There are some questions I've grown tired of hearing. Why on Earth would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane? When are you going to jump? Have you jumped yet? When will you be home? Cell phones seem like a great idea, but since I don't have control over the weather or how things are done at manifest or how many AFF instructors show up on any given day, I can't be held responsible for when I get up in the air.

One of the few things in my control - the time I show up at Orange. I learned the hard way that 15 minutes can be the difference between getting up and leaving Orange VERY frustrated. On August 1st, there were quite a few returning students, several new guys, a bunch of tandems, and not very many AFF instructors. The weather report called for "Isolated Thunderstorms".

The drop zone had a new look - sort of like a construction site. As a result of airport renovations, our landing area was no longer the safest place for students to land. One of the instructors took a group of us to check out a field on the other side of the tree line. Thank God I had a change of shoes. We ended up walking through a swampy area, and my shoes were complete saturated with mud.

We discussed our landing pattern and how we would deal with various scenarios. We went inside and took turns quizzing each other in the training harness. After general ground training, we broke up into smaller groups. I was there for my first category C jump which required two AFF Instructors. Lambert told us that they wanted to get the first time AFF guys up and before they would start working with us.

After they finished the tandems, they got the new guys up. I was excited when my name appeared on the white board! I would be jumping with Lambert and Kevin on the next load. I picked out a jumpsuit and the rest of my equipment. After I had everything together, I put on my jumpsuit. Woo hoo...I'm next. I'm going to jump today!

My enthusiasm was quickly dampened by the huge isolated thunderstorm that developed over the drop zone. A weather hold! Ugh! Have I mentioned how frustrating this sport can be? During the weather hold, one of the instructors asked if I'd like to do Category D ground school with a few other students. Why not? I might as well take advantage of the offer.

CATEGORY D:  Our ground training included learning how to operate the Automatic Activation Device(AAD). At Orange, the student rig is equipment with a Cypress AAD. This is a device is designed to deploy your reserve parachute in the event you fail to deploy your main. In addition, we learned how to do an equipment check, discussed the three-ring release, and the reserve static line (RSL). After the equipment orientation, we learned how to steer our bodies. This was very cool!

In order to make a turn, you look in the direction that you plan to turn, keep your arms in the relaxed freefall position and lower your shoulder - just slightly. That's all it takes! To stop the turn, you move your shoulder back into the neutral position.

Category D jumps are made with one AFF Instructor. On the first of these jumps, the AFF Instructor may or may not be holding on to you - depending on your ability level. Before leaving this Category, you must be exiting the plane by yourself. 

After we'd completed the training, the weather broke. It was late in the day and there were still six AFF students left. At that point, Lambert told us that not everyone would get to jump. He told me that he was going to try to get me up because I had come from so far.

To make a long story short, Lambert then decided that we should check to see what time we each arrived.  That's when we discovered, one of the local guys (Kevin) arrived about 15 minutes before me. Lambert went to him and explained my situation, but Kevin was not willing to let me jump ahead of him. So much for being a sweet southern gentleman. Chivalry is dead. I knew this already. It was a bit irritating, but not a surprise.

When I looked at the sign-in sheet, I became highly irritated. I discovered that the three "first time" guys arrived after me. This was enormously frustrating. If they are going to follow a "first-come first-served" policy, they should stick to it. I realize that students requiring only one instructor may move ahead of me, but the three "first time"guys should have been put into the pecking order.

Note to everyone:  We do not like Kevin!