Canton Air Sports, OH

Air Sports: three new Explorers members attended while three others failed to show up at the UC turnaround--par for the course when it comes to skydiving trips, unfortunately! The day started out fairly overcast but transformed to mostly sunny by early afternoon. It was one of those fall days on which sitting in the sun feels glorious while sitting in the shade for too long is quite uncomfortable. The airfield was wet and muddy enough that the pilot elected to take off from and land at Miller Field, a tiny airport a few miles away from Canton Air Sports that sports a concrete runway. The three tandem students each enjoyed their jumps, while Greg and Mike got two jumps in each, including one that involved a high canopy opening--shortly after exiting the plane--for more time (and fun) under canopy. Even with gloves on, spending that much time high up in the air on a day as cold as this one temporarily resulted in some lingering finger soreness!

-M. Jehn

Canton Air Sports, OH

Don Burnette put together the largest skydiving group that the Explorers Club has ever had: 25 students plus Greg MacLean, Mike Jehn, and Don. 
Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not play nice; windy conditions and near-total cloud cover for most of the day prevented a lot of students from jumping. A brief mid-day period of slightly clearer skies allowed Mike, Don, and Greg to make two jumps each. The tandem students who didn't get to jump were luckily refunded, and we hope that they'll all come back in the future. On a positive note, this trip brought 25 new members to the club! Don worked really hard to put this trip together; we can only hope that we'll luck out with nicer weather on our next trip!

-M. Jehn

Greg, Mike, and Don:

Skydive PA, PA

2-ways with Greg and Don:

Canton Air Sports, OH

Our first big skydiving trip of the fall semester went off surprisingly well considering the mostly cloudy, windy conditions; only one solo student did not get to jump because of the weather.

Since the sky above Canton Air Sports only cleared up occasionally--and even then only in patches--, loads went up in irregular intervals throughout the day.  Our group was quite diverse in terms of skydiving experience; it included three students who'd made their first tandem jumps with us a year earlier; eight new tandem students, including our kayaking chair Matt Bernstein; one return student who'd made over 20 jumps in Europe and is working toward his USPA A-license; and Greg MacLean and me.  (Greg and I did a freefly jump with a non-CMU friend of ours above a solid floor of white clouds with zero ground visibility, relying on a GPS to determine our exit location.  After having spent most of the day below the clouds, in gray drabness and chilly wind, it was stunning to behold a crystal blue sky above an endless rolling floor of clouds.)  Adding a little extra fascination to the day were five gorgeous month-old corn snakes brought to the dropzone by its senior rigger, Phil Mihai.  The snakes spent most of the afternoon out of their cage, passed from person to person and getting plenty of exercise.  I took three of them home with me!

-M. Jehn

Mike and Greg's jump:

Canton Air Sports, OH

Don and Greg made a bit of a spur-of-the-moment trip out to CAS on 5.15.2009 and spent the day making jumps with a notable group of AFF students and fun jumpers. After arriving at 1pm, Don & Greg each made 5 jumps, including some freeflying, RW, and licensing work. 'Twas another great day of skydiving!

-G. MacLean

Part I:

Part II: