IAF 5 firsts

[MrFreefall383 0]

OK, so I did my IAF 5, and had a few minor problems. Nothing too serious, but I figure I might as well see what some more experienced jumpers have to say about it.

The jump was OK, I was slightly more stable than my last jump, even considering high winds, but still not quite "straight and level." That can be worked on. The real problems came after my deployment. Minor linetwist was the first one, but it's the second I've had, so I cleared it easily. The wind was pretty high for a student jump, and the canopy was jumping around like crazy. I never really got to an upwind holding area, I was faced toward the field the whole time. As for the landing, I never really entered a pattern either, as it was an off-field landing with a serious headwind. No other jumpers in the area, so no problems aiming straight for the field. Landed almost dead center in the field, but forward motion was almost zero by the time I was at 500 ft. dead over the field. Had to PLF, no choice. Wasn't exactly prepared for it, but did it reasonably well. My knees hurt a little bit, but they'll be fine by tomorrow. If anyone has any input, feel free to add it, I'm open to any suggestions for making things better.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[Mostly_Harmless 0]

It sounds like you had some pretty stiff winds. Were they like that all day? Were the winds gusting? You can always choose whether or not to jump. When winds are high and gusty I will choose to stay on the ground.

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[aheavenlytiger 0]

I'm surprised that they let you jump in those kind of conditions- I've been grounded there several times for wind, and have been told to come down with the plane after take-off because the wind started to gust pretty strong. There have been plenty of days that I was there and students were put on a wind hold, at which times I reconsider jumping as well, because for all intensive purposes, I'm still a student. I'm guessing you were sent to 6-stripe... has it been cut it yet? When I landed there last week some spots were thigh-high, which made walking out a bit of a pain in the ass.

[MrFreefall383 0]

First, they were considering keeping students grounded, and Big Jim said I might be the only student jumping that day. The winds kept fluctuating, but the average was about 12 kt. w/ up to 21 kt. gusts. It was marginal at best, and the cloud cover was pretty heavy. Luckily, when we were just past the DZ at altitude, the clouds opened up, and I was only in one of them for about 500 ft.

As for landing, yes, I got to know the dead center of 6-stripe field. And no, it still hasn't been cut. Worse yet, nobody told me the best way to collapse and carry the canopy, so I was pretty worn out by the time I reached the bus.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche