After giving up on jumping last Thursday due to winds, I decided to try and get out to Skydive Spaceland Dallas to get a jump or two in. I wanted to get up way before dawn and make the almost 2 hour dive and be there by 7:30. But I didn’t sleep well and decided it was better to get some more sleep and roll in a little later rather than jump with a couple hours sleep under my belt. I still made it there by 10 AM anyway.

I knew that it would be busier on a Sunday (why I try to get in a little work on the weekends so I can cut out for a good portion of the day during the week to jump), and it was. It took over 3 hours for me to get a turn to jump. During that time, I did get a chance to run through emergency procedures twice and get some tips for my next jump, and take in the busy hangar around me. I have to say it is nice to have such a large air conditioned building with a dedicated space for the students.

I finally got an instructor assignment and started working with my instructor. We also had another instructor observing her, so it would be my first three person jump, never had a person hanging off each side of me in the air until this jump. Other learning programs start with dual instructors, but not the STP (Skydiver Training Program). Every instructor is different. Some I connect with personality-wise better than others, but my job as a student is to take each experience and learn the unique things each instructor has to offer.

We practiced my form a bit. I’m still too tense when trying to hold my arch. My problem is that when I control my muscles, I get tense. There just isn’t getting to a position and holding that position AND relaxing. I’m sure it will come with time. I felt more nervous on this jump than others. I think part of it was that I was afraid I was going to “fail” the jump and not advance to the next level. I know from an outside view it is a bit ironic, but I was more scared of failing the jump than bouncing (because I knew that wasn’t going to happen). I think another part of it is I had gotten so much instruction on posture, that it was actually starting to have a negative impact.

Go time – I was seated at the front of the plane against the bulkhead. Normally, I’m a tad further towards the back because the tandem jumpers are the first on the aircraft and last off. It’s an interesting perspective watching the whole load of jumpers leave the aircraft and then following. You’ll see what I mean if you watch the video.

At the door, it felt a little different; it was my first time jumping solo(ish) out of the twin otter. I felt a little more scrunched up and was having a tough time getting out of the door. I don’t know if it was the plane or the way this instructor was holding me. Regardless, I did my count and stepped off the plane. I felt us nose into a dive for a half second, then we leveled out. The instructors immediately started giving me corrective hand signals (arch, legs, etc). I made the mistake of paying more attention to that than checking my altitude. So of course, I got a signal for that too! By time we were at 10k feet (falling from 14k feet), I was checking my altitude as should have been all the way down.

I never felt my instructor release me, and I was pretty much right. She told me on the ground later she let go of me for 1 second, and I saw that watching the video. Once I got to 6000 ft, I locked on to watch my altimeter, and pulled at 5500 on schedule. Got a good chute over my head, did my stability checks, and then started working my way over to the holding area. All went uneventful, and soon I had made another stand up landing (2 in a row) closer to the landing target than I had before. I still need to get closer, but I still liked seeing some progress there after my lackluster performance in free fall. It sure was hot walking back to the hangar in a jumpsuit with a parachute over my shoulder in 103 degree weather.

Back at the student area, I went over the video with both instructors. They dinged me on what I had already noticed (altitude awareness at first, stability, and posture). The instructor that had been holding on to me did the write up in my log book;  she explained to me that she didn’t advance me to the next level because it would set me up to fail on the next one. I completely appreciate that. I learned a few things due to her attention to detail that I didn’t pick up from previous instructors.

There were so many students on the board to jump that I decided to call it a day and not try to get a second jump in; I would have been waiting several hours for that. I can’t deny I felt bummed about leaving on a fail, but you have to learn from these things. Going into skydiving, I thought it would be all “jump out of the plane and bust a jump out”, but it is much harder than that. Part of my problem is I don’t like to fail. I get nervous about failure. And when I feel that, I push even harder to try and overcome and prevent failure. But that is just the wrong approach with this. You have to relax, try less. It is a pretty hard concept for me to accept, but I’m already making corrections to my daily life and outlook to try and bring that to bear.

I have also setup a training session in the wind tunnel this week. Getting only a minute of free fall at a time, it is easy to not learn the right posture and form for me. I just need more time to nail that down. And that’s where the tunnel is perfect. It’s a lot cheaper, and a lot more controlled environment. Then I gotta schedule another jump and say to heck with passing to the next level, I’m getting to jump out of a plane again – enjoy it!

And here is the video