They call it hard-pan for a reason

[Michele 1]

So I go jump, and I have a personal goal of three jumps. I get gear from Square1, a Javelin Oddesy and a Spectre 230. These feel good on my back, but odd, because they are so much smaller than student gear. No matter, I practice finding the handles, and only manifest when I can get my hands on them the first time I try to. I have little fear, but a good dose of apprehension, because I am in new gear and it feels really different.
I go up, and I have a mixed load. Some students, some rw, some freefliers, so I am stuck in the middle of the plane. I decide today I will work on diving exts, and get stable as fast as possible, and then work on the rw stuff I have to complete for my license. The first freefall of the day, and all goes really smoothly, if you call the flips on exit smooth. I am mastering the trick of a front flip layout immeidately followed by a back flip layout, into my arch. Pull time, and I pull. They have warned me that the spectre opens slowly, so I know I will have a wait. Except this slow? It's there, it's just not opening. O.K., there it is. Now let's see what this will do. Damn this is different. Out of a flare there's a huge recovery arc, drops really fast, o.k., if I flare early I will just have to ride it out. Easy canopy ride, here I am, I haven't judged the winds right, so I am going to overshoot, down, flare, early, hold, there, now take two steps and turn. Yank the canopy out of the sky, and bring it to the packer. I am dripping sweat, so I make a mental note to pack a towel for myself next time, and perhaps a change of clothes, too.
Second jump. This time I ride next to the door. We are on a load of students, with only one 2-way and another solo who is pulling higher than me. I check with Dennis as to the exit order, and wait. I test myself: look out the door, guess the altitude, and then check my altimeter. I got the 2500 right, but the rest were off. I guess this is something I should practice. I really don't like looking out the door, it's not fun, I keep thinking I am going to fall out. So, at 12,600, I do fall out. Well, I try to dive out, but it is more like a flopping addlepated pidgeon than anything controlled. But all is good, I am here, this is glorious, and I am flying. Ed always says "you have 7,500 feet to recover", and I remember this as I am trying to arch into stable. I pull, this time feeling more confident that it will open, and sure enough, it does. Collapse the slider, and fly around, really testing myself and the canopy. I get a 720 done, the first time ever I do this on purpose, and it feels good and exciting, but it also scares me. So I get a little more conservative, and just cruise it in, dancing, playing, and I set up nicely. I flare a little early, but turn it into a two stage flare, and I see how that actually works. It's fun, but damn I am cruising over the ground pretty fast. I stop watching the ground under my feet, and focus on the flag I had chosen at about 1500. I know there will be steps on this one, so I am prepared, and finish up on my feet all of 10 yards away from the flag I was aiming for. Yippeee, that was really fun. I like this container and this canopy.
I feel confident and comfortable, so I decide to jump one last time. I want the sunset load, so I manifest for the latest load there is. After some juggling, manifest actually gets me on the load I really want, but Dennis wants me to pull about 6, not at like 8 like I want to. I ask why, and he comments that it will be dark when I get down, and that I should have a few more minutes' light left to plan my descent. Which is sound advice, but goes in one ear and out the other.
I go up, and I am having a blast in the plane. I am so relaxed and feeling great, everything is wonderful. We end up with extra altitidue, and Mark and Anthony go out. Mark blows kisses at me as he's leaving, which makes me laugh, and then I am in the door. I dive into the melting sun. It sits on the horizon, rays of gold rimming the mountain the sun is disappearing behind. I say farewell to the day. I am in all those intense and glorious pictures I have seen - I am here, in the gloaming, flying through the twilight. The shadows stretch long on the ground, creeping out, marking the skirmish line between night and day. I slow turn, taking in this unbelieveable sight. The clouds are tinged gold melting into pink, drawing down into grey. This is everything I thought and hoped it would be, and more. It is really cold!
I open, and everything is perfect. The canopy is flying great, I spot the dz and cruise over to it. I think I am flying downwind, because I am making great progress over the dz, great time, the ground is moving. There is some turbulence at 2k, and I spiral down through it, till it evens out. I look for the windsocks, and now understand what Dennis means. I can't see them. They are masked in the dusk, the orange blends into the desert ground, and I can't see white or red. I am still really high, so I do another 360. I still can't see them. I do see two canopies, though, so I watch. But they are going in different directions. I pick one out, and set up to follow it in. Of course, I choose wrong, but that doesn't occur to me yet.
I am cruising really fast, and I try to sashay to drop some altitude. But I can't help think I need to get down faster, because here comes the circle, and I am nowhere near it. But damn, I can't turn low, I am now about 200 feet, I am not supposed to turn under this, and I am really moving. Now my brain is speeding along, much faster than my body over the ground. O.K., there's the hangar, shit, it's pretty big and getting bigger: left or right? But right doesn't seem good, there is something behind the hangar, I have no idea what and I can't see behind it and I don't want to find out at 30 feet, and I know I need to choose now, so a little left toggle, and now there's the silver DC-3, big and shiny and right in front of me, and now it occurs to me that I am probably downwind, the winds were about 8 when I took off, O.K., this will hurt, where should I tank? I think I will clear the DC-3, I hope I will clear the damn thing, so I get a little more left, and angle behind an just over it. Thank God for small favors, and I decide to head out to the west of the little airplanes.
Except there's Gypsy Air, coming in from jump run, cruising along the runway, oh fuck me which way is it going to turn? I wrack my brain - do they park outside at night or go to the hangar? I can't remember. I am between it and the hangar, please turn left, left, left, you have fucking propellers, I am now pacing the plane on its' right, parallelling it, catching up to it, I can feel it's air, and it turns left. Thank God for big favors. So I toggle a little bit right. And line up onto a clear area, nothing between me and the ground except my legs, and I know this is going to hurt, I can already feel the pain, damnit, this was such a great day, I remind myself that in black belt training I have taken hard hits, I have fallen from higher than this, I can handle this, and now it's time to flare, and I get my legs and feet together, knowing it will help and knowing it will not help much but a little is better than nothing, so now I flare, smooth, slow. I scream relax! and my feet hit, then hips, then shoulder, I skid for a while and then I am rolling rolling rolling wham! goes the chin, bang! goes the head crack! go the goggles, ouch fuck rolling keeping legs together and arms tucked to my sides, tasting dirt and whacking rocks and this shit is hard and my bottom hurts and so does my toe and I finally stop rolling.
I know people are watching, so I jump up immediately so they know I am all right. I am surprised. I really am all right - there's no piercing pain, and while I do have a little blood on my right knuckles, and my chin burns and I know I will be sore as all hell tomorrow, I am fundamentally fine. But now I am so tangled up in the lines that when I stand up, the canopy comes with me. And begins to fill with air. So I grab it before it can do much more than threaten me, and try to untangle myself. The truck pulls up, and the driver gets out. I ask him to radio back and let them know I am o.k., and I start apologizing. He says they all saw you stand up, they know you're o.k., and reminds me that I did fine, and asks me "so how did you like your first downwind landing?" I am shaking so badly that I can't untangle myself, I am just making it worse, so I stand there while this guy unwraps me from my risers, lines and toggles, and he starts laughing. I am one gigantic dust ball, you can't see the blue of my suit, the red of the grips, the black of my helmet and goggles. I am tan from head to toe. Climb into the back of the truck, and slowly drive past my skidmarks. They must be at least 20 yards long, all on hard pan.
I expect hell from Jack, but he just teases me a little. "If you're going to be stupid, be smart about it", he says, and then congratulates me for great damage control. Another jumper comes over and says "that's the way to go big, girlie", and still another decides to hollar out "hey Dusty" and everyone cracks up. I see Dennis walking over, and I just know I am gonna catch it from him. I cringe in expectation, but he just gives me that look, and says nothing. And that said everything I needed to hear.
Yeah, a down wind landing, race the plane and then walk away from it all. I am a lucky girl, and damn have I learned. And I am not as sore as I expected to be. But my bottom still hurts, my chin is skinned, and I think I broke two toes. But - I didn't break a nail.
Ciel bleu-
Michele

[Snowflake 0]

3 jumps in one day yeaaa baby!! now your cookin. Tip O the day while high up under canopy find an object on the ground are you moving sideways in realtion to it if no do a 90 degree turn and repeat (note it only should take 1 90 degree turn, but sometimes more) once your moving sideways in relation to an object on the ground you have the wind direction (who needs windsocks :-) ). I got that from canopy control 150 and use it all the time. best 17 bucks I've spent in a while
"........and then the parachute opens and you float to the ground like a multicolored snowflake"
JG

[fred 0]

Wow. Fantastic story, Michele. It sounds very scary to me. I'm glad I didn't read this before my first evening jump. (when i landed, the purple and orange were just starting to show in the sky).
Congratulations on walking away.

[DZBone 0]

Nice one, kid. That's the way to land 'em. Better to be dusty, sore and a little embarrassed than broken, mad and also dusty!
Carl

[FallingMarc 0]

Wow, scary situation there. Glad you made it out alright!

[jettero 0]

You're description of the sky during that sunset was amazing. It wanna do an evening jump now. Course, I won't need to worry about the wind... I have that voice in my helmet tellin' me when to turn.

[gman 0]

That's it.....That's going to be your nickname...."Dusty"

[freeflir29 0]

Wow....sounded pretty scary. Good thing you made it OK. A penetration check during your canopy controlability check may have helped out. Remember, flat turns above 60 ft will keep you out of a lot of trouble. Decide where to land by 1,000 and do all you can to stick with it. Arriving at low altitude without a plan is very dangerous. As you probably now know...LOL Glad your OK
"I used to know a girl...She had two pirced nipples and a black tattoo"-Everclear
Clay

[skybytch 259]

Wow, what a great day Michele! Two perfect stand ups and your BEER downwind landing! You done good - I was equally as sore after my first downwinder.
I highly recommend Neosporin for the cuts and scrapes and Vicadin for the butt and toes...
pull and flare,
lisa
----
I am a nobody.
Nobody's perfect.
Therefore, I am perfect!

[mouth 0]

Hi sweetie, sounds like you managed to pull yet another one out of your hat...way to go. Glad you are ok. Please be careful and plan ahead.
I jump a Spectre 135 and can relate to the openings. A friend packed it once and rolled the nose and tail just a few rolls. I watched it snivel for 1200+ ft. Bad part was I could see that it was going to open ok baring something drastic, but it took forever. If you buy a Spectre be warned that I have gotten it down to 800 feet but that is as low as I seem capable of getting it. PULL HIGH....

[spectre230 0]

[Michele 1]

You know what? I am really mad at myself. I know better than to follow someone down. I know better. But I did it anyway. I did something really stupid. Aaarghhhhhhhh!
Clay, you're right. Having a plan is vital. However, having one which works will actually help better than even that. I didn't get the situation really clear until it was almost too late. My problem, and this one I fixed in time. But I put myself there. I didn't have a canopy malfunction, I had a brain malfunction.
Skybytch, vicadin makes me hallucinate. Really big, bad spiders coming through the drains, and creeps me out (I am such a girl!). But some Jack Daniels and a few Aleve works o.k. And I made a trip to the store for neosporin....and some more Jack. And a big bottle of Aleve....
Mouth, yes, I pulled another one out of my hat. But hell, I don't want to run out of hats, you know?
Oh, and Spectre? I have bruises everywhere. They start with my toes and go all the way up to my chin. There are some really big ones, and some little ones as well. They are tucked into some interesting places....and they all need kissing......oh wait, you're in Phoenix. Sigh. Got my hopes up for nothing.
ciel bleu-
Michele

[BenW 0]

Spectre,
What is involved in a base pack job? How was the opening with this type of pack??
B.

[SkyDekker 1,138]

Hey Michele,
You've got me a little worried now. I am happy it all worked out for you, but you had a 3rd jump mal, I had a 3rd jump mal. I really don't feel like following you in this one. But then again.....I would be self supervised as opposed to still on SL blue skies
SkyDekker

[zclubber1 0]

Thanks for not blabbing that I was the moron that you followed downwind. Oh wait, I just ratted myself out. Damn!!!!
-can't you trip like I do-
Clubber

[Iflyme 0]

Quote

I have had my spectre take 1800'+ to open

So Spec, what was your pull altitude? Was it high? What is your cutaway decision altitude? I'm assuming you pulled real high on this one, because you'd be down pretty darn low if you pulled at 3 or below...
Michele, I'm glad you still have all your teeth! Those downwinders are a rush! Sunset load is great, but those shadows can sure give you a hard time...
Lookin' foward to hearing about your next jump!
Frank

[spectre230 0]

[spectre230 0]

[Divadiver 0]

Michele:
Damn, girl! You had me worried there for a minute - reading that, I was sure it was going to cost you a manicure!! Ha-ha, all I have left are nubs of nails!! And we're going to have to have a personal chat about your exits, you and I can compare as to which one of us has the worst!! Have you done your hop and pops yet? I'll have to tell you about my attraction to the C-182 wheel!!
Glad you only have some bruises (aren't they great - hey, look what I did over the weekend!!), and nothing not broke (how are those toes?)!!
Diva

[Michele 1]

Hey, Diva, yeah, I was worried about the manicure, as well. lol!!!
After several years in martial arts, I know the feeling of a broken toe (and ribs, and ankles...). And my big toe on my right foot is definitely broken again. No big deal, as long as I don't stub it. I am not sure about the other one, but it hurts. Oh well. My chin has both scrapes and bruises, which cause some interesting looks at the office, but no-one dares to ask! And I am not wearing long sleeves and long pants at the office either, so I am sure they know something happened, but just what they do not dare to find out. They just shake their heads and murmur....
About those exits: If I could ever figure out how I flip both back and forth on exit, perhaps it would become a skill. As it is, I just kinda - well - laugh, think, there I go again. I somehow always end up standing up droppng like a lead weight when I do floating exits.
Hopnpops are likely scheduled for Friday. But at Perris, most people don't do them, unless the clouds are low. So I kinda have to wait until either we get cloud cover (not likely this time of year) or until there's a group of people who want a hnp. Also not terribly likely.
But like Frank said, I have all my teeth!
And Spectre? You'd even kiss my toes? Hummmm. I don't think I have had that happen before. Kissing my bottom, well, men do that all the time! hahahahaha I wish....no, really....just kidding (god I'm confused...).

Michele

[spectre230 0]

[Michele 1]

Spectre, I suspect there is a lot I am missing.......
M

[DZBone 0]

Quote

I kinda have to wait until either we get cloud cover (not likely this time of year) or until there's a group of people who want a hnp.

Why? I've done tons of them there just by manifesting for it. The swoopers do also. They let you out at about 5k on the way up.
Carl

[mouth 0]

Michele,
That is what we do at our DZ too. They often let out hops at 5, teams at 10,500 and take the rest of up to the top floor.
Ask and see what they can do...can't hurt.
Just make sure you know which way you are landing this time as we don't want you hurt anymore. I think I would take Spectre up on the offer if I were you....WAHOO, start kissing.
Mouth

[Michele 1]

O.K., I will ask. After all, I will be close to getting my "A" after this weekend. Might as well get closer.
Oh my god, I am close to getting my "A"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the first time that has really hit me. 4 jumps on Friday, 3 doing rw and then the hnp, and then, one more to jump the pack job, and - holy criminy, oh my god, gulp.....the elusive ever challenging "A" approaches, getting closer, creeping nearer.....
Chick Boogie, here I come!!!!!
ciel bleu-
me