Drop altitude 1500 feet AGL, time of drop approximately 1425.
WX at 1500, 71/22, DP 48/9, winds E 10, unlimited vis. RH less than 60%.
And by the way, today's soundtrack coming off the drop zone:
Chris Stamey, "Insomnia"
R.E.M., "Driver 8"
What a beautiful day for a jump! Too bad I wasn't on the manifest before the jump started. Thankfully, today is the day before a 4-day weekend, so a lot of people who were on the manifest scratched (i.e., no-showed). This is where being on the jumpmaster team for the line really saved my ass. Generally, even if you're not on the manifest, if you're on the jumpmaster team, you stand a better chance of getting a parachute for scratches. The jumpmaster team (and the S3 air folks) tend to take care of their own. If you're willing to be current and put out jumpers, there is some benefit to be had.
Not a bad exit, but I had some bad oscillations at exit. As I gained canopy control, I literally was swinging 45 degrees off the vertical. I'm thinking the exit might have something to do with it, but I didn't notice anything particularly untoward in the exit. Descent was pretty straightforward with a rear landing. I didn't do anything particularly special; I just remained facing into the wind. In spite of proper orientation into the wind, I still landed going backwards about 4-5 knots. I attempted to flare my landing; I gave the toggles on my MC1-1D parachute a brief pull around 20-25 feet off the ground. I'm thinking this may have actually accelerated the landing or induced oscillation that might have accounted for my rear parachute landing fall.
I was a static jumpmaster five lifts later. Total composition of the lift was 12 jumpers, one of which was jumping combat equipment (ALICE pack). He was the first out. I always have a bad gut feeling about pulling duties in the event that I accidentally miss the panels (we jump Ground Marking Release System, so I manually initiate the jumpers' exits based on the positions of orange panels I see). Thankfully, I haven't missed the panels yet. They're actually not that hard to see. I still consider myself a relatively inexperienced jumpmaster under this system; when I went to the Jumpmaster course five years ago, the only method of delivery taught was the Computed Air Release Point, where the pilots control initiation of jumper exits. Today marked my third duty under GMRS.
Two notes about the lift.
First, I probably gave an early 1-minute time warning. Too early is not necessarily a bad thing, but it bothers me not to be able to ascertain the real position. I probably should do the math on the map and figure out what I really should be looking at a minute out. The thirty second time warning was on, but that's the western edge of the DZ. You have to be blind to miss that one since it's swamps and forest off the western edge and most of the DZ is grass and sand.
Second, and perhaps much more gratifying, one of my jumpers told me that I had a very accurate initial spot for the jumpers I exited. My first jumper landed within 150m of the personnel point of impact for this drop zone. The remainder of my jumpers landed on track, fairly close to the assembly point. It's always nice to know that I accurately spotted the jumpers for whom I was responsible. Of course, no injuries, and good coordination between myself and my safety (the other jumpmaster checking jumpers going out) made it even better.
All things being equal, this was a good jump and a great way to start the weekend, particularly coming off unexpectedly being on the overall champion team in the post cross-country race.
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