Anyone been skydiving?

[fencergal33]

Ok....I'm really excited.

I went to this festival sort of thingy on my area over the weekend, and I talked to the local skydiving organization. While I was there, I entered their raffle to win a free tandem jump.

I never win anything, so I figured, why not?

I won.

It's something I've always wanted to try, but never had the courage (or the money) to do it. Now I have no excuse.

Has anyone ever done this? What was it like? What should I expect?

Thanks!

[Epee_Pox]

I myself have never felt the need to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but a ton of friends have done so. They all tell pretty much the same story: lots of nervousness right up to the point where you're free of the plane, when all of a sudden it's just the best feeling in the world. And since you'd be going tandem, you don't have to do any actual controlling of the parachute, so just relax (ha) and enjoy the ride.

[swordwench]

And pay attention to Telk's post in the bumper sticker thread: "If at first you don't succeed, parachuting is not for you." I envy you! I have such a dread fear of heights, the mere thought of doing this scares me.

[fencergal33]

It not heights that scares me....it's airplanes. I don't fly well at all. I guess it's more clautrophobia than anything. I just don't like being confined.

The flight to Miami is short, thank God.

[Taomagicdragon]

I don't fly long distances either, but because my arms get too tired

[GGK]

It not heights that scares me....it's airplanes. I don't fly well at all. I guess it's more clautrophobia than anything. I just don't like being confined.

Ask them to open the doors.

G

[Larrison]

Has anyone ever done this? What was it like? What should I expect?

Yeah I did it a few years ago -- static line jumps, solo. Why? Just to see how I would react in a high stress situation and to see what it was like.

Did about 4 hours of training and then went up for 2 jumps. Was not a tandem jump, so I can't say about what that would be like. I think every school and way of teaching is a bit different.

Really cool and quite different than other things I've tried. We went up as the three of us who had come together (me, my gf at the time, and a buddy), with just a pilot and instructor as well in the small old plane used for jumping. Making bad jokes on the way up, and noticing my friends were obivously stressed a bit -- as I was. Looking out the missing door and realizing that 4800' up is a bit higher than I realized. The blast of wind as you climb out and hang from the wing strut, the instructor yelling "go! GO!". The view of the plane falling away from you as you fall, the shock of the chute opening (and watching my feet seemingly come up to the level of my shoulders on the shock!), and then the amazing visibility as you float in mid-air on the way down and maneuver. And then how fast the ground comes up -- never did manage to judge well how close I was to the ground.

Did I go for more? No -- doing it twice in one day was enough for me. My buddy who went out with me, went on to complete around 20-30 jumps including free fall and basic free fall maneuvers. But I had satisfied myself with the 2.

[ReverseLunge]

I've done it. AFF. Accelerated Free Fall. The scariest parts are signing the waivers and watching the ground get smaller as you go up. After you jump out the plane it's really peaceful. You don't feel like youre moving at all.

[Fencergrl]

See you keep yourself down by jumping!

[Fencergrl]

I've done it. I was going to Nationals and someone from F-Net figured out who I was. There was a struggle, then next thing I knew was I was being pushed out of the plane. Then things got really peaceful. You don't feel like youre moving at all.

Be honest RL.... I took the liberty in revising your story.

[ReverseLunge]

HAHA

Seriously it's not scary like people think. The plane is moving at 120mph so when you fall out you don't get that feeling like on a roller coaster.

[howtobrew]

I did it three times when I was in college. After I recovered from falling off the cliff while rock climbing, I let my friend talk me into it on the premise that it would prove to me that I was not inhibited by a fear of heights... something like that...

Anyway, we spent the morning training how to hang onto the drop bar and let go from the Cessna, and then it was time. 4 of us were jumping static line and solo. We are taxi-ing down the runway, and then the pilot pulls over (I kid you not) and says "We need to change the order here" and puts me FIRST!
No, No, I say, Steve was supposed to go first, I am going second!
Naw, need to balance the plane better....

3000 feet later, we are over the jump site. There is a small circle on the ground way over/down there.... Okay, time to open the door and climb out onto the step and grab the jump bar.

Whoa! WIND! There wasn't an 80 mph wind trying to blow my boot off when we were practicing this on the ground!! Geez! Okay, hand over hand over hand and I am hanging from the jump bar... Look to the pilot for the jump signal.

Oh wait, I didn't put my goggles down... I let go with one hand and pulled my goggles down, then reached up and grabbed the bar again, then looked back at the pilot for the jump signal. Everyone in the plane is laughing their asses off! "Go" "Just let go!"

Ooookay, I will let go just a little bit... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa arms flailing wildly aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
And then the chute opened.
Calm.
Quiet.
Peaceful.
I am pinching a 'nad under one of the leg straps!!!
You can hear people talking on the ground plain as day.
This is really beautiful! Owwwwwww.
Okay. Let's see: "turn and fly toward the landing circle, turn around and face into the prevailing wind to descend vertically into the circle." Okay, sounds easy. I am over the landing circle, turn around...and fly back out of the circle. !?!
Try it again... @#$%! What happened to the prevailing wind?! And who put that #$%^& barbwire fence so close to the landing circle!
Finally I paralleled the fence and landed without mishap.

The third time I did it, I was prepared and was able to watch the plane fly away and the ground slowly rotate into my field of view. Fun, but really not that much fun (for me). Haven't done it since.

I would like to try hang-gliding though.

[fencergal33]

My boss did hang glinding, but she doesn't even weigh 100 pounds, so they had a hard time getting her down. She said it was really fun though.

[cfaustus]

I have never been sky diving although I have seen something recently that was pretty scary. Driving south to teach a fencing workshop, I passed a skydiving school. They had their landing area right next to the freeway. As I drove past a person was landing in the field. I couldn't help thinking that all it would have taken was a sudden quick gust and that person would have been traveling south-bound on the grill of a semi.

[Inquartata]

No skydiving. But plenty of jumps in the Army. Helicopter drops are more interesting than those from planes, as are night drops. Worst of all is the stupid 34-foot tower at Ft. Benning---supposedly designed to the precise height which maximizes the human fear of falling.

Strangely, I have no difficulty jumping out of airplanes. Do not try to get me near the edge of a tall building roof, though.

I enjoyed the fall once you got a canopy open. Free fall, not so much...

[swordwench]

As they say, it's not the fall that'll kill you...

[Inquartata]

There was a very unpleasant song in jump school, set to the tune of "The Battle Hmyn of the Republic", one verse of which involved an unfortunate fellow with a 'chute failure being poured from his boots...

[Larrison]

There was a very unpleasant song in jump school, set to the tune of "The Battle Hmyn of the Republic", one verse of which involved an unfortunate fellow with a 'chute failure being poured from his boots...

Gory, gory what a h*ll of a way to die,
With a Rifle on your Back and you're Falling Through the Sky!
Gory, gory what a h*ell of a way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more...

and the verses, if I recall

He was just a rookie trooper,
And he surely shook with fright.
As he checked all his equipment
And made sure his pack was tight.

"Is everybody happy?",cried the sergent, looking up,
Our hero feebly answered "Yes", and then they stood him up
He leaped right out into the blast, his static line unhooked,

He ain't gonna jump no more

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock
He felt the wind, he felt the clouds, he felt the awful drop,
He jerked his cord, the silk spilled out and wrapped around his legs

He ain't gonna jump no more


The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome
The lines were snarled and tied in knots around his skinny bones
The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground,

He ain't gonna jump no more


The days he's lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about his girl back home, the one he left behind,
He thought about the medics and he wondered what they'd find,

He ain't gonna jump no more

He hit the ground, the sound was "SPLATT", his blood went spurting high
His comrades then were heard to say "A Helluva way to Die!"
He lay there rolling 'round in the welter of his gore

He ain't gonna jump no more

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee, they rolled their sleeves and smiled
For it had been a week or more since last a 'chute had failed

He ain't gonna jump no more

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon his 'chute
Intestines were a'dangling from his Paratrooper boots,
They picked him up, still in his 'chute and poured him from his boots.

He ain't gonna jump no more

---
Flypaper mind -- random things stick to it..

[pabloya]

The sky is not the limit, the ground is!

[fencergal33]

Gory, gory what a h*ll of a way to die,
With a Rifle on your Back and you're Falling Through the Sky!
Gory, gory what a h*ell of a way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more...

and the verses, if I recall

He was just a rookie trooper,
And he surely shook with fright.
As he checked all his equipment
And made sure his pack was tight.

"Is everybody happy?",cried the sergent, looking up,
Our hero feebly answered "Yes", and then they stood him up
He leaped right out into the blast, his static line unhooked,

He ain't gonna jump no more

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock
He felt the wind, he felt the clouds, he felt the awful drop,
He jerked his cord, the silk spilled out and wrapped around his legs

He ain't gonna jump no more


The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome
The lines were snarled and tied in knots around his skinny bones
The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground,

He ain't gonna jump no more


The days he's lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about his girl back home, the one he left behind,
He thought about the medics and he wondered what they'd find,

He ain't gonna jump no more

He hit the ground, the sound was "SPLATT", his blood went spurting high
His comrades then were heard to say "A Helluva way to Die!"
He lay there rolling 'round in the welter of his gore

He ain't gonna jump no more

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee, they rolled their sleeves and smiled
For it had been a week or more since last a 'chute had failed

He ain't gonna jump no more

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon his 'chute
Intestines were a'dangling from his Paratrooper boots,
They picked him up, still in his 'chute and poured him from his boots.

He ain't gonna jump no more

---
Flypaper mind -- random things stick to it..

Ok....I really didn't need that.

My husband was and airborne ranger in the military, and he said they only jumped from 500 ft. I get to jump from 13,500 feet. Ahhhh!