300 way - Day 1

[billvon 2,396]

DAY 1

Today the 300 way moved from the Eloy drop zone area to the 300-way hangar, a massive T-hangar usually used to store the DC-3 next to the runway. The inside of the hangar is full of tents, one for each group (4 base sectors, 8 wackers, and the alpha team.) There's a big projection screen TV and enough room to pack maybe 80 parachutes at once. Hopefully, enough people will use packers that all us old fashioned pack-ourselves people will have enough room to do it.

We made two jumps today, in three groups - the base, wackers 2-5, and wackers 6,7,8 and 1. Each was essentially a 100-way, all building the same 100-way base formation. I was on the base formation, and our first attempt of the day was probably the best dive of the day, with the base nearly completing from 13,000 feet. Our second dive wasn't as successful - we planned for a faster fall rate, and ended up with a slightly slower fall rate. About a half dozen people who had switched to faster suits/configurations (me included) ended up low. The other attempts had significant problems with aircraft coordination. On one attempt, some radio problems prevented the trail pilots from getting a green light until the base had exited, resulting in some very late exits. That's what these two days are intended for - to learn about (and deal) with problems like this before all 300 people are in the air at the same time. If nothing else, it's a lot cheaper to screw up with 110 people than 300.

We also had some unexpected problems. On our second load, we had a go-around at 18,000 feet. We were on oxygen, but it was cold enough that the windows started to freeze up. Our pilot was reduced to trying to scrape a hole in the ice on the windshield so he could see the lead plane. On another formation, some radio problems prevented the trail pilots from getting a green climb-out light until the base had exited, resulting in some very late exits.

It's also interesting to see people climb the learning curve. There are a lot of world-class competitors who haven't done a lot of big-ways, and there are (of course) a lot of big-way jumpers who have never done anything bigger than a 150 way. There are pilots who have never flown in a 13 plane formation, and we're at a dropzone that has never hosted a large formation event of this size. Everyone has something to learn, which of course you expect at a world record attempt.

Tomorrow we start at 9 and do much of the same - base practice for the base and drills for the wackers. Monday we put all 300 people together for the first time.

[AggieDave 6]

Bill, do you have any pictures you could post? I'm excited about this event and am diggin' your updates, keep it up.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[diverdriver 5]

And some ground shots from day one.

[ltdiver 3]

Thanks for the pics, Chris!!! God, I wish I was there.

Say hi to Rob Caster and the Shark for me, k?

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[diverdriver 5]

K

[diverdriver 5]

Day 1: Well, I write this Sunday morning cause I was too tired after posting the pics to have anything meaningful to say. It was very interesting. They were rotating the different planes into formations to get our feet wet and see how we do in formation. We did one load low to 14 and then went high to above 20K to test the oxygen. A small number of jumpers complained about the oxygen helmets. They are supposed to be able to put the oxygen hose directly into the back of the helmet and get oxygen. Aparently the hose pinched off the connection for some people and they did feel the effects of hypoxia. They are busily correcting the problem.

The pilots meeting was spirited last night as we are all perfectionists and want to do better. The communication problems are typical for an endevour this large. Fortunately, we have a large number of pilots who have flown on the 1998 record and/or the attempts of 2000 in Ottawa. Myself, Doug Evans, Eric (skyvan), Carl (elsinore), Steve Stewart (Chicago Otter), John Schulz. The pilot staff is very strong and I'm confident that this formation will be whipped into shape in short order. The big inverted V formation they want us to do is going to be a real big challenge with 14 aircraft. I look forward to the challenge.

Well, off to the pilot briefing this morning. 3-2-1 SEE YAH!!

Chris

[skyPrincess2002 0]

Thanks for the pictures. Looking forward to being there in person - Thursday.
-more pictures?

[smooth 0]

The picture of Julian Dawson shows your Chicago connection.
Thanks for the updates!

[Staso 0]

Quote

Our second dive wasn't as successful - we planned for a faster fall rate, and ended up with a slightly slower fall rate. About a half dozen people who had switched to faster suits/configurations (me included) ended up low

did you have a pro-track ? i wonder what kind of speed you guys had ?

stan.

--
it's not about defying gravity; it's how hard you can abuse it. speed skydiving it is ...
Speed Skydiving Forum

[billvon 2,396]

>did you have a pro-track ? i wonder what kind of speed you guys had ?

From today backwards, bottom end speed uncorrected:

118
117
113
121
118
116
116
108
119

Max speed is 250 mph in dives, but it's easy to get to that speed in a dive at 20K. I'm not sure I trust protrack speeds on these dives, since the protrack has been in and out of different helmets, and on some dives that had radically different speeds (like the last two) the protrack reports almost identical speeds.

[Staso 0]

Quote

>did you have a pro-track ? i wonder what kind of speed you guys had ?

From today backwards, bottom end speed uncorrected:

118
117
113
121
118
116
116
108
119

Max speed is 250 mph in dives, but it's easy to get to that speed in a dive at 20K. I'm not sure I trust protrack speeds on these dives, since the protrack has been in and out of different helmets, and on some dives that had radically different speeds (like the last two) the protrack reports almost identical speeds.

thanks.

i wish i could do my speed dives from 20K :) and pro-track readings might be very inaccurate if it's inside
of the helmet, i agree with you on that one.

stan.

--
it's not about defying gravity; it's how hard you can abuse it. speed skydiving it is ...
Speed Skydiving Forum