I'm cleared for SOLO !!

[Cornholio 0]

That's right... another bird has left the nest!
As some of you know, I was having some concerns last Friday with jumping out of the Cessna 182. Thread is here Well, as it turns out it was a little larger than that. It sat 5 +1, so I think it was a 209 or the next one bigger than the 182.
So anyway, I graduated AFF!!! in 8 jumps too - no failures here. I did my level 7 and level 8 dives on Friday. That little plane was pretty fun to jump out of, although I could do without the long-ass ride to altitude -about 30 minutes.
Jump #7 was probably the best dive I did so far. Out, get stable, backflip, left turn, right turn, turn 180 and track and pull.... and yes, I did have a few seconds at the end before I pulled. There were no problems on that dive. I even landed standing up again - twice in a row!!
However level 8 was a pain in the ass. I am so suprised I passed. The objectives for the dive were to jump out in a linked fashion, then I was supposed to dock/redock with the instructor a few times, then spin 180 and track off and pull. Well, that's not exactly how it turned out.... We left the plane, but I was so damn tense that it took forever to get stable. I jumped at 11k and I remember doing my first dock at about 8.0K because it took forever for me to get stable After I undocked, it was near 7, so I was suppsed to do a 180 and track off. Well, instead, I did about a 340 and then I tracked in a clockwise circle for 5-6 seconds totally losing my heading. I then pulled at around 4500 and landed with a skip...ok I fell to my knees then got right back up.
When I returned to the hangar, I thought I had totally blew that dive until I hear people yelling and yelling " BEEER!!!" I was thinking "OMG - how the hell could I have passed that dive ? " Well, it turns out that even though it took a while to get stable, I still was able to pass because of two things. One, is because I did make one dock and undock. And the second was because my pull sequence was PERFECT... I have this problem of putting my right leg down at pull time and getting unstable. Well, this jump was the best pull I did yet without putting my leg down or getting unstable. Sorry, I don't have any pics or video of these last dives. There were no camera guys there on Friday.
Overall, I think the biggest things they were looking out for me, or any student, was altitude awareness, recover from unstable position, and to pull stable. Don't get me wrong, I know I have a lot to work on... but I think I got the basics down now.
I didn't have time to do my first solo, but the jump that I was on was almost a sunset dive. Had we waited about another 10 minutes, it would have been perfect!!
Thanks for all your help and advice... it payed off so far!!
- Matt
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If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.