12 Days at Skydive New Mexico

Climbing out: The Rio Puerco

BSMs with BFPs: Elijah and Kelly got their Tandem Instructor ratings

"How come you have all the parachutes, and I don't have any?"

Elijah takes his "Pops" up as his first passenger

Skydive New Mexico DZ Manager/Birdman Lee Norris strikes the classic wingsuit pose

Instructor Examiner Jay Stokes was at SDNM for most of the last two weeks teaching Tandem, IAD, and AFF Instructor classes. I had the great good fortune to be allowed to give some ground support to Jay and the various instructor candidates. My duties included keeping a manifest of all the jumps, checking the weather and winds aloft, some pickup van driving, a little parachute packing, and the usual light janitorial duties. Best of all, I got to fill some loads. Usually the DZ is only open on the weekends, so getting to jump 11 out of the last 12 days was a lot of fun.

We started on August 1st, with the Tandem class. SDNM AFF Instructors, Kelly and Elijah were the two candidates. By Friday, they had both passed the challenging class and received their ratings from Jay. Elijah celebrated by taking his father Danny for a ride. Danny looked a little uncomfortable waiting to board the plane without his Racer on his back, but you could tell he was pretty proud of his son. It was very cool to see two generations of skydiving Combests making a jump together.

Over the weekend Jay held the IAD class. Rudi, "Big" John, and Kelly all passed the class and got their IAD ratings. In between sport jumps I made 3 jumps as an IAD "student". I really liked the 4000 foot IAD deployments - I mean, what's not to like? The openings were soft and on heading, I got a nice long canopy ride, and the skydives were free!

The AFF class started on Monday with three candidates attending: Matt, Danny, and Rich. For me, listening in on the AFF course was the most educational part of the last 12 days. It's been a little over a year since I was an AFF student, and I feel like I just took the course again; only this time from the perspective of the Instructor. To say that Jay Stokes is a Master is an understatement. You simply cannot be in the man's presence without learning something. Of course I learned about skydiving, but I also learned a bunch of stuff I can use as a paragliding instructor.

The AFF course was burdened with a few logistical problems, not the least of which was that they closed the Belen airport for three days to resurface the runway! We solved the problem by launching our plane from nearby Mid Valley Airpark and landing, packing, and debriefing at the Belen airport. It worked, but we spent a lot of time in the shuttle van. By the end of the week, only Rich was able to complete the requirements and get his AFF rating before the class ended. Matt and Danny will get a chance to finish up when Jay returns in September.

All in all, it was a fantastic 12 days of learning, leaping, and living large with some of my favorite folks. I wish the DZ was open today...