Thailand update #6

[billvon 3,112]

Today was an odd day, full of excitement but no jumping (except for the packers and the Thais that is.)

We got to the DZ at around 7:30, but the sky was dark and no one was in much of a hurry. We spent some time removing leaves, water and frogs from the tarps and tents, which had gotten drenched after yesterday's rain. We did a quick dirt dive, then went on an indefinite weather hold. After about two hours, BJ made an announcement - we had found another airport 30 minutes away (30 minutes by C130, that is) and the Thai air force was willing to drop us there instead. The captains piled onto one of the smaller planes to go check it out.

Meanwhile, there was lots of chatter about whether this was a good idea or not. We weren't sure if we could get a good picture of the place before we jumped into it, which meant that some people would get their first real view of it at 1900 feet after pulling at 2100. (Or they'd be looking at it in freefall, which would be bad for the 372-way.) But the team is nothing if not resourceful, and I figured there would be a way to get a picture (or at least a video) of the new airport before we jumped in there.

A few hours later BJ was back on the microphone. We were going to try to jump into Korat instead; the weather here now looked a lot better, and the alternative drop zone was a bit narrow for landing 400 people. A lot of jumpers were relieved. BJ would send the G-222 up first with a load of packers, local Thai jumpers and tandems, and then we'd make the jump. We dirt dived, then waited until the captains got back before we loaded up the C130's.

We climbed to altitude with the full 372-way for the first time. We got to 20,000 feet and started our long jump run. A few minutes out we got the word - weather had moved back in and we'd be landing with the plane. We stayed on oxygen (fortunately, we had the ability to change tanks in flight if needed) and started to descend. I had my Neptune out of its pocket and was watching our altitude. We started a 2500FPM descent, which was odd since the deck angle hadn't changed. But then again, the C130 lands in an almost flat attitude, so I didn't think much of it.

We descended rapidly through 15,000, 10,000, then 5000. As we passed 2000 feet still descending fast I started worrying about my cypres. We were descending about 40-45fpm (per my Neptune, which has a vertical speed indicator) and the cypres isn't supposed to fire below 78fpm, but after the antenna incident (see below) people were thinking about cypres misfires.

We passed 1000 feet at 40fpm. Then 500 feet. Now I was getting worried because gear and flaps were still up, and it seemed like a bad idea to tool around Korat at 500 feet in four C-130's. Then 200 feet. Something was up. Guy looked out the window and said we were still really high. Finally I figured it out - they had pressurized the cabin. I dimly remembered that C130's had cabin pressurization, which is a little counterintuitive because of that huge door in the back (which opens _out_ on the bottom, exactly what you don't want on a pressurized aircraft for mechanical simplicity.)

At least we were able to go off O2, which was nice. We flew around for about five minutes, picking our way through the overcast that had sprung up during the climb. Finally we turned on final. I looked at my (mechanical) altimeter and noticed it said -150 feet. They had pressurized to an elevation lower than the landing site. Not a big deal, but now all our cypreses, dytters and neptunes had a new zero point. Had we jumped again, our cypreses (and potentially our dytters) would have triggered 150 feet lower. From the amount of cloud we has descended through, though, that wouldn't be an issue.

We landed, and the screech from the tires made me jump - I was sitting about a foot from the main landing gear, and it was loud. Water dripped off the tail as they opened the tailgate, and we hurried back to the tents in a steady drizzle. Looks like a lost day. The packers did manage to get a jump in, and there were jokes about how they were more current than some of the people on the A tracking team (outer wackers) who have been mostly on the ground for two days now.

Tonight we go to the Korat Resort for dinner, which is one of the two hotels we're using. The resort is supposedly the nicer of the two, but it's pretty far from town, and the people there complain about long bus rides to get into Korat. It's far enough that taxis and tuk-tuks won't come out there. By comparison, the Sima Thani (our hotel) is next to an irish pub, about a mile from Tesco's (think Thai Walmart) and two miles from the center of town.

Side note - a few days ago, a jumper was landing by the radar antenna in the center of the field, and had his cypres fire just as he was flaring. Apparently it was an old one without the EMI shielding, but people have been avoiding it ever since anyway. It's probably a good thing, since getting a canopy edge caught on the spinning reflector would definitely not be a good thing.

(later)
The biggest difference between the Korat Resort and the Sima Thani is the air. In Korat, the two-stroke tuk-tuks, the constant burning of trash, the old diesel buses, and the unreleting humidity make the air a dirty gray haze you can smell as soon as you get to around 2000 feet. (Makes a good backup to an altimeter.) In the resort, 30 minutes outside Korat, you can barely smell the smoke. I know a few people here who could stop taking drugs for congestion if they moved over to the resort.

Tonight we had a quite excellent dinner out at the resort, followed by a fire eater show and a sarong competition. Duffy Fainer did an excellent job as MC, singing "girl from Ipanema" as he tried to get actual women in sarongs to come up on stage. Instead a procession of guys in drapes, dresses and sheets came up to compete for the prize, which according to Duffy was a year's supply of Lee press-on nails. There were best disabled-skydiver sarong, best old guy sarong, and youngest sarong categories. Scott and I left when people started getting tossed in the pool; it looked like it was going to be one of those nights.

As we were leaving I noticed dozens of six inch long lizards dangling from the ceiling of the resort's entryway. They were white with black eyes, and scampered around in search of bugs to eat. It looked like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. Cool to look at, but after Duffy lost a good chunk of his leg to an unspecified insect bite about a year ago in Thailand, I view small animals here with a bit more distrust.

Weather report for tomorrow isn't great so we're waiting until 8am to head over. Tuesday things should improve.

[ltdiver 3]

Wow, Bill!

You guys better get back in the air or Duffy will have you all singing and dancing with white lizzards soon!

Thanks for the updates! Say hello to all the gang from our neck of the woods for me.

Stay safe and bring home the prize!!
ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[sdgregory 0]

Quote

Stay safe and bring home the prize!!

That goes ditto for me. Hope you guys pull it off!

[gerryfuss 0]

THat's a pretty big formation. I'd love to just be on the ground there and be watching. I think the break off is an amazing thing to watch. Good Luck to all of you over there!

[rehmwa 2]

The Sima Thani is a nice hotel. We get to stay then when work sends us to korat.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Amazon 7]

Uh Bill. the lizards are good things... they eat the damn bugs.. When I was in places like that I always tried to encourage a few to hang around... in the upper portion of my bug netting.. both inside and out... the ones outside to get the majority of the little bastards.. and a couple inside to get the "creative" bugs that managed to find a way inside the netting


Here leezard leezard leezard.