Last time I visited Orlando was back in December. I came down for a business trip, invited a few friends and we had one hell of a good time skydiving and practicing in the wind tunnel.
Yesterday, James and I drove down from Atlanta. Each in our own vehicles because he has to go back early. Three hours into the trip, his AC belt broke on his car. I picked up a charger for my iPhone because apparently having an iPhone that you use was not something Apple was able to sort out before shipping them. :-p
We arrived late in Orlando, and stopped to grab some food, a few beers before settling on a nearby moderately priced hotel. Got to bed….around 2:30am…long day!
All in all, a good first leg of the trip. Stay tuned…
Categorised in skydive and skydiving
James met me at my house, and we proceeded to Skydive The Farm. Just before we arrived, we noticed the clouds overhead with streaks of lightening. The entire drive up to Rockmart, GA had been clear and sunny with some clouds. Upon arriving on the dropzone, not only was the sky dark gray, but the winds were strong and variable.
After waiting for the rain to stop and the weather to clear, we got ready and set up for some great skydives.
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Categorised in skydive and skydiving
I showed up in the afternoon, followed by a friend from work, Dorie. She wanted to do a tandem skydive before her big family vacation next weekend. I handed her the clipboard and told her to sign her life away and watch the video. I then left to get a jump in…
Jump #127
I did a 3-way free fly jump with Bruce, and John. We exited sitflying, and I ended up being lower then both of them. Bruce quickly caught up and fell a bit below me. I stood up to compensate and leveled off with him. Then I held relatively still while Bruce moved in and took a dock on me. I’m not good enough to dock on someone else, but it was a great achievement being able to hold my spot while he came in close.
I landed and went to see Dorie. She was stoked, but still waiting around to get on a load. Its not typical to wait around long, but today Skydive The Farm had three ash dives for Lee. Lee was a well respected (hardly) skydiver that everyone misses very much. His family and friends all came out for the third attempt to ash dive. Your going to think I’m cold, but the “hardly” above will be well understood by the friends/family of Lee. He was known to speak very frank and often rip on just about anyone. He made every one laugh. I had been skydiving a short period of time and never got a chance to get to know him. I’m sure if he were alive, he’d have some name in his book to refer to me by. 
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Categorised in skydive and skydiving
Here is an article shared by the author who had lost his main deployment handle (technical term in skydivers manual can be pull out handle as well).
I’ve never had this happen, but it is a good reminder of checking your handles often before leaving the airplane. I always try to run through the deployment and emergency deployment procedures when I have idle time on the ground (waiting to board the plane), while on the aircraft (waiting to exit), etc. It never hurts to reach back and re-check your handle one more time one or two groups before you exit. Nothing more satisfying than reaching behind you to check for that handle and find it still attached before you left the plane.
And to answer those who are wondering…no I would not continue and initate my jump if I was even next in line if I didn’t find that handle until just before my exit. I’m sure there are some out there who would consider going for their reserve, but no thanks. While I realize the “rules” you break, my reserve will always be my backup or used in very low altitude exit plane scenarios.
Categorised in skydive and skydiving
Headed once again out to Skydive The Farm in Rockmart, Georgia. This time on the back of my Harley-Davidson V-Rod motorcycle. It was a beautiful day, hot and sunny!
Jump #124
This jump was a sit-fly 2way. I actually have pictures of my exit thanks to DZ Chad!
Jump #125
This jump four of us did a Horny Gorilla. For three of us, it was our first time. A fifth video guy watched us, and we were a bit surprised we actually pulled it off.
Upon opening I had six to seven line twists! The slider was wrapped in it half way down. I wasn’t too happy. I kicked and kicked and found the canopy start to unwind. But for about three to four seconds I didn’t have a full canopy overhead and was very close to chopping it (cutting away and opening the reserve). Fortunately, just as I began kicking the canopy magically fully inflated and I was able to get out of the twist and regain control. A bit tired and dizzy from keep looking up, then forward for traffic.
That’s one of the craziest things. Having line twists and no control over your canopy. Ouch!
Jump #126
This jump comprised of a hybrid. We were going to do a four way belly round (circle) and have two free flyers hang underneath us. The light was red, and the guys climbed out and got ready at the door. Then I heard a “GO”, my buddy Abhi started the count. I looked at the light it was still red. In the middle of his count, I heard a “WAIT”. So I let go of his chest strap and stayed inside the plain. I may have picked up a few new names, one I overheard…”Hesitate Hurley”.
I didn’t know if WAIT could have meant that the pilot didn’t turn on the green jump light because traffic (planes) were still in the area that we could not see. We had been seeing them fly under us all day. But no excuses, I screwed up the jump. I ended up quickly jumping out and flew head down, coming up to Susan to get a two way. Then Abhi jumped in and we got a three way. We were at 6000 feet when I saw Sunman come up and under us, and head down away from us. We didn’t get the four way (or three way) together in time. Damn!!!!
Here is the exit…completely fell apart…
A picture of Abhi…
And one of Susan and Sunman…
I’ll try to redeem myself next time I am out to Skydive The Farm!
Categorised in skydive and skydiving
Tags: horny gorilla, sit-fly
It was a beautiful Monday. Well it started out great because I decided to extend my fathers day weekend and take the day off work! :-p
Chad (DZChad) gave me a call and told me they had a couple tandems. I so wanted to get at least one jump in. There I was on a Cessna taking off out of a grass field, hoping the pilot was able to pull the five of us on board (including pilot) up to clear the trees. Well…he did! Read the rest of this entry »
Categorised in skydive and skydiving
So your sitting there in the plane. You are half way through your climb to altitude. There are no hop-n-pops. The pilot alerts the skydivers, its hop-n-pop time. The plane is having serious mechanical issues. He descends down to 5,000 feet.
That is what happened last weekend with these 14 skydivers.
I don’t know exactly how it happened on the plane. But I can imagine based on the successful outcome everyone remained calm and exited in an orderly fashion. It is good to have options. And 5,000 feet is a safe altitude to exit the plane from. It surely beats 1500 feet on reserve alone!
Categorised in skydive and skydiving
