February 20th-22nd

This weekend was a great success! Friday afternoon everyone was excited to get to the dropzone. Nathan Bidwell, and Jon Whitlatch both drove up the early slot. Arriving at the dropzone not having anything to do, they quickly dialed the other groups with drivers including: Laura Ware, Connor Watson, Charlie Ansley, and Adam Gardner; to see when they would get there. Once most of the groups arrived we quickly setup a few tents while the sun was still up.

By around 9 o'clock we pretty much had everyone together at the Steak and Shake in Rock Hill. Drinking milk shakes, getting ready to bear the cold, we decided to make a last stop by Wally-World to get the Spaghetti for the dinner on Saturday night. With a festive time in Walmart, enjoying the heat and toys to play with, we collectively left to head back to the dropzone. When we arrived back we were greeted by some of the dropzone locals. With the cold temperatures and by our sheer number we had to set up another tent which was brought as a backup. This was great news, as we had 24 students there spending the night on friday night, and there is nothing better to watch a bunch of college students try to set up a 7 person tent in the dark. With most of our students excited about what the next day brought it was clear to everybody that the weather will be great, and they will get to leap out of a perfectly good airplane. As the night set in, and temperatures began to drop and the excited students decided it was time to sleep since our day of jumping would begin early around 8am, since we were warned about possible high winds saturday afternoon.

Saturday morning, I am awaken by the sounds of excited collegiates getting ready to jump out of airplanes. It was not even 7:45am when it was sunny, and students were chatting as if they had been awake for hours. This was it, time to get trained. At 8am the Tandem students would begin training. This session is not long, but does take time when 8 students have to pay, fill out waivers, watch the tandem instructional video, and get trained. At 9oclock the AFF students would begin the rest of their training.

By around 10 O'clock the first plane load went up. This first flight was with the Cessna with student Nathan Bidwell, braving the cold, to work on his Category D jump. With that jump completed Nathan was soon to be off AFF. As the day continued, the normal jumpers showed up, and they began flying the Twin Otter. Our students began to jump 2-4 at a time. By noon, all of our tandem students had made their first jump, and the first time AFF students were getting ready to jump.

As many people had made their first tandem jump, students such as Jon Whitlatch and Charlie Ansley were interested in packing and were introduced to some of the techniques of the trade. Other students spent time working to earn jump credit. Students such as Will Stephenson watched the air, while Adam Gardner packed. We would like to give a special congratulations to Nathan Bidwell, Robbie Munsey, and Bryan Germann for completing AFF. Great job and keep up the hard work!

By the end of the day we had:

3 students graduate from AFF:

Nathan Bidwell, Robbie Munsey, Bryan Germann

9 tandem jumpers:

5 First time AFF jumpers:

Estimated number of Jumps for saturday February 21st was around 35.

~Congratulations to all those who made their First Skydive~

Written by: Adam Gardner