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.