How I became a CRW dog (or my student status days)

In this log I only user my JM's initials - wouldn't want anyone to blame them for my lack of freefall talent ;) But for those who are reading this who are struggling in freefall, keep working at it. I finally "got it" and now have over 7000 jumps..

Jump Date Location Aircraft Altitude Delay/Time

(For those non-static liners out there, the reason these jumped are lettered, not numbered, is because static line jumps don't count towards licenses, only freefall ones.)

A. 4/11/93 Williston FL C182 3500 SL

Had trouble reaching strut, arch was a little flat. Great first Jump -PS

B. 4/11/93 Williston C182 3500 SL

Good climbout, you can slow down a bit - make sure your hand is in the right place, then go - had your feet together hands on risers! Good job, work on the Arch! :) JG

(I moved to Palatka at this point because they offered cheaper jumps.)

C. 5/5/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL

Very good A/C Procedures. Very good climbout. OK Arch on exit. Good job of keeping head up. Grabbed risers on opening. Very good canopy control. Cleared for PRCP's. SS

And my troubles began ;)

D. 5/5/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good A/C Procedures. Good climbout. Dearch on exit. Grabbed risers. No PRCP. Good C/C. Repeat Dive. SS

E. 5/15/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good AC Procedures, climbout. OK Arch. Broke arch on reach. Went head low. Good Canopy Control. Repeat Dive. EJ

F. 5/15/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good AC Proc, climbout. Weak arch. Broke on reach, head down again with an extra barrel roll. Good canopy control. Repeat dive. Major line twist. Practice! EJ

Already the pattern is becoming clear - good climbout, good canopy control. Who cares about the middle stuff ;)

G. 5/15/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good AC Proc, climbout. Weak arch. Fair PRCP. Work on arch. Good arch is key to good PRCP. EJ

H. 5/30/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good climbout - Arch could be better. Pushed off too hard, just "hop" to the right. Brought both hands in to ripcord. Left hand needs to go over head! CC ok. CP

I. 5/31/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good Climbout. Position too far back on step. Hopped off the step going head down. Left hand needs to go over head. Good C/C. Repeat Dive. SS

J. 5/31/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good Climbout. Move out om strut (left hand even with left foot.) Hopped off step, went head down - de-arched. Hand position was better. Repeat Dive. SS

(Here I went and did a tandem with a friend for the heck of it.)

1. 6/19/93 Pell City C182 10,000 40/ Tandem -

Good job on climb out and exit. 3 good PRCPs. 90 degree L+R turns. Pulled own R/C at proper altitude. TD

K. 6/26/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good climbout. Head down on exit. Hands grabbed risers. Did PRCP but left hand was holding harness. Repeat dive. Good C/C. (Try a hanging exit next time.) SS

L. 6/26/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good AC proc. Climbout to hang position. Fell off. Grabbed risers - good canopy control. EJ

M. 6/27/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good climbout. Hanging exit - didn't hang for long. Wind blew you into position and you let go. NOT DE-ARCHED this time. Flat position. CC ok. Lets try again. CP

(Here I tried 2 AFF jumps. Flunked em both, then went back to SL because it was a lot cheaper to flunk static lines! :) I was proud of managing to get upside down though with 2 JMs hanging onto me! :)

2. 7/10/93 Palatka C182 11500 45/45

L II AFF. Good climbout. Legs way up. Arms way out on exit. Flipped to back. JM's recovered. Arch and legs out sigs on 1st check. Legs went out but came back up. 3 good PRCP's. Legs way up and signals given on 2nd check. Responded but let them back up. You must keep constant pressure on them! Attempted left turn but arms out too far and legs up too high. Gave 5500 at 5000 and a good pull. Good C/C. Repeat Dive. SS

3. 7/11/93 Palatka C182 11500 45/1:30

L II AFF. Good climbout. Exit ok then legs up. Legs bounced up and down throughout dive. Arms waved in and out throughout dive. JMs could not release arms. Good 5/5 and pull on time. Good CC. Return to L I for body control. SS

(Amazing. Actually got sent back a level! Hee hee. I was so talented at freefall!)

N. 7/31/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good AC proc, climbout. Weak arch. Left hand went to harness. Right hand did ok prcp. Good CC. EJ

O. 7/31/93 Palatka C182 4000 SL-PRCP

Good attitude. Very heads-up on ground and in airplane. Positive climbout. Kind of tried up down arch count. Pretty lame. Head down on exit, knees down. Looked at and pulled PRC. Bad line twists - dealth with them well. Good Canopy control. Missed pit by 5M. Need to ARCH to pass. AS

P. 8/1/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good AC Procedures. Good positive climbout. Good foot cross-over and placement. Try to get your upper body a little farther out on strut. No hesitation on "Go" command but tucked up into a fetal position on exit. * On Go command take a second and think ARCH as you leave. ARCH for first 3 seconds. AS

2 more tandems here

4. 8/7/93 Pell City C182 7000 20/

Tandem - had planned to do back loops from 10K but had to jump lower due to clouds. Good exit and freefall. Pulled RC. TD

5. 8/15/93 Pell City C182 9000 30/

Tandem - exited and did 2 back loops (and a barrel roll). Arched to regain stability and threw drogue. Pulled a bit high on my command due to bad spot. TD

Here Spencer aided me to finally pass a PRCP! What a sweetheart ;)

Q. 8/26/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good climbout. Exit arch much better. Both hands to chest on PRCP. Good C/C. Landed in the peas. SS

By this point, I was regularly sweet-talking the pilots into extra altitude, and knew how to ride the thermals to stay up for a long time - usually until they started hollering at me on the radio to come down ;)

R. 8/27/93 Palatka C182 4500 SL-PRCP

Good climbout and exit. Arch was OK - PRCP was Good!!! 2 more PRCP's (Good Ones) then FEARFALL. CC Good. CP

S. 8/28/93 Palatka C182 4500 SL-PRCP

Good climbout and exit. Good PRCP. Nice job! CC - not so good. Work on flare. SS

T. 8/28/93 Palatka C182 3500 SL-PRCP

Good Climbout and exit. Good PRCP. Nice Job! Cleared for FFF. SS

Oh my God! FEARFALL!

6. 8/28/93 Palatka C182 4000 5/1:35

5 second delay. Good AC proc, climbout. Dearched on exit, left hand on head, right hand on R/C. Complete dearch but stable. Good AA. Do one more. Work on arch!! Good CC. EJ

7. 8/29/93 Palatka C182 4500 5/1:40

5 second delay. Good climbout. Broke eye contact w/ JM/AC on exit, dearching. Good 5 sec delay. Never went unstable. Cleared to 10 sec FF SB

2 dearches but stable jumps. Foreboding I suppose. :)

8. 9/5/93 Palatka C182 4500 3/1:50

10 second delay. Nice climbout. Dearched off step, looking @ ground. Pulled in head down body position, 3 sec past exit. Work on arch and timing prior to next jump. SB (in the peas)

9. 9/5/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/2:00

l0 second delay. Looked down at alt and kept head down. Hands too close to head. Legs too close. 1/2 barrel roll. Pulled at 7 sec. Very good CC. Repeat dive. SS

10. 9/5/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/2:10

10 second delay. Great climbout, 1st 7 sec of freefall. Had great arch and body position stayed within 90d of plane heading. At witch time she looked at ripcord, dropped right shoulder, barell rolled to right, grabbed ripcord, arched, got almost to proper body position, and pulled. PH

11. 9/18/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/2:20

10 second delay. De-arched, head down, legs together. Started to front loop. Then barrel rolled. Got stable for pull but legs too close together. Good canopy control. Repeat dive. SS

12. 9/19/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/2:30

10 second delay. Exit was ok. Rolled over on side. Pulled on side - no arch. Hands too close to head. Try again. CC good. CP

13. 9/19/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/2:40

10 second delay. Climbout ok. Did a barrel roll, but recovered this time and pulled stable. CC very good. Try again. CP

14. 10/2/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/2:50

10 second delay. 2 1/2 barrel rolls (legs too close). Pulled on side after 6 seconds. CC very good. CP

15. 10/2/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/3:00

10 second delay. Good climbout. Looked down, legs together on exit. Barrel rolled. Recovered but arms in close to body, turning until pull but stable, face to earth at pull. Repeat dive. SS

Whee!!!!

16. 10/3/93 Palatka C182 45 10/3:10

10 second delay. Climbout good. Did right barrel roll on exit, spent rest of dive unstable (whip spin). Pulled on time. CC good. Lived through it again! CP

At this point they were about to buy me a bowling ball ;) Spencer suggested I just try a BIG X instead of an arch - and amazingly enough - it worked! With my arms out I could keep from flipping over. Spencer - my hero....

17. 10/3/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/3:20

10 second delay. Good climbout. Good count. Good hard X. Ride was bumpy but good heading control and stable. Nice stable pull on time. Yehow! Good CC. SS

18. 10/3/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/3:30

10 second delay. Good climbout and exit. Remained stable entire dive. Did a 180d unintentional right turn, stayed in place aprox 5 secs then turned again 180d back to original heading. You've shown lots of improvement today! :) Keep it up. CP

19. 10/29/93 Palatka C182 4500 10/3:40

10 second delay. Medium exit, wobbly flat. Developed an arch. Rode arch until pull. On heading entire jump. Met all TLO's for 10's. Cleared to 15s. EJ

20. 10/29/93 Palatka C182 5500 15/3:55

15 second delay. Exit good. Maintained heading for aprox 5 sec - right turn - NOT stopped at 90d - continued right for 1 1/2 turns stopped, started again. Good pull on time. CC good! CP

21. 10/29/93 Palatka C182 5500 15/4:10

15 second delay. Exit good. Turns were beyond 90d - not showing ABSOLUTE control of heading but its getting there. Nice and slow. Good job. Another 15 sec. CC excellent. CP

22. 10/29/93 Palatka C182 5500 15/4:25

15 second delay. Turns not perfect but OK. Cleared for 30's. CC good. CP

23. 11/13/93 Palatka C182 7500 30/4:55

30 second delay. Bombout good. Took too long to recover from backloop. Started to spin. Pull ok, but watch that altitude. Try again. CC fine. CP

24. 11/13/93 Palatka C182 7500 30/5:25

30 second delay. Only half backloop. Acceptable recovery. Backsliding at pull time. Good altitude awareness. Good wave off and pull. 1 more 30 - Good JOB!!! CP

Awesome! Got to do a "30 second" delay from Mr. Douglas! Too cool.

25. 11/14/93 Palatka DC-3 13500 60/6:25

30 second delay. Good bombout. BL 360R 360L Repeat. Back loops weak. Turns good. Wobbly track. Good AA. Cleared to 45's. EJ

I remember on this jump waving down at Eric as he sank out on me and couldn't get back. Twas amusing. :)

26. 11/14/93 Palatka DC-3 13500 60/7:25

45 second delay. Good bombout. Front loop was BL. Got BR after 3 tries. JM docked. Track circular at first. Work on track. Work on front loop. EJ

27. 11/20/93 Palatka C182 8000 35/8:00

45 second delay. Good climbout. Practice tracking the whole jump, due to lack of altitude (clouds) for proper 45. Much better tracking. Good AA. EJ

My first kiss pass. How sweet ;)

28. 11/20/93 Palatka C182 9500 45/8:45

45 second delay. Good spot. Good exit. JM docked, backed off, you tried to move forward but were already flat, legs out already. Good 180 track w/ ontime pull. Good AA, good CC. Landed w/in 10 m of peas. Congrats graduate!! EJ

My God! I finally graduated! Only 48 jumps after I started!