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?
1 comment:
Just found this on Google news:
Tehran based aviation and pilot training company, PAAviation www.paaviation.com has recently opened the world's first Muslim skydiving centre. Called the Shahab skydiving centre, the facility plays host to male and female instructors and students. Up until now, Muslim women have been prevented from skydiving, largely due to Islamic regulations. Only 5 months ago, Pakistan's first female tourism minister Nilofar Bakhtiar, was forced to resign after participating in a tandem skydive with a male instructor. (visit: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,274355,00.html for the story) As the vast majority of the worlds skydiving instructors are male, Muslim women have had virtually no opportunity to take part in one of the worlds most thrilling and adrenaline pumping sports. Muslim women are prohibited from skydiving with male instructors, due to the fact that their bodies would be intimately positioned whilst harnessed together. As a means of allowing Muslim women to participate in skydiving, PAAviation have specifically recruited female instructors, uniquely allowing Muslim women, for the first time to experience the thrill and exhilaration of tandem skydiving.
This I am sure most will agree, has been long overdue for Muslim women and will be an important women's sporting and recreational activity in the Middle East. Needless to say, this breaks the mould of the stereotypical and repressed view of Iranian and Muslim women, held by some in the west. In addressing the current debate on women's rights in Iran, the example of skydiving demonstrates that women are free and equal, providing their activities take place within an Islamic framework - The Islamic framework applies equally to men and women.
A brand new British made, Britten-Norman Islander aircraft is used for our skydiving operations. The Islander aircraft is widely regarded as one of the safest and most reliable aircraft in use for skydiving, worldwide.
We are located at Payam International Airport, just 60km from Tehran City Centre. We have British and European instructors with full USPA and BPA international skydiving certification, ensuring that our male and female students will be trained with the highest standards of safety and professionalism.
Students are required to pre-book the date and time of the jump and upon completion of their booking, they can proceed to the skydive "Dropzone" at Payam Airport. On the day of the jump, our instructors give a pre-flight safety briefing class, which explains exactly what happens during the skydive. Once the safety briefing is complete, the aircraft takes off, and will climb to 12000feet, at this altitude, the instructor and student exit the aircraft, and freefall at speeds over 300KPH! After approximately 50 seconds of free falling, the instructor opens the parachute canopy, and allows the student to fly the parachute on to the drop zone.
Upon landing, our students receive an official Aerosports level 1 certificate, and there is the option of having a professional skydive cameraman accompany the jump to film and photograph the entire experience.
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