onto my back. Wham! You suddenly fall 8 feet onto a metal grate with some force. My ribs were aching for a week afterwards. The tunnel is also VERY tiring because your skydives are lasting that much longer and you're expending more effort trying not to hit the sides. After 5 "jumps" I was absolutely shattered, as were the others who jumped in the tunnel. How Chad coped with being in there (standing up!) for 2 hours I will never know. I do know he looked like the living dead by the end of it. I shall definitely return to the tunnel to see how it helps now that I am flying better in the air. Hopefully it will improve my skydiving. But if you suffer from confidence problems or have problems with staying stable without forward or backward movement I'd say don't expect miracles from the tunnel. I felt my time in there this time round set me back quite a bit and really made me question whether it was worth my continuing. Friends say my "position" improved between my first "dive" in there and my fifth but I'm not convinced I agree with them. And by the end of the fifth "dive" I was too tired to care!
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| Date: 11/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Good exit. Back-flip - fell off
and to the side. Second back-flip fine. Held box position for 1000 feet. 360 degree right
hand turn - still slow and jerky. Stayed in box position from 8000 feet to 4000 feet.
Waved and pulled at 4000 feet. Landed OK. Ian Smith |
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| This was a fairly dull straightforward dive to
try and give my confidence a boost after the wind tunnel experience. Although the pull was
smooth I had twists on opening and it was scary how long it took to get them out. This
jump was on the Sabre 210 again and I flared too high but still managed a stand-up
landing. This canopy is a beaut!
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| Date: 11/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Good exit. 360 right turn. 360
left turn. Box position for 1000 feet. 360 degree right. 360 degree left. Waved and pulled
at 4000 feet. Good landing. Ian
Smith |
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| This was the "magic" dive that
everyone talks about - where for no apparent reason everything falls into place. The turns
were not only smooth and controlled but I didn't have to do much to make them work. It was
almost as if the turns happened just by me thinking about them. Absolute magic! This was
my last jump on the Sabre 210 (so many people needing it to jump meant that I can only get
2 jumps a day in with this canopy, whereas I can get up to 5 jumps with the larger Sabre
230). Under advice I tried a 2-stage flare to see if I could break my "stand up
landings" consistency. I couldn't and the 2 stage flare worked really nicely. I hope
my Sabre 190 flies like this when I get it! It will be interesting to see how my landings
change when I move back to the Sabre 230!
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| Date: 12/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Good exit. Backflip OK (2nd
attempt). Delta track OK (3rd attempt). 360 degree right turn good. Below 6000 feet so
didn't attempt left turn and held heading to wave and pull at 4000 feet. Landing OK. Ian Smith |
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| I feel I'm slowly getting there (but
"slowly" is the operative word). I can't seem to get the backflips and delta
tracks right first time and am worried about the inconsistencies, although turns are now
"sorted"! How did landing on the larger Sabre 230 go? Back to square one - I
landed on my knees!
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| Date: 12/11/98 | Altitude: 14000 ft | Sebastian/S.Otter | ||||
| Good exit. Good backflip. Delta
track veered to left. Good 360 degree right and left turns. Wave and pull at 4000 feet.
Good landing. Ian Smith |
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| Everything went well except for the delta track.
I just can't seem to hold this properly for long enough, although I'm not sure why. I had
originally arranged with UK instructor Dave Howerski (stationed at Sebastian for 6 months)
to do some "one on one" training with him when I got through AFF but time was
running out. He was waiting for another student to arrive and I explained that I was
having real problems with the delta tracking. He kindly offered to come up with me on the
next dive and just watch to see what the problem might be. Hopefully I'll get some good
feedback to help me take a real AFF Level 7 soon - time is running out!
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Ian D Smith, 15 Dean Court, Thorncroft Street, London SW8
2BQ, United Kingdom
Tel: (0171) 7876-123 Fax: (0171) 6420-754
Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk
