west33freefall

-I made a few jumps the other day and on the first jump of the day I got a pretty good line twist and break release. I deployed stable and straight (I used to spin a bit when reaching the pilot chute, but haven't done so for the past 10 or so jumps.) When my risers came out i some how got smacked in the side of the face with one while looking up at the opening. Once the chute started to inflate I knew I had some line twists and there were going to be a few. Once it inflated I started turning a decently hard left turn and was rolling into more line twists. I reached up to stop myself from more line twists. As I did I noticed my right toggles break lines were undone. It took me a good 10-20 secs to get out of the twists and I broke the left breaks free and got out of the spiral. Does this sound like my fault or packing error? And what should I do to avoid this? I was also considering very likely that I was going to cutaway? All my instructors say I have good judgement but how close does it sound like I should be cutting away? - I don't know if I am crazy or not but I don't neccessarily love situations like this but I like them. They really make you think and get your heart rate up. I love that feeling of getting out of bad situations. It makes you feel alive.

I am not to far ahead of ya working towards my A license. I think it was jump 10 or 11 when I finally got pretty comfortable with what I was doing. I did a few tandems at the beginning of the year and graduated the Static Line course pretty quick. But I still got pretty freakin nervous everytime. I just focused on what I had to do. On the way to altitude I went over it in my head all the way to deployment and any emergencies I might see. If your in a cessna 182 or similar you have plenty of time to practice. Even though I don't get nervous that much now I still am a little unsettled on the first jump of the day. If I didn't get that feeling I doubt I would like it so much. But your body will adjust to throughing itself out of an airplane. You just learn how to change nerves into fun and excitement. - as to the training jumps. I just look at these jumps as a job. Working toward that license and fun jumps. Practicing and just working hard at the jumps is the best thing you can do. Just keep thinking about once your done with all of these jumps I will have so much fun. And if you repeat jumps just remind yourself that it is more practice to be prepared if something goes wrong in the future.

Cutaway - "THAT DIDN'T WORK" Reserve - "LET'S TRY AGAIN"

My brother in-law's uncle has a hot air balloon. I have talked him into letting me jump out of it sometime this summer when he is around. I want to try and jump some where close to my house. I live way out in the country so it is relatively safe. I was looking for someone to give me a simplified way of doing it legally. I know you are supposed to notify the FAA and all that good stuff but was wondering if any one could just write out what I need to do. Like a step-by-step? ***Also what advice does anyone have to a virgin balloon jumper? What to do? What not to do?