Oh sit down...

I've finally found time to write this weeks update! Busy busy!

Well Tuesday saw me make my weekly pilgrimage to MK for a private coaching session with Paul. Thankfully the traffic was kinder to me this week and I made it in plenty of time. It's so much better when I'm chilled out from a good drive up and not a bit tense because I'm running a little late!

I signed in and headed down to the briefing area, it wasn't long before I was joined by Paul. After discussing what the plan was for today (getting from the net into the sit fly position and the sit fly itself) I asked Paul if he could be the last reference on my application form, luckily for me he agreed, so we moved to the staff room to fill it in.

Once this was done it was time to get geared up. On the the flight suit, grabbed my goggles and ear plugs and an Airkix helmet and we headed up stairs. While we waited for the group that was in the tunnel to finish we worked on my sit fly position on the sofa, it's totally different in the tunnel though!

We were sharing the tunnel with 4 first time flyers and Dan was going to be teaching them. There's something about watching the first timers, the smiles on their faces and sense of achievement that they get, it's just great! Reminds me of the feeling of my first flight.

We opted to go first as we had the most tunnel time booked. Into the tunnel on my feet and to the centre of the tunnel. I was going to be practicing getting into the sit fly position from being on my back on the net. The logic behind it - if I bail onto my back when I'm sit flying that I can safely get back into the start of the sit fly position. I leant back slowly onto the net, think I've finally cracked this without going splat! Now I was led on my back with my feet in the air and I had to throw my head back with my arms above my head and arch my back to bring the upper part of my body up, and bend my legs to land in the sit position. My problem to start with was that I was throwing my hips forward aswell which was changing the way the wind was hitting me and sending me forwards. By the end of the first 2 minutes though I'd just about got my hips under control and was moving from the net to the sit! Hooorrrrayyyy!!!

The next 2 minutes were more of the same, but at a higher wind speed. This changed everything again and I found my self flying across the tunnel again and I'm pretty sure at one point I ended up in Paul's arms and I may have also kicked Dan who was stood in the doorway! Oooopppsss! Sorry guys! I'd just about got the hang of it by the time the 2 minutes were up. Enough for Paul to say I was safe if anything happened anyway!

Now that I was safe enough to get from my back back to the sit position, it was time to work on the sit fly itself. I seem to have the knack of getting into the sit fly position on the net, I do still have the odd wobbly moment which sends me off across the tunnel, but once I have my balance I get straight back to where I should be and start again. Paul took hold of my toes and we had lift off, it was short lived though as I was still rounding off my shoulders causing me to end up on my back. This seems to be my main pitfall on sit flying.

The second flight of sit fly was a little better but still not great, I was still not arching my back enough to keep me upright. As I was feeling myself falling back I would throw my chest out and my head back and would be back where I was supposed to be, but would soon end up falling back again... grrrrrr!

When I came out of the tunnel from this flight I was roasting! Working hard to stay upright. I had 2 minutes to cool down and get ready for my last flight.

The first half of my last flight was I feel the best, the second half fell apart slightly as my arms got very very tired! I managed to stay in the sit position with Paul keeping hold of my toes until my arms got to tired. I ended the flight with a bit of back flying as I couldn't sit fly anymore!

Flying over and back downstairs to get the suit off and put the kettle on! We spent ages in the staff room drinking tea, eating mince pies and discussing all things flying. I think the guys are getting used to seeing me around now! 

Paul thinks that 10 minutes more of sit flying and I will have cracked it and he'll be able to let go of my feet, then it will be trying to learn to turn! Hopefully this will be part of next weeks lesson. I'm making speedy progress apparently and I feel great about it all. I know there is still stuff to work on, but practice makes perfect!

Once we'd finished in the staff room, we headed to Andy's office to hand in my fully completed application form. There are no vacancies as an instructor at the moment, but as I'm not physically fit enough to be an instructor yet it's not a major issue, but at least my application is in. Andy did mention something to me though which gave me food for thought...

Until next weeks update

x

Total flight time = 1hour 27.5mins

Racking up the minutes...

What a nightmare journey to MK last night! The fog was thick and people just didn't know how to handle the situation. The traffic was a lot worse than normal and people were driving a lot slower. This resulted in us still being 10 miles out side of MK at 17.30, when I should of been at Airkix. As I was having private coaching with Paul, he rang to see where I was (he knows I'm normally early or on time) I explained and thankfully it was only me and Paul and one of the other instructors in the session so I didn't have to panic too much.

We finally made it at 17.50 and I filled in my statement of risk as normal, went to the desk, the receptionist read my statement, said "You've had a dislocated shoulder?" I replied yes thinking I would be getting the normal 'we advise you not to fly talk' but was gob smacked when she said I wouldn't be able to fly. I explained that this would be my 11th flight and that I was here every week. Thankfully Andy was stood behind the desk with Gary and they both recognised me and as I had flown before several times they let me fly! That was nearly the straw that broke the camels back!

Once I was clear of reception we headed round to the briefing area and met Paul coming the other way. We started discussing my flying straight away. Plenty of things to work on and more of letting me teach too. Next up was gearing up, Paul headed to get a suit and I darted in the loo! I was busting!

We headed up to the tunnel and round to behind the control room. I was to teach Paul how to back fly! Paul led down on the board and I explained to him how to make the various maneuvers including going up, down, round to the left, round to the right and side sliding. The idea behind this was that it would help me with my positioning in the tunnel for my back flying and to help me with when I (hopefully) become an instructor.

We moved into the staging area with Dan (the other instructor) Paul and I opted to go first. The first 2 minutes were going to be me stood teaching Paul the correct positioning for back fly.

The wind started and we moved into the tunnel. I stood on the edge and Paul led in the middle of the tunnel. I explained as best I could using hand signals how to get lift and turn and then side slides. I really feel Paul allowing me to do this will be beneficial to me in the long run and I gain alot from it.

My next two minutes were back to sit fly positioning. I had a bit of a wobbly start and lost my balance and shot off across the tunnel and straight into Paul! Once I was back on my feet and back in position I remained stable for a while before losing my balance again and ending up on my back! I had a dodgy zip on my suit and upon getting back up the zip was down and I was verging on giving poor Paul and eye full! A quick zip up and I was ready to go again. Rather than trying the sit fly position again, Paul taught me how to go from standing to belly flying and back again. One foot up, two feet up, belly fly! Then back to feet, although the wind caught me and I ended up against the glass. Back to belly fly again and then time was up. Rather than flying out I opted to go back to standing, rather more successfully than the attempt before and walked out of the tunnel.

Between flight we stuck the zip on the suit to save any more embarrassment!

Flight number three and an attempt at me back flying... I obviously wasn't half as good at it as Paul, but I can work on that! At least I managed to lower myself onto the net without going splat! That's an improvement straight away! Back flying is still causing me a few issues but I did manage to get lift, but as soon as I did I was spinning around pretty fast! It looks pretty cool in the video but it's not what I wanted to do! Thankfully Paul stopped me before I came to any harm. Lots of bouncing around the tunnel followed before I got a stable position again, then of course my time was up and Paul guided me to the door.

On to flight number 4 and a bit more back flying, this really does seem to be taking me a while to pick up! This time seemed to be more successful though! Once I had my positioning Paul had the wind turned up to see if I could remain stable. There were a few hairy moments with a couple of random turns and a bit of a dive for the net, but nothing too disastrous! Think my back fly still needs some work though...

On my last flight of my first session we were back to doing more sit fly positioning. I walked into the tunnel, got into the position and moments later was on my back! I was straight back onto my feet though, although I'm sure I was supposed to get back into the sit position. Paul showed me where I was going wrong with getting up and then it was my turn to try again. Getting down onto the net is the easy bit, it's getting back up again I seem to have an issue with,  I think it's in the balance and the positioning. Paul pointed out that I'm nearly there, I just don't follow the movement through. When I did manage it we moved back to the middle of the tunnel to do more sit. This was going OK until I lost my balance and ended up on my back (again!) That was time up again...

That was the end of my private coaching session, but I had more flying to come with flight night. Between sessions mum and I opted to go in search of food and drink, we'd forgotten to bring anything with us, doh! I un suited and we headed to Costa, 2 rather yummy hot chocolates with whipped cream and marshmallows followed, along with some sandwiches. We didn't stay long and headed back to catch up with the rest of the Flight Night group.

Thankfully Paul had found me another suit so that I didn't end up nearly baring all to everyone again, we all sat around talking for a little while before it was flight time and I asked about the new ruling on shoulder dislocations, hopefully though it shouldn't affect me... we shall see!

We moved up to the tunnel and the group before were still flying, there seemed to be loads of them! While stood waiting we watched and ran through what we were going to do again. I seemed to be in with a good bunch and we all had a chuckle.

I was third to go into the tunnel from our group and was going to do more sit fly. The wind had been turned up this time ready to try and get some lift and I certainly noticed it when I got into position, it swept me straight off my feet and straight towards Paul, I got my balance back on my feet and moved back again, tried to get the position again and was swept forwards again. Third time lucky and with a little help from Paul I finally managed to stay in position. Paul took hold of my toes and we had lift off! It was short lived though as I was soon on my back again, onto the net, then in an attempt to get up I was thrown back against the wall and straight back onto my back. Once back on my feet it was time for the second attempt at sit fly, again Paul took hold of my toes and I was in the air, again though it didn't last long. There wasn't time to try again so I left the tunnel.

On to flight number 2. I still hadn't quite got the hang of getting up from the net into the sit position so we tried a bit of this to begin with. Paul demonstrated and made it look so easy, but I couldn't get to grips with it, I either flew across the tunnel or couldn't get off the net, there is obviously a knack to it which I don't have yet, more practice required! Back to my feet and back to trying to sit fly... on trying to get into position I managed to end up sit flying, completely unintentional of course! Paul took hold of my knees to keep me stable, I managed to (just about) stay in the sit this time until my time was up again.

This should of been my last flight for tonight, but two people had booked to attend flight night and didn't turn up, so Paul offered the 4 of us the chance to purchase the additional time. There would be no point wasting it so we all opted to have additional time.

Back in the tunnel for the last time and straight into the sit fly, looking a lot more stable this time! We even managed some forwards and backwards movements before I ended up on my back again. It took a few attempts to get up correctly though (this definitely needs work!) Rather than trying the sit fly again we tried some walking at the higher wind speed, I followed Paul around for a little while before I ended up against the glass. Time was up again.

A total of 17.5 minutes racked up in the tunnel last night and I can't wait to get back for more!

When we all went down to take off our gear me and Paul were talking about becoming an instructor again and he asked if I'd spoken to Andy (the manager) about it and when I said no he suggested we go and see what he had to say. We headed off to his office leaving mum waiting patiently (thanks mum!) 

I'm now currently filling in my application form in the hope that they like what they see and give me a chance and I've got to work pretty hard to be fit enough for if they do call...

Until next time

x

Private coaching starts here!

Yesterday saw me head to Airkix MK again, this time though I was going for my first private coaching session with Paul. I opted for Paul to be my coach as he's helped me alot at flight night, is a great instructor and is willing to help me reach my goal, what a great guy!

I reached MK an hour before my booked time and sat watching the live action on the TV screen, Steve was also teaching in the same session as Paul and I and he came and sorted out his student and explained he didn't know where Paul was. It didn't matter, I was happy watching for a while. Not long after though Paul came down from the wind tunnel, briefly sat down next to me then asked "Fancy a cup of Tea?", "That sounds like a great idea" I replied. At this point I thought we'd go to the coffee shop or something but was shocked when he said "Well if your going to be staff you may as well see the staff room" I felt honoured!

The kettle was on and tea was being made, marvelous tea it was too, we ended up talking about the instructor side of things and also what the plan was for the 10 minutes flight time I had booked. After much discussion we decided we'd do a little more back flying as this is still something that I'm not 100% at, try the sit fly positioning again carrying on from last weeks flight night and Paul also thought it would be good if I could be the instructor and correct his body position (he was going to put his body in the wrong position and I had to tell him what to do to correct it) 

It was nearing flight time so it was time to gear up, Paul asked what I was going to do with my stuff and I said I'd put it in a locker, he reminded me that I'd have to pay £1, I wasn't worried though but then he offered me a box to put my stuff in and left it in the staff room for me! I grabbed as much of the stuff as I could remember that I needed for flying and put the rest in the box. My purple goggles were about to make their second appearance in the tunnel!

We tried to remember what colour grips I had last time to find the right size suit for me but neither of us could remember, so we guessed, the first one though was a little too tight for sit flying in and the only other one they had was a little large, it would have to do though (this was something I would regret later though!)

We headed up to the wind tunnel and as the group before were running slightly late we decided to run through the movements required for back fly. Trying to remember everything was going to be a nightmare!

When the other group had finished we headed into the staging area and put helmets, earplugs and goggles on. Steve and his student were going first as they had a few more minutes than me. Paul suggested back flying first, this was fine with me, I was to walk in, crouch to the net, get flying and try some turns - easier said than done! I walked in, fine, crouch = splat onto net, I really hadn't got the hang of that! I was fine getting lift, but then I would hit a wall and everything would go to pot, I really need to have more faith in my self in back fly. I was slightly frustrated as I had succeeded at this last week and now I wasn't so great at it again. Never mind, plenty more time to get to grips with it! Before I knew it the first 2 minutes were over and I was out of the tunnel watching the play back. Paul pointed out the good bits and the bad and I ended up not feeling quite so deflated about it.

Next up we were going to try the sit fly position. This had caused me a few problems last week, I seemed unable to keep my feet in one place and just to sit, I was trying to move my feet underneath me which is how I ended up kneeling on the net, I was determined this week though I wasn't going to do that. I stepped into the tunnel feeling determined, stood in the right place and watched for instructions. First things first arms, 90degrees at the elbow and a little less than 90degrees at the shoulder, palms flat. So far, so good. Now the bit I'd struggled with before, legs slightly apart bend the knees into a sitting position, chest forward, back back. I leant back slightly, throwing my chest forward and bent my knees, I could feel the wind on my back supporting me, I'd done it! The smile on my face must of said it all! Once I was in that position we tried a few stability movements, left hand on head, then back to neutral, right hand on head, then back to neutral, left hand again on head, then right hand on head too, a few little wobbles but nothing major! I was well chuffed! 

We watched the play back again and Paul seemed pleased with the progress, much, much better than last weeks attempts.

The next 2 minutes were going to be interesting, I was to get into the sit fly position and to walk around the edge of the tunnel in that position, then change direction and go the other way. It was like being a crab (that's the best way I can think of describing it!) I stood in the doorway while Paul demonstrated to me what to do, then it was my go... I stepped in and rather than finding a nice place to get into the sit fly position I tried to do it just inside the door, it wasn't as successful, so I moved slightly and tried again. Now I had my position I had to try and move myself round the tunnel, little by little I got there, I did stand again at one point when I lost my balance. When I reached the exit door I turned around and went half way back the other way, then back to the middle of the tunnel. We were just going to do a few more things when time was up again. I was roasting when I left the tunnel!

More video playback - this is extremely helpful as I can see what I'm doing wrong and how to improve it for next time...

My next 2 minutes were something totally different, Paul was going to be the flyer and me the 'instructor' I was going to be in the tunnel stood to one side and he was going to fly while making deliberate mistakes and I had to correct them. I really enjoyed this exercise and it gave me a chance to put into practice what I had learnt from flying. Paul did some great stuff, putting his head low, I would point to my chin, chin up. He was flying towards the wall in front of him, I gave the hand signal to bend his legs a little. He also did flying into the wall behind him, side ways, and just lying on the net, maybe I'll make an instructor yet!

It was strange watching the playback of me telling Paul what to do, it's normally the other way round!

Back to sit fly for the last 2 minutes, tackling the forwards and backwards movements. Forwards no problems, it was similar to walking round the tunnel, backwards was just strange. To move forwards you push your chest forward more giving you more drive on your back to go backwards you have to throw your body forwards to get drive on your front to push you back. This seems totally un-natural and goes against pretty much everything you've been taught. We did this a few times though and if I recall correctly I did end up losing my balance at one point and ended up on the net! (this wasn't the first time in this whole session and I lost track of the number of times I kicked poor Paul - sorry Paul!) We did a few more stability moves, taking grips and then I went from a stand to belly fly. Not an easy transition but not bad for a first timer! It seemed a little strange being on my belly again, it's been a little while that's for sure!

That concluded my tunnel time and I had a great time and came away feeling rather pleased.

We were going to go into one of the team rooms and watch the play back again, but the system didn't want to work so we sat on the sofa and discussed the flight before going back downstairs.

There was more tea drinking in the staff room and discussions of becoming an instructor. When other members of staff came in you could see them wondering why I was there and then they would hear part of the conversation and they'd say "You want to become an instructor?" every time I smiled and said "Yes" 

I finally left at a little before 9pm, a little later than normal but who cares!?! I'd had a great time and had had a taste of being an Airkix instructor... I want this more and more now!

Next flight is booked for before flight night next week... until then I will be flightless, but I have the gym to keep me busy!

x

Total Flight Time - 60 minutes

Moving Quickly On...

After chilling out for a little while it was time for my next briefing. Paul was back after debriefing after the last session. We moved into the briefing room and once again it was all fresh faces, this still surprised me as flight night was designed for people to progress. Soon after we started though a couple of familiar faces turned up from the first flight night.
Paul went round the room finding out where people were at with their flying and suggesting what to try and achieve in the flights. I was first up and as he had seen me fly in my last session he suggested we carry on from there with a minute of back flying, but he was going to turn the speed up, just like the instructors, just to see how I coped. He then said that he really wanted to push me and thought we should try some positions ready for sit fly. So on the same day as successfully back flying I was already moving on towards sit fly! Amazing!
One of the others in the group was still doing basic belly flying and Paul wanted to get them moving around the tunnel touching the 'X men' she wasn't sure on how to move backwards and forwards and Paul was going to demonstrate, but changed his mind and asked me to do it! I got up from my seat and positioned myself on the 'flight table' (yes we really have made this up as the term to describe the bench/table for showing body positioning!) I proudly told the room that to move forwards they needed to bring their arms back towards their body and straighten their legs, I then showed them how to go backwards by straightening my arms and bending my legs. Paul proudly told them all that he asked me to demonstrate as in the future I wanted to become an instructor, he then used me to show them how to move arms and legs together. I loved the opportunity to 'teach' hopefully in the future I'll be in Paul's position and I'll be teaching classes.
After the briefing the others got geared up and we headed up to the tunnel. There were some skydivers in there so we watched for a little while before it was our turn.

We all moved into the staging area and I was 5th to go. This gave me plenty of time to run through all that Paul had told me and to make sure I was ready. When it was my go I walked in, I tried to crouch and lay on my back but once again it was the flop onto the net, Paul checked I was OK though before we carried on. I opened up into the back fly position and after a little bit of random flying about the air flow was increased. I think I managed to fly quite well with the higher speeds and I didn't end up all the way at the top of the tunnel, surely that's a good thing!?!? Although I'm sure some of you would of found it very amusing, picturing me pinned to the veins at the top of the tunnel. Once the air flow was slowed again, Paul stood on the ends of my shoes and I stood up, I walked to the middle of the tunnel and we began working on the sit fly position. I stood opposite Paul and he was showing me what to do, first up was to put my arms out to the sides and bent at the elbow to point forwards, I had them a little high to begin with so Paul came and lowered them, he moved back to be opposite me again and began to crouch, legs apart into a sitting position. I found this quite difficult, I couldn't seem to get the balance on my feet and I was leaning forwards into the wind rather than standing straight to my hips and then leaning back. We only got as far as this and my first 2.5minutes were up. I exited the tunnel and watched the play back. It was by watching this I realised how much I was leaning into the wind.

Flight Night, Flight 1 Video

Abbie, in the group was learning Sit fly too, but had been trying for longer than I had so I decided to watch her closely before I went back in to see if I could improve my position, she made it look so easy!

I walked back into the tunnel for my second flight and we were straight into trying to get the sit fly position, again I could get the arms right but when it came to crouching I just couldn't get my balance right and rather than keeping my feet still and bending my knees and hips while leaning back slightly I was trying to tuck my feet underneath me. At one point I ended up on my knees in front of Paul, oooppsss! I did eventually manage to get a position that was close to what Paul wanted, but it does need work! Once I was in that position I was asked to try and fly, I pushed off slightly and Paul took hold of my legs, but all I succeeded in doing was flipping from my sit fly position into a back fly (at least I had that to fall back into, not that that's any consolation!) Unfortunately we ran out of time to try again, but I know for next time that I need to lean more into the wind behind me to crouch. Hopefully I will be better at it next time!

Flight Night, Flight 2 Video

Once again Paul was a fantastic coach and I thank him for all his help, encouragement and support. I'm now trying to organise some one on one coaching with him as he seems to know how I fly and definitely knows where I'm heading (or hoping to head!)

Overall I was extremely pleased with both flights from last night and can't wait to get back in the tunnel to try more sit fly positioning. My next flight is booked for just under 2 weeks, but whether it will stay that way is any ones guess...

x

Total Flight Time = 50 minutes

The Nemesis is no more - session 1, 2/11/10

After my extremely frustrating attempt at back flying on Saturday, I opted to book some additional time before my already booked flight night. I'm extremely glad I did!

After a nightmare journey getting to MK, arriving half an hour late, I left mum to see to getting the parking ticket and locking up the car and I headed straight in. I quickly filled in my statement of risk and headed down to the meeting point, I expected to see everyone in the briefing room, but it was empty. Paul (my flight night instructor) was briefing some people, but Gary was my instructor, so I waited patiently on the bench and before long he appeared.

We went into the briefing room to discuss what I wanted to achieve. I explained about Saturday and feeling like I was in a pinball machine, so we opted to go back to net work to begin with, working on turns and forwards and back and then moving on to actual flight. As it happened I virtually had a private lesson with Gary as there were no others booked in other than Paul and his 3 private coaching people.

After gearing up - I got to use my new goggles! we headed up to the tunnel to wait. Unusually the tunnel was empty so there wasn't much to watch. After Paul and the others came up we headed into the tunnel, a little earlier than we were supposed to.

We let the others go first and Gary explained that he wanted me to walk into the tunnel and then crouch down so my bum is on the net and then lean back so I'm on my back on the net. Sounds easy huh?!?

When it was my turn I walked into the tunnel - no issues there - but the crouching bit proved to be a little more difficult! I got so far down and then relaxed a little too much too quickly and flopped onto the net with legs in the air, not very angelic at all! To begin with I seemed to have solved my wonky body issue from Saturday and set about performing turns on the net. Turning with my arms left and right went well but feet were a little more difficult. I couldn't quite get the right angle for the air to hit and spin me round. Gary helped though and I was soon turning circles. While doing this though my wonky body had come back, DOH! We were just about to try arm and leg turns when my time was up. Gary wanted me to stand up from the back fly and walk out of the tunnel... he stood on my feet to stop them moving and told me to put my head right back and widen my shoulders to allow the upper half of my body to lift, I did and within a flash I was face to face with Gary. I exited the tunnel. Due to the fact I had Gary to myself, we watched the video play back and he explained what was good and what was bad and what we were going to try next.

Back fly attempt 1 - 2/11/10 Video

My second flight was spent trying to learn how to get up and down from being on the net on my back to standing up. I think I was just about getting the hang of it and at least I was managing to stop myself while getting up before colliding with Gary. After getting up and down a few times we tried moving forwards (towards my head) This is where my wonky body crept back in, but I fought it and finally managed to stay straight. Gary put my feet between his knees and I moved my arms down by my side causing me to move straight forwards, we did this a couple of times and then my time was up again. Once again we watched the video playback and discussed what we were going to do next.

Back fly attempt 2 - 2/11/10 Video

On my 3rd flight I walked in again and Gary helped me down onto the net, we practiced moving forwards and backwards, forwards this time was better than in the last flight and backwards worked a treat too. I bent my legs, lifted my arms above my head and I moved towards my feet, whoooo! Next up was to actually try flying, to begin with Gary kept hold of my feet and moved my legs as to go up and down in the wind tunnel. I was then allowed to try on my own, after a little bit of bouncing around on the net, takeoff! I did it! Gary was there just in case and did take hold of my feet a couple of times just to be sure and to adjust my position. I was just so happy that I actually managed to back fly! After all the frustration on Saturday I was so proud. Thanks to Gary for his help in getting me to fly!

Back fly attempt 3 - 2/11/10 Video

Gary pointed out that I needed to bend my arms slightly more and push them back to give me more lift by providing a larger surface area. This was something to work on but at least I had succeeded in flying without help!
As I was flying again an hour after I came out the tunnel I kept my jumpsuit on and sat with mum downstairs watching the kids club on the live action TV screen. For kids they were fantastic!
I enjoyed the chill out time between sessions, but I wish the benches were more comfy!

x

Total Flight Time = 45 minutes