Skylord and the Hop 'n Pop Deal with Each Other

[skylord 1]

Well, in my relentless and glacially paced plodding toward the "A" license, I met and had a discussion with the Notion of the Hop 'n Pop.

This is a low altitude jump, get stable, and pull. But you all know that. I had the jump ticket for a week, and just let it lay there while I did my solo jumps at altitude and through a door that has now learned to fear me.

I went out this morning, did 15 minutes Perris tunnel time with Erin of Elsinore Gravity, and went over to Elsinore. I get my solo ticket to manifest, and up I go. Jump, turns, track, pull, land, rinse, repeat.

A voice calls to me from my pocket. "Bob, why won't you use me?" The Notion of Hop 'n Pop speaks. "Because that is insanely low and maybe they'll drop the requirement tomorrow." "But Bob, tomorrow is Sunday." Crap, my jump ticket is arguing with me. And winning.

I sit down, and visualize the last exit, and the fact that I was rock solid stable within 300 feet. You know, screw it. I've worked through fear before, I'll do it again. I decide to divorce my hop 'n pop jump ticket by jumping it.

I am initially placed on Load 17 (more later on why I mention this.) I get moved up to load 15 if I can make a 15 minute call. Sure! Lob tells me he'll have an instructor to "throw me out." I already had a rig out and preflighted, so I really had plenty of time.

Shark is my instructor, we practice in the mock up. I'm ready, I gear up, and up on the load. I'm the only hop 'n pop, so Shark and I are the very last on the plane.

The door sneers at me as I get in, and I do a fake head butt towards it. The door flinches. I respect the door, but I won't bow to its demands to fear it.

I have no idea how to get that fold up seat down on the Otter, and even though Shark tells me I keep screwing it up. Ugh.

We get the bench down, and buckled in. Off we go. Through 1,000 feet, we open the door. Wow, the back seats are the best in the house on a 103 degree day! I take off my helmet and undo the seat belt. Mmmmm. Nice and cool!

I look around at this full load, tandems, AFF, and multi ways. To make room, several people move onto the floor of the airplane. I get a bit overwhelmed that I'm going to be first out, with everyone looking at me. And the door is crowded.

Next thing I know, Shark is telling me to get ready. We're already going through 3,500 feet, and I'm out at 5,000. Man, this was fast!

Next thing I know, everyone who could reach me was doing the hand slide/fist bang thing that is I guess the rage. Wow! I'm getting thumbs up from everyone. The support is too, too cool. But I've got a bit of work to do.

I goggle and helmet up, and move over toward the door, still open. The relative proximity of the ground spooks me for a bit. I grab the bar and stick my head a good foot out of the airplane. I observe what is obviously a challenging spot since I'm going out so low. Shark confirms to me that it looks good. Relax, breathe. Shark taps me on the shoulder, obviously with the life saving advice I need on this jump. I turn to my instructor, who will now give me the words I need, in my moment of need.

Here they are: "There's the pizza place!" The pizza place. That was where I bought he and another instructor lunch one day. Shark is hungry. Of course we're low enough that I can almost read the damned sign!!

There's 5,000. Great job by the pilot, and the green light goes on. This is LOW!!! Chill, relax, breathe. I see the tandem videographers turn their cameras toward me. I got stable by 12,200 on the last jump. I've got more time than my ground proximity early warning system is telling me. Just no maneuvers this time.

Check in with the very hungry Shark, OK. Poised exit. Arm out, in, go. It was fun!!! I went out a bit tensed, rolled to the left, and relaxed into an arch right away. I come head up, and I'm at three in my count but stable. Pull time! Arch, reach, there it is! Pull!

The pilot chute pulls as easily as a watermelon seed sliding between your fingers. I feel the risers come up, my legs drop, but I'm still hauling ass. The chute has not opened fully. This gets my undivided attention. It is out there fluttering around long enough for me to direct an expletive laden tirade at it. It opens, eventually, and I'm under my main canopy. But I have NEVER had an opening that took so long, and why did it happen on the lowest exit in my life?? I'm going to take up my dissatisfaction with Customer Service!

For the first time, I check my altimeter. 4,200. I was shocked, I was sure I was under 3,000. I actually had time to have fun with the canopy! I land, but get hit with a 90 degree wind change at about 15 feet, and PLF it in. No problems, and not even a bruise. I couldn't correct the drift in time safely, so I decided to take a roll in the dirt.

I field pack, and get back to the briefing area. I had time to cool off, take off my jump suit, and get Gatorade and water. I decide to watch some of the others from my load come down. Shark is going the other way. "Good job!!" Really? Now he was on the load with an AFF student so went all the way up where you can't read pizza signs.

Marie comes by me, and asks how my jump went. I said fine, but wouldn't you know it that was the LONGEST opening I ever had. She looks at me and says, "Well, you weren't at terminal velocity, that's why."

All of a sudden I remember. I had been told that a hop 'n pop, done correctly, will take longer to open. They told me that, and I feel like a complete idiot.

Anyway, thanks to Elsinore for getting me on the earlier load, since my original load was cancelled when this freak thunderstorm went through.

I had a great Saturday. Shark debriefed me, and said the exit was a little shaky, but I recovered and flew. Everything else went great.

I'm almost there. EVERYONE on the load was great, and while this will come as news to Shark, when you were looking out the door, they were telling me to just push you out. (jokingly). So I mimed it.

Thanks to all of you who have helped me to this point. I'll never forget each and every one who have gently encouraged, and taken time with me to get me here. I'll have more to say later, but from this newbie's point of view to all of those with more experience:

NEVER underestimate the effect of your words, advice, counsel. We look to you for all the subtle clues.

I have never met any experienced skydiver who was too busy to take time with me, do a gear check, or answer any question I had. One told me, when the plane was touching down, that my request for a gear check was sufficient to have the plane hold a few seconds. Long story, the plane was early, we were late. But that dedication to safety means the world to me.

We had a bunch of solos show up on one load, including me this morning. So a very experienced skydiver comes over when us newbies are having a "Who's on First" discussion as to exit order. She set it all up, and it was a safe jump. Her name is Ashley. She also did my gear check for me. Thank you!

Anyway, relax, listen to the instructors, they KNOW what they are doing, and have fun skydiving.

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[sundevil777 93]

If you were learning in an area that had a lot of low clouds much of the year, such as Seattle, you would face the choice of getting your addiction fixed by doing hop n pops from an altitude approaching 2000, I mean of course it was at least 2000, that is the min pack opening altitude.

Really, getting out at 5000 is not low, you'll get used to it.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[VanillaSkyGirl 6]

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NEVER underestimate the effect of your words, advice, counsel. We look to you for all the subtle clues.

I agree. It can have such a HUGE effect on a new (or even experienced) skydiver to have someone offering advice and support.

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I have never met any experienced skydiver who was too busy to take time with me, do a gear check, or answer any question I had.

That's Elsinore for you. That's why I love that place so much. I've been thinking all day about how much I miss skydiving and the Elsinore family. Btw, I'm so glad that you had such a great day, Bob. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

• Quote

[billvon 2,396]

>There's 5,000. Great job by the pilot, and the green light goes on. This is LOW!!!

First time I got out at 5000, I remember looking down and thinking "Wow, this is high! I can't even see Vinnie in the landing area!"

[bodypilot1 0]

Sounds like you did ok....

Years ago when I went through AFF, we had to do our hop n pop from 3000ft, and it was required on the 8th jump!

We didn't get to do ANY solo's to practice for it....


Be safe.
Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[fred 0]

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The Notion of Hop 'n Pop speaks. "Because that is insanely low and maybe they'll drop the requirement tomorrow."

...

We're already going through 3,500 feet, and I'm out at 5,000. Man, this was fast!

...

There's 5,000. Great job by the pilot, and the green light goes on. This is LOW!!!

Good story, but coming from a Cessna/Static-Line DZ, I find it funny that you think 5k ft is "insanely low". The students here do their first 5 static line jumps from 3500ft, and their sixth jump is a clear and pull from 4k.

[Trae 1]

Instead of dropping the requirement big DZ's could make it more popular... often it seems too much trouble to offer lower cheaper jumps at good rate. There's not much more fun to be had than piling out of an aircraft right under a low cloud base with a few friends.... some bods stay in the plane ..I wonder why?.....did some-one say AFF?

[Andy9o8 0]

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We're already going through 3,500 feet

So what the hell are you still doing in the plane?
My first 5 S/L's (in 1975) were "maybe" 2,500. My first jump, looking out an OPEN airplane door for the first time in my life, 2,500 feet of nothing but air between me and the ground did not seem low at all. 1st freefall, a hop 'n pop was 3,500. 5 second delays, 4,000. 10 second delays, 4,500. When I went to 20 second delays from 5,500, it was so cool to be up that high! From there, the average jump altitude, even for RW, was 30 seconds from 7,500.

Great story, man, terrific narrative! Welcome to the new millennium!

[freeflygirlz 0]

Thats the reason why a hop and pop is required for AFF-students! To take off the fear of jumping out of 3000ft.
Imagine a jumper with 100 jumps, trained on aff, never jumped lower than 13000 ft. He sits in the plane, in 2500 ft the engines stop, no matter why, and this jumper refuses to jump, because he has never done that before. In case of an emergency exit you cannot start discussion...

It's great to see how much fear the students have before their hop and pop, and how great they feel after they have done it! I guess for many of my students this gives them more selfconfidence, then their first aff. Most of my students do the hop and pop between their 15th and 20th jump. As we do have springloaded pilot chutes for aff, they are allowed to switch to handdeploy _after_ the hop and pop. This gives them enough motivation to take their heart and just do it.

Once in a while I really like doing hop and pops. I ejnjoy jumping from about 5000ft, doing a linked exit, make 3 moves without taking grips, tracking away and pull. Thats so much fun. Everything feels a liitle bit different than in full aliti. you realize much more, like the wind is getting louder, the pressure is increasing, still not terminal speed at pulling.
I do not like to jump lower than 3000 ft, without reason. If its for weather I do jump from 2500, but not lower.

[hookncrater 0]

Same here. I had to do my "low" H&P post-AFF between jumps 8 and 10, our choice. Ours had to be an unstable exit as well.

5k is "extra" altitude for me on a H&P.

________________________________________________________________________________
when in doubt... hook it!

[bob.dino 0]

The two AFF courses I've seen in Australia (Picton & Nagambie) both require hop n pops at the end of AFF before you can do a solo. Picton requires three (5, 4, & 3k), and Nagambie requires two (4 & 3? Can't remember).

For the record, current APF regs mandate a fully-open-canopy altitude of 1800ft.

[jakee 1,254]

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There's not much more fun to be had than piling out of an aircraft right under a low cloud base with a few friends.... some bods stay in the plane ..I wonder why?.....did some-one say AFF?

Careful there, don't tar all us AFF bunnies with the same brush. After my first jump I was already looking forward to the hop'n'pop, wanted that more immediate connection to the ground (probably a bad choice of words there but I hope you know what I'm talking about). Crouching in the door watching the roads and fields pass by before getting overhead the DZ is something I'll never forget.

Still love the low ones.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[nate_1979 9]

Hop-n-pops are awsome... It freaked me out the first time, but since then I have done a bunch of them, they make up 10% of my jumps now

My first one was a little over 3k, my lowest to date is 2k, ... 5k I got time to do some flips and get terminal

Good job guy

FGF #???
I miss the sky...
There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

[Shark 0]

Dude,

That was a good hop n pop. You should have seen some of your predecessors. The old timers even congratulated me on your smooth exit and eventual pull.
Oh, yeah.... I forgot to mention the sub-terminal openings.

Shark out.

[BenediktDE 2]

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For the first time, I check my altimeter. 4,200. I was shocked, I was sure I was under 3,000.

Yes, Altitude burn slower than expected on a hop & Pop, doesn't it?
Here in Germany we have to exit at 1,200 Meter (~4,000ft) to get the license. I also disliked to exit at this altitude but once you did it it is OK.
(Sure this is the reason we all had to do it.)

Safe landings!

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.

[Joellercoaster 6]

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It is out there fluttering around long enough for me to direct an expletive laden tirade at it. It opens, eventually, and I'm under my main canopy. But I have NEVER had an opening that took so long, and why did it happen on the lowest exit in my life??

"Why did it occur to me to borrow the rental Spectre on this jump?!"

Nice post

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[ripcord4 0]

Great story, Bob. Perhaps your talents are wasted pushing tin? Seriously, 5 K is NOT low for a hop'n'pop. I have a ton of them from 2,500' back in the day. Glad you are having fun heading for your "A". That's what it is all about.

[skylord 1]

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Dude,

That was a good hop n pop. You should have seen some of your predecessors. The old timers even congratulated me on your smooth exit and eventual pull.
Oh, yeah.... I forgot to mention the sub-terminal openings.

Shark out.

Cool. Reminded me of the good ol' AFF days, when you and I were young. That was a fun jump, but they all are.

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[skylord 1]

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Great story, Bob. Perhaps your talents are wasted pushing tin? Seriously, 5 K is NOT low for a hop'n'pop. I have a ton of them from 2,500' back in the day. Glad you are having fun heading for your "A". That's what it is all about.

Thanks! I think you'd find controllers at SoCal TRACON who would never put "talent" and "pushing tin" in the same sentence about me, and would encourage me to do ANYTHING else.

To all that wrote about my "high altitude" hop 'n pop, man, 2,500? One of the guys in the back of the plane as we were taxiing out said to just go out the door now, and PLF it.

I guess I'll get used to the idea it wasn't that low eventually, but boy after seeing the world exclusively from 12,500 or higher, it sure seemed that way to me!!

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[HydroGuy 0]

2.5k, 3k, 4k and 5k hop and pops are all fun and dandy, but nothing beats a sunset load 13k hop and pop.

The nice cool air, a view for miles and miles, relatively quiet...such an awesome way to end a good day of jumping.

Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

[hexadecimal 0]

I was a little nervous about my first hop&pop, but ended up loving it enough that I went up for another one the next morning
I exited around 3,500 on the first one and 4,500 on the second. Interestingly enough, I was actually disappointed that the second one wasn't lower

[bch7773 0]

i think its a normal thing for AFF grads to be terrified of their 5k hop n pop. For S/L students, their 1st Freefall (6th jump) is at 4k.
And most S/L students look forward to it a LOT.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[Elisha 1]

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The pilot chute pulls as easily as a watermelon seed sliding between your fingers. I feel the risers come up, my legs drop, but I'm still hauling ass. The chute has not opened fully. This gets my undivided attention. It is out there fluttering around long enough for me to direct an expletive laden tirade at it. It opens, eventually, and I'm under my main canopy. But I have NEVER had an opening that took so long, and why did it happen on the lowest exit in my life?? I'm going to take up my dissatisfaction with Customer Service!

For the first time, I check my altimeter. 4,200. I was shocked, I was sure I was under 3,000. I actually had time to have fun with the canopy! I land, but get hit with a 90 degree wind change at about 15 feet, and PLF it in. No problems, and not even a bruise. I couldn't correct the drift in time safely, so I decided to take a roll in the dirt.

Rather verbose, but entertaining narrative. I was REALLY lazy for mine - not until jump 50 or so. I was maybe a tad nervous, but that's it. I think we were around 4000. I was in the saddle by about 3200. It would've been nicer to wait another couple seconds, but otherwise fine. Yup, the sub-terminal opening felt "weird", but it was fun - just a different experience.

[skylord 1]

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Rather verbose, but entertaining narrative. I was REALLY lazy for mine - not until jump 50 or so.

Elisha,

Thanks. Was this a comment about writing too much or an observation as to my writing style? I tend toward stream of conciousness, with wry observations interspersed.

Why 50 jumps before a hop 'n pop? I was a bit apprehensive, as I wrote, but I think your characterization (and explanation) of being a tad nervous prior to jump 50+ would help us understand the psychology of this kind of jump.

Take care.

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman