Preparing for my first hop n' pop

[NickyCal 17]

I am 13 jumps in, working towards my A license, and haven't done a hop n' pop yet. I know, I know. I just love free fall! However, the high temps this weekend are forecast to hit 30 degrees if we're lucky, so I'm thinking that its time to aim low for a little while.

So, for a newbie to the 5000 ft exit, what should I know? What are some really important things not to screw up? I've never been great at that darn step exit (though its getting better), so what if I inadvertently do one backflip before I get stable -- do I have time for that? Or is this a big problem? I feel better about my exits now, but is it a problem if I'm not 100% perfectly poised right out of that door? I do get stable quickly, but quickly at 12,000 ft might not equate to the same level of speed required for a successful 5000 ft jump. Nervous? Me? Yep! But I think that this weekend is the big day. I can't put it off any longer. And probably need to suck it up for the winter and get used to the low exits. Thanks in advance for any good words of wisdom and advice on making this another successful part of my jumping knowledge.

[Blis 1]

at 5000 feet theres plenty of time for backflip or two... Heck, i did 9 sec freefall from 3700 feet and it went fine... Not advised though...

[wasatchrider 0]

5000 you have time of course it is recommended to exit stable but I went flipping out the door on my first hop and pop on purpose.

BASE 1519

[wmw999 2,461]

We used to do 10-second delays from 4500 feet; 5500 feet were the 20's. Parachutes opened a little faster then, but not a lot.

You have plenty of time from 5000' to get stable and do a deliberate pull. The biggest deal is how big the ground looks from there. It's OK -- just think of how much bigger yet it would look if you had to get out because of an aircraft problem.

The idea behind a hop and pop is to make you deal with change in your skydiving, in a controlled manner. The more changes you deal with in a controlled manner, the better able you are to deal with ones that happen when you don't expect them.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Divalent 137]

Best preparation (plan A) is to get an instructor to go over the exit technique, and then practice that a few times when you exit from a higher altitude (do everything as you would on a HnP, but just do a handle touch). Or you can just do what most people do, which is to forget about practicing and just do the real thing the very first time, deploying after some crazy flips. (Plan B)

Particularly if you've chosen plan B, make sure you tell someone in the plane that has a camera that you are doing your first HnP so they can film it and post it here. They are always entertaining (unless they aren't).

[NickyCal 17]

Quote

Best preparation (plan A) is to get an instructor to go over the exit technique, and then practice that a few times when you exit from a higher altitude (do everything as you would on a HnP, but just do a handle touch). Or you can just do what most people do, which is to forget about practicing and just do the real thing the very first time, deploying after some crazy flips. (Plan B)

Plan A was the plan. I'd intended to do a couple more stable exits from altitude before I did my first hop n' pop, but with the high this weekend topping out at 30 degrees, I don't know that anybody will be going to altitude (or that I want to!). And I'm not allowed to go by myself yet. I can do solos of course, but I have to be in the plane to altitude with somebody licensed for the spot. I think that I may be relegated to hop n' pop or nothing this weekend.

[mattjw916 2]

From 5k you have a ton of time to get stable, way more than you think you do... there's no need to achieve perfection on exit and if you couldn't stabilize yourself quickly... you wouldn't have cleared AFF.

I've spent many a winter doing H&Ps out of King Airs due to the cold weather and my process is basically the same to this day: Yellow light, deep breath, exhale slowly, relax, check spot, green light, dive, orient myself into the relative wind (head high), relax, relax, (add more relaxing if you want to hit terminal before pulling), and pull! That probably took 200ft to accomplish, 4800 more to go...

I think for my first H&P I had a big group of CReW guys laughing at me since I looked nervous. We've all been there.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[pchapman 279]

Yeah, do the math yourself or look at freefall tables. Prove to yourself just how long you have from 5000'.

Try to do the exit and pull in a nice slow deliberate manner, one step at a time, confirming that you are in a nice stable body position, belly to the wind, before doing the pull sequence. Trying to rush things will just make your performance worse.

[Turboprop 0]

+1

In time you will no doubt do a canopy course which is mostly hop and pops from 5000-6000, for me anyway. 8 jumps in a day, and I had my first chop on one! Builds confidence. Enjoy

[ChuckMartin 0]

I love going up with people on their first H+P. They are all either nervous or can't wait to get out of the plane. I did on on Monday and the girl jumped out before faster then anybody I have seen. Perfect exit too. Like a lot of people have said you have plenty of time. I just looked back into my log book and found a few jumps from 5,000-5,500 with 20-25 seconds of free fall time. Sit there and think what 20 seconds is, its a long time. I'm sure your instructors and coaches would not let you go until they think you are ready.

Not sure if you have seen it yet but people doing a two way H+P is not unheard of. I few months ago the clouds were at 7000 and we put out a 8 way into that. We didn't have a long time but enough to be safe.

Relax and watch the plane. You are opening up higher then you are use to if you think about it. If you do get a little unstable and open up into some line twists you will have plenty of time to fix it.

[yoink 321]

RELAX.

5000ft is high!

Enjoy the jump.

[ufk22 33]

Biggest thing-remember the relative wind!
The common mistakes I see from low time jumpers on H&P's are too relaxed an exit (not arching right away) and trying to get belly to earth right away.
Leave with a solid arch and keep your head up with your hips forward, arms back.
For the first few seconds after you leave the plane, the relative wind is horizontal, not vertical. You shouldn't be belly to earth right away, and if you are, you're actually dead low/head down to the wind, not a real stable position.
I've done H&P's from under 2000', from 5000' you've got over 10 seconds to get stable above your minimum deployment altitude of 3500'.
Don't sweat it.

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

[dthames 0]

I don't know if this will help you or not, but I don't think it would hurt to try. Recall that from 5000 to 4000 you will have about 10 seconds.

Have a friend time you for 10 seconds while you dirt dive at home. Imagine going out the door and having some stability issues. Play the part and fix the problem. How long did that take? Acting this out, odds are you would feel like you could whip it in just a few seconds, way less than 10. Do this several times and convince yourself that you have plenty of time and there is no reason to rush it.

When you exit if you know you can do it, just relax and do it.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[GooniesKid 0]

The main thing to remember is you have time to get stable if you do exit unstable. Get an instructor to give you a briefing.

Heck H n' P's are fun...i usually just chuck myself out the door and get a good 10 seconds worth of freefall. I sometimes exit on my back and wave to the plane and passengers,,,they seem to get a kick out of it

[DHemer 0]

10 seconds minimum, more like 15 till you need to pull.

Now wait for a bad weather day and go go h&ps from cloud base at 3500, that makes me a bit more tense.

I was in a plane with a guy doing his final PRO (demo) rating jump. It is an exit from 2000ft. Now that is low but he still took a 3-5 second delay to get stable

I saw don't give the rest of the load any satisfaction, act like you dont care and just go for it

[dthames 0]

wmw999

The biggest deal is how big the ground looks from there. It's OK -- just think of how much bigger yet it would look if you had to get out because of an aircraft problem.

Wendy P.

Most of my first 25 jumps I never looked at the ground until under canopy. I know you need to know what the ground looks like at pull time but early on, looking at the ground was not part of the dive flow. So, i didn't do it.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[wmw999 2,461]

I'm considering the whole spotting part of it, before getting out of the airplane. That should be part of the flow, at least checking for traffic.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[GooniesKid 0]

DHemer

10 seconds minimum, more like 15 till you need to pull.

Now wait for a bad weather day and go go h&ps from cloud base at 3500, that makes me a bit more tense.

I was in a plane with a guy doing his final PRO (demo) rating jump. It is an exit from 2000ft. Now that is low but he still took a 3-5 second delay to get stable

I saw don't give the rest of the load any satisfaction, act like you dont care and just go for it

you are absolutely correct to factor in weather. Granted i was chucking myself out in clear skies and 80 degrees.

Cloud base @3500 in bad weather and that's a different story. I'd make sure i make a good clean stable exit then pitch my sack (by sack i mean the hackey sack, guys)

[BigMikeH77 0]

wmw999

I'm considering the whole spotting part of it, before getting out of the airplane. That should be part of the flow, at least checking for traffic.

Wendy P.

Excellent point, one that hasn't been brought up yet.

I'm fortunate in the sense that my home DZ has easy reference points for spotting; roads on either side of the airport are an excellent indicator.. But your first Hop n' Pop is a great opportunity to really exercise that skill. Just grabbing an instructor or coach and going over spotting on the ground with an aerial map is quick, easy, and adds a potentially new element to the jump.

I think that, as a student on your first hop n pop, knowing that your spot is good and knowing WHY your spot is good can actually increase your comfort level with the whole thing.

Chances are though, you'll still exit like THIS. It's still tons of fun.

I think one of the instructors on the plane had to practically hold my hand on my first.. Now, I love em'!

[Arvoitus 1]

Like people have said to you, just relax. You have plenty of time from 5000 feet. When I put my SL students out on their 4th freefall (15 seconds) they exit from 5250 feet (1600 meters).

Here is a h'n'p from an AN-2 from roughly 2500 feet. I had half the altitude you'll have and I still didn't need to rush anything.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[Chelseaflies 0]

Relax

Take a deep breath. Throw yourself out, arch hard and pull when stable. Simple as. 5,000ft is really high, you'll be surprised just how high it is once you do it.

Most of all, enjoy it! They're heaps of fun. I did 5,500 in my AFF and just did 3,500 for fun the other day and it was awesome!

"My time is limited, what I can do with that time is not" - Jeb Corliss

[nigel99 507]

NickyCal

I am 13 jumps in, working towards my A license, and haven't done a hop n' pop yet. I know, I know. I just love free fall! However, the high temps this weekend are forecast to hit 30 degrees if we're lucky, so I'm thinking that its time to aim low for a little while.

So, for a newbie to the 5000 ft exit, what should I know? What are some really important things not to screw up? I've never been great at that darn step exit (though its getting better), so what if I inadvertently do one backflip before I get stable -- do I have time for that? Or is this a big problem? I feel better about my exits now, but is it a problem if I'm not 100% perfectly poised right out of that door? I do get stable quickly, but quickly at 12,000 ft might not equate to the same level of speed required for a successful 5000 ft jump. Nervous? Me? Yep! But I think that this weekend is the big day. I can't put it off any longer. And probably need to suck it up for the winter and get used to the low exits. Thanks in advance for any good words of wisdom and advice on making this another successful part of my jumping knowledge.

Relax and enjoy it. From 5k you have 10-15 seconds till 'normal' pull altitude. There is absolutely no need to rush it - heck dive out if you want to

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[labrys 0]

Quote

Relax and enjoy it. From 5k you have 10-15 seconds till 'normal' pull altitude. There is absolutely no need to rush it - heck dive out if you want to

There is the minor detail that this requirement is intended to help a student practice an emergency exit. Exit as *stable* as possible and pull.

Owned by Remi #?

[nigel99 507]

labrys

Quote

Relax and enjoy it. From 5k you have 10-15 seconds till 'normal' pull altitude. There is absolutely no need to rush it - heck dive out if you want to

There is the minor detail that this requirement is intended to help a student practice an emergency exit. Exit as *stable* as possible and pull.

Yip I get that you have to exit stable to 'pass' that stage. But so many people are freaking out about being 'low' that I don't see the harm in doing a fun hop and pop first.

This weekend I saw a guy 'fail' his AFF 9 (our hop and pop requirement) because he exited stable at 5k and then did a 10 second delay

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[NickyCal 17]

Many thanks for all of the encouragement and advice. I will report back once I've done it. Looks like our DZ is going to be closed this weekend after all (not enough people willing to jump in the cold), so it may be a few weeks off, but I'll let you all know how it goes!