Sentiments from the RAPS course last weekend.....FAO Coxy...

Couldn't have summarized it better. On the whole, during the ground training they really instill you with all you need to know, instilling you with it your confidence is high and you're 'ready for the fight'. Reminded me of my Army days. So how was the course? Well, after signing our medicals and paying the 170 quid, we were issued our kit and walked through each and every bit of it, especially how the main chute opens automatically and what to do if not. We got to sit in mock up aircraft doors practicing our exit pose and actual jump followed by 4 seconds of arching until the canopy would have opened. This is one spot where wind tunnel trips come in very handy: as Jason and I already had had the experience of arching our bodies, our exits turned out to be the most stable. We had lectures on not-so-seriuos nuisance factors and definetely serious malfunctions and on how to cope with these calmly and quickly. After practising the parachute landing fall to a reasonably good level, we were ready to go! The nervousness and adrenaline that had been building up all day long would yet have to reach its peak in the plane, but already people were solemnly quiet...quite contrary to the instructors, who suddenly loosened up quite a bit and cheered us on. And this is where Jason's post begins, covering about 10 mins versus my 7 hours :P The actual jump is way less scary than you would imagine, in fact I was totally surprised at how smooth everything was going. None of that nasty falling sensation or those painful canopy openings, the landing was softer than sitting down in a couch. All together a really amazing accomplishment and I'm definetely going for that A license. Every penny of that money was worth it, even having South Africa win didn't bother at all. If Chris Cox ever reads this (I'm sure he will) then just a big thank you for an awesome day! And now, back to my coursework (sigh).

Phil Babcock