Shit happens

No instruction today, no arrangements to do 4-way, or 16-way, or anything. Just showing up. From the moment I walk into the hangar, Maus looks at me, and I say "yes, first load?" It turns out we are 7, different skill levels, but a very nice jump.

For the next jump, our group has increased to 10, it gets more difficult to organise a jump that is challenging as well as within reach for everybody. We only do 4 points. Better split it up for the next jump.

We split into a 4-way and a 6-way. I'm on the 6-way, and we can brief a more complex jump now. I propose an open accordion exit, and one of the others (whom I never saw before this morning, this is only our second jump together) asks if I am quite sure about that exit. A few minutes later, back on the ground, he agrees that it is indeed not a difficult exit, if everybody does his job and flies his slot. The whole jump was smooth and very nice.

Another 6-way. We exit a star (we funnel it), then donut flake -> donut flake, and we continue with an inter to in-out. Next is a full donut, and back to one. We recover well after the funnel exit, and there is real rhythm in the jump. Under canopy, I am still smiling. I don't go for the usual in-front-of-the-hangar landing, because it is a bit turbulent there, I decide to fly a good 50 meter further away. While I retire from the landing pattern, I see something in the corner of my eye. There is someone under a partly open main, with the reserve hanging out of the harness, not inflated. It was the AAD firing that caught my eye. Things go quickly now. The reserve inflates, but not completely, both canopies are intertwined, it becomes a kind of downplane with two half inflated canopies. It goes down fast (much faster than me anyway) and it spins fast. Ooh shit, too low for cutaway now, ooh fucking big shit. He hits the ground. He must be dead. I fly towards the spot, land some 50 m short. I see Erwin a bit further, already on his mobile phone, so I run towards him. I expect to find a broken body, but he is conscious, he talks ("my canopy spiralled, I don't know what happened, it spiralled so fast" and so on). No visible injuries at first sight. Woow, that's one lucky bastard. It is the same guy I told you about last week, when I saw him having a line-over and cutaway. His leg is caught up in the lines of the reserve. So that's why he went down with it.

We later hear he has some back injuries, but nothing too serious. I wasn't on duty, and I'm not a rigger, so no paperwork or talking to the police for me this time. Just a few beers. By the time I leave, the police are still taking statements (this is parachute-murder country, they want to make absolutely sure there is no sabotage involved), and somebody has put a few stickers with the club's logo on their car :-).

4-way and some

4-way with Door, Jean and Sus today. I am tail. We start with a smooth one: open accordion, bow, tee, zipper, phalanx. Exit is great, and although we didn't jump together for quiet a long time, the jump is smooth, with a nice rhythm.

Next jump we do a few randoms and block 12, bundy-bundy (but with 360° for the front piece, we don't feel like working). Not my favourite block. At one page, we have a funny mess-up : Door and me, the tail piece, we go low, and the front piece was counting on being stopped by us, so they fly by and make a 720° before they manage to stop :-).

OK, now it is time for the fun stuff: just four points, 14 (bipole-bipole) and 6 (stardian-stardian). I love a straight bipole exit, it goes remarkably well, first 540° is completely up the hill. I need to work to stay in position, but I manage. One of the bipoles, I see Jean not starting his 540°, but waiting for Door to turn passed him: he knocks him on his helmet, makes a 180°, and arrives just in time. And swinging your piece around in the stardian, well, that's my idea of fun... Back on the ground Jean denies that he only did 180°, nobody believes him.

We all liked the previous one very much, so we go for something similar: 16 (compressed-box) followed by the obsolete zipper-star. I know about the problems with this block, but I still think it's a pity that it's no longer in the divepool. It has always been one of my favourites. Exit is great, turning towards that box, really steep on the hill, yes! Again we manage a very nice rhythm. Hmmm, this is what I missed during the AFF season. A guy on our load has a line over, and has to do a cutaway. He is still on student gear, so his briefing is not to bother with the stuff, just take care of himself. I see it all happen. Sus also saw it, he follows the canopy, so I start following the freebag. Shit, it comes down in a piece of land with horses in it. I'm not going to land between them! So I land a bit further on, but by the time I am there, two horses are already happily chewing on the freebag. I shoo them away, and recuperate it.

Sus has to leave early, but I still feel like jumping, so I do a quick one with two low timers. It's nice to see them being pushed and liking it.

Sunset load is a tracking jump with 9 or 10 people. A very nice close of the day (although I go low in the end). In the meantime, we have received the news that Hayabusa has won the military world championship. They beat the Golden Knights with a one point difference, and they set a new world record while doing it (41!). Well done, guys, congrats!

16-way

At 9.30 am, everybody is ready for briefing, only the organiser was 30 sec late:-). First jump of the day is an easy one, everybody's facing in all the time, "hardest" slots are a few cats in the second point. It's been a long time since we have flown together and it shows. The jump as a whole is not bad, but could have been much better. I am rather disgusted with my own performance. Exit is slow, my dive is terrible, I deserve to get axed for the dock I make, and I react slow on the key to the second point.

In the meantime, it became very busy on the DZ. We have a two hour wait, before we can make our second jump. The jump is more challenging. Base is an 8 way, a round with 4 people facing in and the other four in doughnut in between them (like the base for a ruby, with two extra people sideways), and then the base becomes an 8 way doughnut. I am front floater this time, my favourite exit position for this kind of jump. Base makes a 45° turn while building, so we (outer people) have to work a bit. Second point is not complete: there is a collision, and we end up with a 7 way doughnut, and a nice 14 way. I am still not too pleased with my own flying. On the first point, I didn't notice that the base wasn't finished yet, one grip was still missing, so I grip too soon. On the second point, base (well, what's left of it) is finished when I grip, but it is not a well-flying formation yet, so again a bit too early.

We decide to do the same jump again, but we have a three hour wait, before we can go again. And that proves too long to stay focused. We start of well, all the floaters have a good exit, the first point builds OK, cleaner than the first time, but there already are a few minor fall rate wobbles. While building the second point, this grows into a level problem and the centre doughnut collapses. Over and out. It was my best flying of the day, but I choose our poorest jump for it. Pity. There is little wind, and somebody pointed the arrow that indicates the landing direction downwind, I like it!

And that's it for the day. Although it's only 4.00 pm, all the loads for the rest of the day are complete. :-(( It feels too early for beer, but what can you do?

My favourite playground

After another week of rain and mist, it is again a glorious weekend! Sun, blue skies, hmmm... Gert, another instructor, has talked some people from his work into doing a skydive. We start with his boss. Lots of joking ("if you need a pay rise, this is the moment to ask for it", etc.), they obviously get along very well. His exit and body position are OK, but his practice pulls are way off. Each time, I have to work to bring his hand to the right place, and while doing so, each time the formation turns about 90°. I can see the cameraman having trouble cause he has to film into the sun, so I turn the formation back in the right direction as soon as I can, but hey, first things first. At pull time, he is a little slow in starting the works, and again he can't find the pull. Time's up, so I have to pull for him. Pity, his mind was on the task, but he couldn't get the mechanics right. Under canopy, he completely disregards my steering him, flies a good circuit, and lands beautifully.

Because there is a shortage of cameramen, we have to wait before we can go up with the next guy. I can just sneak in a funjump. I exit first, all the rest of the load are students and tandems. Backtracking, some very slow barrelrolls, head down, it's my favourite playground up there :-) All the others on the load open higher, and are under big canopies, so there is no one around when I come in for landing, and I make it a nice downwinder.

Gert's second colleague is a younger man. He doesn't arch, his legs are completely tucked in, but he enjoys it, and makes a clean pull. Like the first one, under canopy, he disregards my steering instructions, flies a good circuit, and lands beautifully. Maybe I have to check how they were briefed :-)

Next is level 4 again with last weeks' skinny guy. This is his 5th attempt (and we are in the plane with another level 4, who is on his 6th attempt already). He exits OK, As soon as I release him, he starts to slowly turn, he makes a strange move with his hips to try and stop it, almost falls over, and then at once, click, he's got it. He arches and is in full control, gives me a big smile. I give him thumbs up, and the rest of the jump is a piece of cake.

An hour later, we go up again for his level 5. First part of the jump is good, but then he starts pushing out his legs too much. Instead of turning, he is flying forward in big circles. He doesn't see my legs-in signal, so when I move to his side at pull time, I really have to side-slip hard to stay in position. But it is great to watch how he is aware of the air around him, and how he tries to work with it.

Apparently, lots of people had their birthday this week, so I phone home to tell that maybe, just maybe, I might be just a tiny little bit late in coming home this evening.

Bad luck, or ... ?

Yesterday, it rained all day long, but when I looked out of the window this morning, guess what... Blue sky! And what's even better, yesterday was fully booked with a big group of first jumpers, while today there's a loose bunch of higher levels. I like the occasional level 1, but a whole day of nurturing, well, it can get on my nerves sometimes. I prefer "the real stuff" :-)

First thing, they give me a long skinny guy for a level 4. The previous jumpmaster made a note in his logbook, about the fall rate being really slow. And it took him 8 jumps to pass his levels 1-2-3. Hmmm, I like a challenge now and then. His exit is awful. I can't hold it, so I take him on a salto to position him on the relative wind. My first funnel exit (with an AFF at least) of the season (a first, beer is in order). I have to work him in a reasonable body postion, we're at 8000 ft before I can go in front of him. His legs are still very asymmetric, but he is well arched, so I release him. He makes an uncontrolled 360 and I pick up grips again. He looks completely helpless (flabbergasted?).

Next I take time off instructing for Mirka's 500th jump. It will be a 10-way, and we brief stuff like a doughnut with her in the middle, an open accordion, with her splitting it apart, and of course she may pull in the formation, with the other nine of us in a big O around her. We funnel the exit (second jump, second funnel, what's going on today), but it is a very relaxed and fun dive. We even manage to complete it. Ok, the star wasn't completely finished, but hey, back on the ground, it's smiles and kisses everywhere.

Skinny guy again for another attempt at level 4. Exit is still lousy, but way better then his first attempt. His body position is better now, but he is completely tensed up. I release him while still beside him. He starts to turn slightly. I stay in place beside him, and let him gently bump with his left leg against my head to stop him from starting to slide, once, second bump. Third time, I move back a little bit to let his legs pass and to see what will happen, and yep, it accelerates, it's a spin, I have to stop him. I signal him to loosen up, and he stretches his legs, so the remainder of the jump, we fly forwards :-)

Our club operates three dropzones, and the next man did a level 1 on another of our DZ's, and he tells me he was encouraged to continue his training on our DZ. He lives about halfway between the two locations, and his previous instructor told him the ride would be easier if he changed DZ. He has to take level 1 again, his logbook gives no details, and all he can remember himself from that first jump is that his instructor had to pull for him. Well, he manages to make the pull himself this time, so there is definitely improvement, but the road is gonna be long and bumpy...

Skinny guy again, third attempt at level 4. Exit is OK this time. When I release, he starts to slide again, but after about 180°, he manages to control it, good, I fly in front of him, thumbs up. When he wants to start his first 90° turn, he stretches his arms out in front of him, and pushes his one hand 10 cm lower than the other. It doesn't turn, but it sure makes for a dead slow fall rate. And I'm positive this is not how I told him to do it :-) He starts wobbling all over the place, almost falls over, so I have to stabilise him. Under canopy, I go in half brakes, and manage to land only a minute or so before him.

It is late afternoon already, and Brussels traffic control gives us a one hour holding. Mirka starts paying beers, and of course that's an offer I can't refuse. I wonder if it is just bad luck, that lately the majority of my students have been making not-so-good jumps. Or maybe it is some kind of "end of season tiredness" on my part?

Brothers

Can't stay today, I have to leave at noon, so I just arranged for two quick jumps, with two brothers. Theyboth did a tandem last year, and promised to come back once a year for the rest of their lives. I don't know about the rest of their lives, but for this first year at least, they have kept their promise. They took a first jump course yesterday, and are going to make an AFF jump now. They brought their wives, kids, parents, nephews, nieces, neighbours, friends and a few more. A bunch of people, all determined to enjoy this day, and all (apart from the two brothers) drinking champagne already, at 9.30 in the morning.

First brother, the leader of the gang, goes up first, we're in the second load. His jump goes well, he enjoys it tremendously, lands safely. His kid runs up to him with a glass of champagne, even before he starts fieldpacking. Load 4 is the second brother. He is more nervous, exits, arches, but that's it. No GASP, no PP's, no altichecks, ... nobody home. At 6k, he wakes up, checks alti, signals, and pulls, at 5500 exactly. Maybe a bit minimalistic, but a good jump in my book: he pulled, at the planned altitude, with good body position. Under canopy, he follows the directions I give him with the arrow, but with a delay. Something like 10 seconds pass each time between me turning the arrow and him steering to follow it. A bit strange, but I manage to put him on the ground in the middle of the field.

When he gets back, he has this glazed look in his eyes, an estranged smile all over his face. We high five, he says "Wooooow", and gulps down his first glass of many.

Indian summer

Monday to Friday, weather was awful. But come weekend, come sunshine. It's a glorious Saturday morning, and I team up with Pascal for the whole day. We're on the first load with a level 3. It's his third attempt, and from his logbook, we can see that he starts of his jumps OK, but can't hold it together till the end of the free fall. And indeed, same this time: rather OK from 13k till 8k, starts wobbling, and at 7k we have to grab him, or he would have been on his back. I can still smell the morning freshness when I'm under canopy. Autumn can be beautiful.

Next is a woman, the girlfriend of a long time friend of mine, a fellow skydiver, whom I first jumped with almost 15 years ago. Everything I tell her, he can tell her too, but he has the good sense to stay out of the way, while we are briefing her, and he doesn't come asking if he can be on the jump. It's her level 2. The jump is not very good (she is too eager, wants to do too much and too quickly), but good enough to pass her to the next level.

Then a young bloke with a face full of piercings. He is about 1.70 meter tall, and weighs 94 kilos. I put on my weight belt, fully loaded, and woohoo do I need it! It is a level 2, and I exit from the inside. By the time my feet leave the plane, my arms are already going well over 100 mph (that's what it feels like anyway). His heels are touching his ass and his knees are lower than his pelvis: we have to work hard to keep the formation stable. Next, under canopy, he's off to la-la land: no reaction at all to our steering, he lands about 2 km away from the designated area, but he is lucky: our landing area is huge, it stretches for about 2.5 km in that direction.

Level three again with the same man from today's first jump. Again, he starts of well, and deteriorates during the jump. Near the end he is steadily turning, almost 360° in 1000 ft. Very strange, most people get better through the jump, they learn. Not him. I believe he thinks too much. Instead of trying to feel the air, he is trying to remember everything that all the instructors he had until now have told him. And in the process, he fixates on too many details at once and gradually looses it.

And to end the day, level three with my friends' girl. She makes a good jump, much more relaxed, much smoother than her previous jump. I love it, flying next to her, and looking on while she makes a great jump. There is no wind at all, I love to land with a bit of speed...

It's only 6 o'clock, but I call it a day. Warm, sun, beer... the simple life :-)