sherwoodchris

Yeah, like I said, my instructors are filling it out, but I got home and wanted to add a couple little annotations (like I said, the CEC or LT) just so I know. So that won't cause any problems?

Awesome. I appreciate it. I just think it'll be funny to look back and say "Yep. On my second AFF jump I landed in a corn field, but was also able to deal with line twist".

Well I only have 4 entries so far, all from my instructor. He verified my first tandem in Germany, then annotated details of my first three AFF jumps. He said sometime down the road I'll start making my own annotations, but I wasn't sure if certain codes were required or anything. The three towards my AFF jumps are pretty full, thats why just a CEC or LT in the top corner would be nice with a key in the beginning of the book.

Well first I'll ask the question. Then I'm gonna ramble a bit about my two recent jumps (cat B and C1). I have a skydiving log book, 500 page (precision freefall) and so far have four entries. One from my first jump (tandem in Germany) then three from my AFF jumps. I just am wondering if these are official logs and only that, or if you can annotate little codes about things that happened during the jump, IE: "LT" for a line twist, or "CEC" for closed end cells. Or notes about landings (good, PLF, corn field (particularly my cat B landing, hahaha). I just think it would be nice to look back and remember little things like that just because. Now to ramble about my Cat. B and C1 jumps. Cat B, I didn't arch as much as they'd have liked and my legs were at a nearly 90 degree angle. Kept getting flashed the signal to extend them, but I'd bobble and thought I went too much and bring em back in some. Kinda defeated the purpose I guess. Went through the procedures and pulled. One thing they mentioned with the pull (happened on both the Cat. B and C1) was that I seem to go in slow motion. I usually pull a little low for that reason. With it happening twice, I think I'll fix that mistake. Had a slight line twist but remedied that quickly and realized I seemed to be way far away from the holding area. Turns out I wasn't gonna make it (partially because I was pulling down on the toggles a little instead of holding my arms all the way up) and when flying into the wind, I heard the instructor on the radio telling me to keep my path and aim for the field and to make sure to clear the buildings. Ultimately I ended up landing in a corn field (would've cleared it if I hadn't been pulling on the toggles) with a PLF. But I was good, which kinda surprised me, hahaha. I remember thinking, "Huh....I ain't in any pain...Cool!" Later on I went on my second jump and focused on my body positioning and I was actually let go and was free falling fairly stable on my own. When I realized they let go instead of basking in all its glory I thought to myself "don't screw this up" hahaha. Pulled (in slow motion again I guess) and had closed end cells. Took two flares to remedy this and again, I realized I was off course. This time I thought hard to keep from pulling on the toggles and was able to make it to holding area and attempted to begin the landing pattern. I was a little lower than I wanted to be and made the decision it'd be safer to fly straight and land in the long open area rather than try to make the two 90 degree turns so close to the run way. I felt I'd either turn too low or not be able to make the 180 in time. Buuuut, on my left were a bunch of trees. Thought "well, this is gonna be fun. Tree landing on my 2nd solo jump" but I remembered about target fixation (also because i ride motorcycles and know the dangers) so I looked towards the open field and made little adjustments. Kept drifting back towards the trees (later found out that I went stupid and was pulling a little on the left the whole time making right side adjustments). Ultimately I managed to aim myself into the field and flared at the right time (with no radio contact for whatever reason) and made my landing smooth and on my butt. I guess the instructors for sure thought i was going in the trees, hahaha. But I'm here and alive and ready for more. I am fairly positive that the problem with pulling on the toggles won't happen again and I'm going to be able to focus more on body positioning. With each jump the techniques will get better and you'll start to see the big picture of things and know why to do what they're telling you to, rather than just memorize it. But that was my rambling of my two recent jumps, just because. Thanks for reading or answering the questions.

Just did my Category A tandem today and got that knocked out (and brought a friend to jump for her first time too). I gotta take the 6 hour ground school tomorrow then hopefully the Cat. B jump.

I'm jumping at Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures in New Market, VA. The main place close to me is Skydive Orange, but its more expensive. The instructors here used to work at Skydive Orange, so I'm sure the quality will be just as good. And since its smaller, I will get a lot more one on one time.

My name is Chris, and I am about to start my AFF this sunday. I've gone tandem one time before while I was stationed in Germany, and I was hooked. I work on mine and my buddies cars, ride a motorcycle and am in the Air Force. I'm originally from Ohio, but stationed in Washington DC at the moment after two years in Germany.The goal is to have my "A" class license by the end of this summer, but I have the feeling I'll have it way before then.