Jump 3 – 13,500′

GOOD EXIT. GOOD COA. GOOD PRCT’S. GOOD COA. OK HOVER, BUT NO ALTITUDE AWARENESS. REMINDED BY JM. PULL AT 4,000′ WITH TWO HANDS. GOOD CC AND LANDING. TRY AGAIN WITH ALTITUDE AWARENESS AND PULL CORRECTED.

The hotel check, exit, COAs, and PRCTs went fine. After my second COA, the JMs let go. As soon as they did, I went into a left spin. I corrected it, but it took a great deal of effort. I was concentrating so hard on trying to figure out what was wrong with my body position that I forgot to watch the altimeter. Then, one of my JMs put his hand in front of my face and pointed at my altimeter. I was at 4,000 feet! I was supposed to pull at 4,500! As soon as I realized that I was capable of forgetting something so important, I panicked. I reach for the rip cord with both my hands. That caused my body to angle sharply downwards. So, the parachute kind of snapped me up when it opened. It didn’t really hurt, it was just unpleasant. The rest of the jump went fine. My landing was the softest I have had to date.

Jump 4 – 13,500′

CLIMB OUT AND EXIT WERE OK. COA ALL OK. PRCT’S GOOD. COA RELAX. RELEASE AT 10,500′. BAD TENDENCY TO TURN LEFT, BUT OTHERWISE OK. NEEDS TO BRING ARMS IN, AND LEGS OUT. 5-5 OK. PULLED AT 4,500′. CLEARED, LEVEL IV.

This jump was much better than my third jump. I went into a left turn every time I looked down at my altimeter. However, besides that, I was able to hold a good heading and I had great altitude awareness (I won’t ever forget that again). The landing was ok.