Today we continued with the 200-ways.The first team had the 'final' base and four of the wackers; the other team had six of the wackers docking on a temporary alpha-team base. Two out of three 70-way bases for the first team completed from 20,000 feet (we can go as high as 23K if we need to) and fall rates were up to 120-125. Breakoffs were working pretty well, and that's what we need to safely bump up to 372 tomorrow. Plan is to start with a non-completing 372 way (i.e. wackers won't dock or prebuild) to get the angles, levels and breakoff down, then move on to the dive itself.

We'll continue doing three dives a day for the next eight days, or until we get the record. A typical dive starts off with a dirt dive, which is usually full-gear on the tarmac. We'll do one or two walkouts from the exit, then do an 'exit frame' where everyone is in their positions a few seconds out of the plane. Then we'll load the planes. We've been trying to get the Thai crews to spin props before we load, but so far they haven't wanted to. Instead they'll start the APU's (which are almost as noisy as the engines themselves) and wait for us to get on board before they start up.

Once on board, we mill around finding our O2 hoses from the last dive and sit in our usual places. About 25% of the load has seats; the rest are on the floor, on the rice bags or in a niches by the paratrooper doors. As we're getting set they close the doors. It then becomes very hot inside the C130 until they get a few engines started and have A/C available. After engines are started (a lengthy process with four engines) we taxi out and take off in sequence. Even on the 100-way practice jumps they'd treat it as one big sortie.

Inside the aircraft by the tailgate are two Thai crewmen who operate the door and communicate with us via a whiteboard. We get warnings like 10 minutes out, 6 minutes out, 20,000' (which is something of a redundant announcement) and off-oxygen. They prebreathe oxygen from engine start all the way up via a separate system. We go on oxygen at 14,000 feet via the usual assortment of cannulas, masks and plain hoses.

Today we continued with the 200-ways.The first team had the 'final' base and four of the wackers; the other team had six of the wackers docking on a temporary alpha-team base. Two out of three 70-way They open the tailgate about six minutes out. The C130's we're using have remarkable (for jump ships) temperature control; even with the door open it's not that cold. We get the stand-up signal at two minutes, and at 12 seconds out we get a bell that means go off O2 and get on the ramp. From there, a floater watches the lead plane and drops off when the superfloater goes.

The exit on the Herc is a little unusual due to the width of the door and the speed of the aircraft. It's very easy to exit, hit the air with your legs first, and go head over heels. The trick is to present with your chest so you hit the air chest-first. Outer people have to present to the side since the air swirls around the tail and comes in from the side a bit.

Once off the plane, most divers go head down and get big. This takes full advantage of the exit speed to get "blown back" towards the base, and allows an easy transition to a dive. It's a little eerie to exit, present well, get blown up and back, and then feel a burble from someone who exited _after_ you (but is now downwind of you.) The first few seconds after exit are very busy, because you have to keep all that in mind as you're flying in a pack of other people, all very close to you.

Bj Worth closed the day in high spirits making sure he told everyone that they were awesome. Spirits were brought even higher when Bj announced that - tomorrow - everyone would ride to altitude together in the four Hercs and pursue the 372-way!

End-of-the-day video (3.3 Mb)