Love at 1st Static Solo!

1984: A Beautiful Morning to Play!

I learned very early in the advent of my life of loving adventures that people can be quite enthusiastic in the plotting and planning stages, and pep-talk-after-pep-talk of believe-abilities and invincibilities overcoming fear et al.........The day, that has been scheduled and rescheduled to accommodate schedules (not fears) arrives. It's time for the convoy of vehicles to depart from our selected starting point and drive to the adventure location. Minimal vehicles arrived, mine being one of them. The only other brave souls were committed to follow-through, at least follow-through to the Skydive Drop Zone. All others were lost, forgotten, dismissed, or cowered!

There were a lot of talks (and talks, and talks) between the group of my friends to skydive, skydive, skydive, and when the day arrived it had twiddled down and couraged up, to myself and three other fellas!!

The Goal: STATIC LINE SKYDIVING!!

After 4+ hours of ground training LISTENING INTENTLY to every detail of what WILL GO RIGHT, and the myriad of happenstances of what could possibly go wrong, and learning the differences between them, and also learning how to stay calm, react accordingly to save me from harm, injury and/or death, my sanity was zooming full-force into the SKIES!

During a jump with a static line, the parachute is linked to the airplane. The static line opens the parachute without the intervention of the student and regardless of his position. The student remains in freefall for three seconds, about 50 meters, before his main canopy gets completely opened. This time is sufficient enough for a student to experience the air pressure and become aware of his position until the full opening of his canopy.
(http://www.veloce-skydive.com/pedagogie/uk.oa.html)

I had no monstrous fear invading my glee, I just was absorbing, listening, and learning!

Learning how to walk into the aircraft, sit in the aircraft, walk to the perch at the door opening, and how to exit the aircraft were being engraved into every nerve cell of my mind, body, spirit, and soul!

I and many of the other students knew something was up when one of the other students decided to make a joke, pun, and/or inject his humor throughout the course. It was indicative that it was nervous humor. That's understandable: but geez! We are busy listening and the instructor was very polite, direct, and courteous in indicating the seriousness of the information.

The hours took care of themselves as wisdom was imparted.............then it was time to fully gear up, and walk to the aircraft!!

Fact: When I am GAME: I am TRULY GAME!!

Fact: Gear on, loading onto the aircraft: LET'S DO THIS!!

Once at altitude, as I recall, jumpers were positioned and one-by-one were adroitly informed that the time was neigh and now and BRING IT!!

The jokester was next in line and instead of manning up and telling his jokes to the winds upon the horizon, he decided to tremble and cry. Needless to say, but also important, a person cannot be made to jump out. As he crumbled into a ball, the jumpmaster motioned for me to get into exit position. I had to guide by him as I got into position, and was thinking:
Geez, really?! I only wish he wasn't crying so loud, I've got a mission to accomplish!

Not only did I want to FLY, my eyes drastically wanted to get out of the sight-line and my eardrums wanted to get out of the cone of whimpering, and into the cone of the silence of the skies!!!

To story continues........................................

U.S. Parachute Association

http://www.uspa.org/BecomeaSkydiver/ChooseaMethod/tabid/65/Default.aspx

Become a Skydiver

Overview

IAD stands for "Instructor-Assisted Deployment" and is a method of training where the instructor initiates deployment of the student's parachute when the student jumps from the plane.

A static line is a line of cable or webbing, one end of which is fastened to the parachute, the other to some part of the aircraft, used to activate and deploy or partially deploy the parachute as the student falls away from the aircraft. The instructor does not jump with the student in either of these methods.

Training

IAD and static-line training and the first jump can often be accomplished the same day. The USPA Online Ground School, while not a course that can be used as complete training, provides valuable information for first-time jumpers and is a great refresher for all students. Although the freefall portion is specific to the AFF training method, it also includes videos and sections on skydiving equipment, canopy flight, and landing, emergency procedures relevant to all training methods.

How Does It Work?

Assisted during climb out by the USPA IAD or Static-Line Instructor, the student exits the aircraft solo with the parachute deploying immediately.

Exit and opening occur at 3,500 feet, then the student pilots the parachute to the landing area.

http://www.uspa.org/Default.aspx

Automatic Opening:

In order to safely open his parachute in freefall, a skydiver has to be in a stable position. Before a student can practice freefall on his own, he has to show that he masters this position. To be able to do this, the student jumps from 1200 meters with an automatic opening device, to be able to try out this position.

Relative Wind and Exit Position:

On the ground, the student receives training on the exit position, as well as how to steer his canopy and the landing with it. The exit position is based on the freefall position but is slightly different.

In freefall, the air pressure comes from below as the relative wind from freefall is vertical. During the exit phase, the skydiver does not yet have any vertical speed, but only the horizontal speed of the plane he is leaving. Therefore the relative wind is horizontal at first and progressively becomes vertical as the speed in freefall increases and the projection effect from departing the plane decreases.

The Exit Position Can Be Described as This:

symmetrical, spread on the air
hips forward
standing with a 60° angle
head up, looking at the plane
facing the engine (facing the relative wind)
legs stretched, getting the air pressure

Sensations and Validation of the Position:

The student is asked to perform a controlled exit until the full opening of the canopy. Then, he has to perform the same correct exit a second time. The gesture in itself is not difficult, but the natural apprehension and the discovery of new sensations make that some will accomplish two correct exits in a row on their first jumps, others will need a dozen jumps to do so.

This does not foresee in any way the student's later eased in freefall once he will get used to this new environment. The apprehension on the first jumps is normal and proves that the novice is conscious. This will disappear as the student goes along jumping and acquires sensations.

Dummy Ripcord:

A stable exit position is not enough to be able to practice freefall alone. A student also has to show that he can open his parachute without losing this stability. The loss of stability could cause an opening in an uncertain position and a random path for the canopy on the opening.

A student parachute is equipped with a dummy ripcord placed where the actual main canopy ripcord would be. The student leaves the plane and, before the full opening, reaches for this ripcord, going back to the initial position afterward. Again he has to perform two exits with a dummy ripcord in a row in order to be allowed to practice freefall alone.

The dummy ripcord is placed on the right hip strap. If one only moves his right hand towards it, the position is not symmetrical anymore. A bigger pressure on the left side than on the right would cause the student to roll on his side and then eventually on his back. One cannot move both hands at the same time either, for it would take away all air pressure in front and would place his head down. The student has to take the right hand towards the ripcord and place the left-hand flat above his head at the same time. This allows him to have symmetrical pressure without losing the air pressure in front. Once the ripcord is pulled, the student goes back to the initial position, spread and symmetrical.

Solo Freefall:

Once the instructor is convinced that these elements have been assimilated, he proposes the student to do a solo jump and open his own parachute. This time, departure is from 1500 meters for a freefall of 10 seconds, opening at 1200 meters.

Indeed, when a skydiver leaves the plane his speed increases progressively and he will go from 0 to 50 meters in 8 seconds if he uses the stable freefall position. The distance in freefall is counted as follows:

5 seconds from 0 to 100 meters
3 seconds from 100 to 200 meters
2 seconds per 100 meters from there on

In the first jumps, the student counts the seconds in freefall and opens his canopy without looking at his altimeter. This way he will establish an intern chronometer which enables him to be aware of the time spent in freefall. The second jump is from 2 000 meters for a stable freefall of 20 seconds.

Then the student learns to freefall using his altimeter while remaining in a stable position. For this, he has to look at his altimeter (which is placed on his wrist) by turning his head and rotating his wrist, without putting his hand in front of him as one would do with a watch.

Discovery of the Movements Around the Three Axes:

Once the stable freefall position is mastered and the student is aware of the altitude and the time in freefall, the new skydiver is initiated to the movements around the three axes. The stable position only serves for a secure opening, the skydiver can take any position he wants in freefall. The student learns how to evolve in the air and use the air pressure provided by the speed of freefall.