Skydiving

I have only done it once, and it was amazing! It's a whole long story that would sound almost too unbelievable for fiction, but it was thrilling, and because of who trained me and took me up there and what happened when I actually left the plane, it is hilarious too. I don't think mine was a common experience though, so it may not be what you're looking for. If you want me to tell you all about it, send me a PM. I'll be busy this weekend, but I'll try to get it to you on Monday if you're interested.

illiterwrite said:

I did a search but either I'm a bad searcher, or this question hasn't been asked before.

I'm interested in hearing everything about skydiving. How long does a jump take? What's the process? What was your first time like? Is it addictive? What do you think and feel on your way down?

Any other impressions would be most helpful. Thanks in advance.

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It's a horrible, scary, terrifying experience. I swear, I damn near had to be pushed from the plan every time. Only a crazy person would willingly jump from a moving aircraft.

Now, that aside. Are you talking civilian jumps or military jumps. There is a difference.

It's about as addictive as getting a colonoscopy. If it hadn't been in the job description I'd never have done it.

As for thoughts on the way down? "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Don't let me die." Or so my squadies said they heard me screaming. They're all liars of course.

It also doesn't help if your afraid of heights. That can lead to a negative perception.

I've done it. What, specifically, would you like to know about the experience?

It was, without doubt, the most thrilling, exciting, adrenaline pumped activity I've ever done. It takes all day. You begin a training course in the morning. First it's theoretical, watching videos and seeing photos of "good" chutes vs. "bad" chutes (this bit's scary as all hell). After lunch, you go into a hangar and get into a real harness that's suspended from the ceiling, just so you know what it feels like in the air.

At the end of all that, and after you sign a waiver (yikes!) you put on a jumpsuit, parachute and helmet, get into a gutted Cessna with five other people (three jumpers, a jump master, and the pilot) and take off. When it's your turn, you step out onto the wing of the plane, hanging on with one hand on the doorframe, the other on a strut, and then you just...let go.

The jumpmaster throws the "pilot chute" out after you, and that pulls the ripcord automatically (no freefalling). You count to ten and check your chute because, if you'll recall, you know what a "good" chute looks like. If you're chute is "good" you will live, and you shout and whoop into the wild blue yonder until you touch safely to the earth.

Any more questions, feel free to ask here, or PM me.

I've never done a tandem jump, but I can tell you the feeling, at first, is pure fear. I closed my eyes and held my breath until I counted out my 10 seconds before looking up. After you know you're going live, however, it's a feeling like no other. Elation, I guess is the best word. It's wondrous to look down between your shoes and see the world thousands of feet below you.

You can steer and you can brake, although I think that in a tandem jump the experienced jumper would do these things. A parachute has handles called "toggles" that you pull down to turn right and left. If you pull them both down at once, it's called a "flare" and it slows your descent (the brake). You don't want to flare for too long or the chute can collapse. When you get close to the ground, maybe 6 feet up, you flare hard to slow down and land on your feet (my upper body strenth is poor, so to flare I had to pull my legs toward my chest and I ended up landing on my ass).

The feeling afterward is difficult to describe, but so great I can see someone getting addicted to skydiving. It's such a rush, that after you feel a weird perfect contentment, a flush of it through your whole body. As soon as I landed, I wanted to do it again!

Hope this helps. Any more questions, just ask.

I started skydiving in college when I was 17 and stopped about twenty years later. I've got something over a thousand freefalls, not really all that many for the time involved, all for fun. I was also an instructor for awhile. What would you like to know? Ask away. As for how long a jump takes it depends on how high you can afford to go. I've done hop and pops for the crowds from 2,800 ft (They've come to see you die, so why disappoint them?), sixty second freefall and relative work from 12,500 ft, and I've got five jumps from 15,000 ft and 90 sec of bliss. How does it feel? The adrenaline rush is intense, so much that it causes perception to slow down. I kissed a girl once in freefall at terminal velocity (120 mph), which resulted in some very interesting things on the ground afterward. I've gotten into large formations and small. I've experienced two malfunctions with cutaways and flew one wing down with only one control line. I'd better stop here before I bore you to death.
Scott

Student asks, "How long do I have to pull the rip cord"
Instructor answers, "The rest of your life."

The number of instructors depends on the size of the operation at the dropzone (DZ). I've taught as few as one and as many as eight in one class. Class size limit depends on how much student equipment is available and whether they've got a rigger working to repack the parachutes as the students land. In the plane there's only one jumpmaster. When you've reached the correct altitude for the type of jump involved (more advanced students go higher for short freefalls), the pilot starts the "jump run". Because he can't see over the nose of the airplane the jumpmaster generally hangs his head out the door to guide the pilot over "the spot", a predetermined exit point that takes wind into account to get the jumper back to the DZ, hopefully on the target. It's a great deal like being a bombardier. As the plane gets close he (or she) then helps the student get in position, sometimes in the door, most times out on a special step while hanging on to the wingstrut. At just the right moment they signal the student, who steps off gracefully (or not) into space. Most of the time, that is. I've had a few people decide not to jump and either wrestled them back into the plane, a dangerous operation, or "assisted" them in letting go. For the first few jumps the student's main parachute is activated by a static line or by the jumpmaster (depending upon the system they're using) as they fall away from the plane. The jumpmaster watches the student carefully as they exit. If they show the right form over a few jumps (a hard arch resulting in a good, stable, face to earth position) they generally advance to a dummy ripcord pull where they demonstrate they can remain stable and in control enough to find and activate the ripcord or pilot chute, depending on the equipment. Once that's mastered they move to a "hop and pop" where they deploy their own parachute. A few more jumps and they move up to short freefalls from slightly higher altitudes. All during this they learn to steer the parachute and to land reasonably close to a soft, pea-gravel filled target area without getting hurt. Depending upon how often they come back (costs go down drastically after the first jump) they're soon on their way to longer freefalls and relative work with other jumpers. Only about 5% of all the people who make the first jump ever come back to become skydivers. Most of the people I taught or jumpmastered were there on a bet or to impress a girlfriend. As Caro said above, the feeling afterward is like nothing else. Most skydivers will quickly tell you that the rush is far beyond any orgasm. I hope this helps. It brought back a lot of memories for me. I made my last jump in 1987, a demo into a local speeway with ten others. A few months afterward, I blew out my knee while working on Alaska's North Slope. I was an arctic explorer then, but that's certainly another story.

My sister's boyfriend is an avid jumper. Here is a video of a fundraising event held at the drop zone in Pepperell Mass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYiugYRbyGI

One of the guys at work did a tandem jump recently. He was the last out, and the guy he was with suggested doing something a little different - going out backwards. Although it sounds easier, because you aren't looking at the ground, apparently it makes it more scary because what you do see is the safe haven of the plane suddenly become very small as you shoot off downwards.

Also, I am very jealous of all of those who have done a jump.

Pepperell, yes, more good memories. I got seven jumps from a twin Otter there. 15,000ft. Landed in a tomato field twice, one oak tree and a back yard. Just missed the pool. Could have logged it as a water jump.

Any time.