2008 Skydivers Information Manual Online (SIM 2008)

The full edition of the 2008 Skydivers Information Manual is available for online reading. This publication is general mandatory reading for people training in Skydiving and covers everything you need to know. I’ve attached the PDF version of the manual to this post but you can also download that directly from this link here too.

AFF Program - Stage 6/Jump 6 - 12,500ft

So I’m really nervous about this one, and pissed that we’re unable to get some tunnel time before. See our first jump was delayed, so we had to reschedule our tunnel time for another day. Remember how on the last jump I said that I may not have what it takes to jump out of the plane. This time I was thinking that this might be my last jump. I was really scared!

This jump will require the same exit as jump 5, only this time the JM will not be holding on at all. If all goes as planned the JM will never touch me during this jump. The rest of the sequence is as follows: Exit, back flip (yes this scares the hell out of me), change heading to the east, do a 360 degree turn in opposite direction that it took to face east, then track forward.

For this jump I will have the same JM as on my 5th jump, James.   

We exit the plane, and for the first time I do this without anyone holding on to me.  It’s funny, after my 5th jump I asked James if he had in fact held on to me because it felt as if he hadn’t, but he assured me that he did.  After this jump I know for sure that he was speaking the truth because you can definately tell when they are no longer holding on to you.

It feels like it takes longer than the usually 5 seconds to get stable (my instructor would later tell me that it still just took about 5 seconds and that I must have been counting too fast). So I’m stable now and I check my altitude, 11,500Ft.  Ok, now is the time to try the back flip.  Here goes. I go through the motions necessary to pull off the back flip.  Only one problem.  I straighten out about 1/4 of the way through and just like that I come right back to my original position. Crap!  I check my altitude again.  10,750Ft.  Ok let’s do this again, we have enough altitude.  I go through the motions again, this time I get about 3/4 of the way through before staightening out, again to early, and the next thing I know I’m falling with my back to the ground.  What was awesome next was that I instinctively when into my arch position and was quickly flipped back over ,falling face down.  I must say that while I was only free-falling for a second or two with my back to the ground it was quite a pleasant experience.  It was much more calm and quite than when facing down, but back to the jump. Crap again! Ok, let’s see what we can do to salvage the rest of the jump.  I check altitude, 9,000Ft.  I find my heading and turn to my right to face east.  All that is required is about 90 degree turn.  Next I begin my 360 degree turn in the opposite direction.  James says that he gave me the signal to turn after I hesitated to initiate it, but I told him afterwards that I didn’t see this signal and that I was merely sorting out in my mind which way I needed to turn. I make it through the 360 degree turn and check my altitude again, 7,500Ft.  I look ahead and see James give the signal for me to begin my track forward.

Up until this point all of our forward tracking exercises had been done by straigtening your legs just a little and moving your arms down just a bit.  This produced a slow track forward.  By contract the one we will do on this jump will require me to straighten my legs entirely and pull my arms all the way down to my sides.  As I adjust my body into this position I can feel my speed rapidly increasing (my free-fall computer in my altimeter would later tell me that I reached a maximum speed of 150MPH). During this rapid decent I make one small mistake, and that is for some reason I turn my head slightly to the right, which results in a turn to the right, but it feels I suppose much like a turn in a car would feel when you are going 150MPH. After a second or two of this it’s time to go back to the neutral body position.  I check my altitude, 6,000Ft.  I signal no more manuevers and pull without issue at 4,500Ft. As my chute deploys I can feel a bit of line twist however by the time I get to this check (#4) on my list it has already corrected itself.

Now it is time for the landing.  I’m anxious to redeem myself after my poor approach on our first landing. The winds are still a bit screwy through and I follow the pattern set by a skydiver below, which ends up being a downwind landing.  See, just like in an airplane, you want to land into the wind.  This allows your canopy to produce the maximum amount of lift at the slowest ground speed.  As I begin my final approach the winds are variable and mostly from the side.  So far so good as I’ve judge the distance just right and will land within the landing area.  Unfortunately, at about 25Ft above the ground the winds shift and are now at my back.  I flare at my usually height, but find with the wind at my back my ground speed is incredibly fast.  At the last moment I decide to lift my legs and come sliding in on my butt.  It was actually pretty fun landing this way.  I also realized that if I had tried to run this one out, I would have definately fallen on my face and sprained an ankle. 

Even though I didn’t complete my back flip, my instructor still cleared me for level 7.  He said the main objective of the back flip at this stage is to get the skydiver unstable and to make sure he/she can get back to a stable position.  when he saw me go on my back and then immediate get back stable and then resume the rest of the skydive he was satified that I had completed the objective.

After this jump I’m definately spent and need to hit the bar for a drink.  I decide to buy a few rounds as this was my “First” back flip.

AFF Program - Stage 5/Jump 5 - 12,500ft

Less than a week later and we are going for jumps 5 and 6 today. For me, these two jumps are the most nerve racking, worse than even my first jump. Besides getting my A certificate my goal now is to complete the AFF program without having to repeat a single stage. My nerves are mostly centered on jump 5 and all that must be done to complete this stage. I had hoped to get a few minutes in the wind tunnel to build my confidence, but they were completely booked except for around 12:00 noon.

We decided we would do our first jump in the morning, and then go get a few minutes in the tunnel prior to our second jump. My thoughts were if I don’t pass stage 5 on the first jump then I can practice in the tunnel and get it on my second attempt. If I pass stage 5 then I would be practicing for stage 6 in the tunnel. Stage 6 requires, among other things, a back flip.

Besides all the maneuvers that are required for this stage (I’ll get to those in a moment), we will also be doing a new type of exit on this jump. On jumps 1-4 the exit sequence is to stand parallel to the door, facing towards the front of the plane. Then you crouch down and face your JM and say “check in”. Then face forward again and rock out, in, arch, and with arch you have left the plane. On this jump we will have to actually climb outside the plane and then basically follow the same procedure as described previously, except you are OUTSIDE THE DAM PLANE. Plus, just before we are about to board the plane my JM (James this time) tells me that if we have enough time he is going to have me kneel at the door, look down and point out the airport. At this point I had never looked down prior to jumping. Instead I always looked out at the horizon or inside the plane. I was so pissed!

In addition to the climbing outside the plane part, this type of exit feels a lot different. With this exit you are in an arch almost from the start, but instead of the horizontal to the ground you are vertical for a few seconds. Just hold that arch and you are good to go though. I get stable and my JM moves in front of me. He gives me a signal to get my hips down a little more, then he lets go. Next we go through the jump sequence, 180 degree turn to the left, check altitude, 180 degree turn to the right, check altitude, then move forward and dock with the JM. The JM then releases and I do a 360 degree turn to the right. Once I get around I’m just about to check my altimeter and see my JM pointing to his altimeter and shaking his head. I check my altimeter and it reads 6,000Ft. I shake my head and lock on, then pull at 4,500Ft. I now have no issues pulling the chute. As Bret would say it gets to a point where it is like wiping you ass.

The winds are crazy today, not that they are strong, but rather are variable in their direction. We approach from the opposite direction this time than from our previous 4 jumps. I see as I turn my final that I’m a little high. I try bleeding off altitude by flaring a little. This starts to work, but then all of a sudden I get a huge updraft and literally gain about 50Ft. I realize that I’m not going to hit my target so I point off towards the open field. I’m still trying to bleed off altitude because I’m trying not to hit the field that was just fertilized. Yummy! I flare a little early so the landing is rough, but one that I can walk away from.

This jump felt great as I felt in control the entire time. I had no issues with the turns. Although we didn’t have enough time for the final docking after the 360 James still passes me on to Level 6. Crap now I have to do a back flip, but so far I’m still on target for one jump per stage.

One last thing. I was so nervous on this jump that I said to myself, for the first time, I might not be able to do this as I’m too scared.

AFF Program - Stage 4/Jump 4 - 13,000ft

The goal for this jump is pretty simple; exit, get stable, stay stable after your JM let’s go. I should mention that the overriding goals on every jump are to 1. Pull, 2. Pull at a safe altitude, 3. Pull stable, and 4. Land safely. Additionally, I will try and land with no radio assistance so that I can be cleared to jump without radios from here on out.

I have very few nerves on this jump even though I will be jumping with only one JM, and I will most likely not having anyone holding onto me for most of the fall.

My jump master for this jump will be Bret again. The jump goes fairly well. After letting go of me I start to turn a bit to the left. I’m able to correct this with a slight turn to the right. This occurs a few more times. The last time it happens I’m unable to correct, but by this time I’m locked on to the altimeter as it is getting close to pull time. I pull at the correct altitude with just a little wobble. Bret later explains that as it got closer to pull time my legs started to get lazy. My landing was awesome. During my decent Bret asked me on the radio to kick my legs if I wanted to do everything myself. Once I heard this I started kicking like crazy. I absolutely hate being on radio. I came in on target and with 25 feet of the center of my target. I flared at about 5-6 ft and touched down very gently.

My previous 3 jumps I was never 100% sure as to whether it was me jumping or the jump masters nudging me out. This time I was 95% sure I jumped out. Bret later told me that yes indeed I was jumping and in fact I was literally pulling him out of the plane.

Cleared for stage 5 and off radios! What a high!

AFF Program - Stage 3/Jump 3 - 13,000ft

So I’ve decided to carry on with the AFF. One of the main reasons I’ve chosen to carry on is because of how pissed I am at myself for screwing up the chute pull on jump two. The plan for the day is to try and carry out jumps # 3 and 4.

My jump masters today are Bret Townley (look here http://www.youtube.com for an interesting video of a tight jump) and Doug (sorry I forgot your last name Doug.). Bret has more than 14,000 jumps and is also a corporate pilot. His motto is its more fun to jump from them [planes], then fly them. Both are accomplished skydivers and were great jump masters.

The goal for this jump is to practice turns. After the exit, and once we are stable, the reserve side JM (Doug) will let go. My job is to then turn 90 degrees and face him, then check altitude. Doug will then give the signal to turn 90 degree again, this time in the opposite direction with Doug staying directly in front of me. Time permitting Doug may give me the signal for another (bonus) turn.

Everything on this jump goes perfect (except the landing). I get all my turns in plus the bonus one. Best of all I had no issues pulling my chute. The landing was a bit rough. Jim (talking to me on the radio) had me flare a bit too early. This causes me to fall from the sky with about 6 feet left to go. When I land I immediately feel my ankle start to twist. Luckily I had studied the PLF and went right in to it. My ankle is a little sore, but it won’t keep me from jumping again.

In the end I passed my stage 3 and was cleared to go onto jump 4!

This means only one jump master, which then means the jumps are $40 cheaper!

And so it begins… again

The phone call was made, the credit card information was given, the time was chosen, date was set, the plans were laid… It’s jump time! Juggling the finances around a little between me and Bryce we’ve managed to wrangle things… Real life problems like mortgages and debt collectors are nothing when it comes to attempted suicide…

The nerves are already starting and it’s still a few days away, this time is going to be a little different however. Although it’s two jumps again, there’s also going to be 5 minutes before hand in the wind tunnel, because, as my jump details show, my body position sucks. So, after Sunday when there’s a new update, I should be able to tell you how my AFF Level 3 & 4 went and what it was like to spend air time in the wind tunnel…