Without a doubt the most fun thing I ever did and if the dive school was closer I'd be a regular. I did finally talk some friends into going this year so I'll make my second jump. When I did it I had to stand on a step outside the plane until we got the instruction to go and I remember thinking how insane it was to be standing outside of a moving airplane at 12000 feet. I never had any problem breathing and was amazed that falling really had no sensation. We associate falling with the impact but when you take away the impact it's just floating with a lot of wind in your face. Congrats on your first jump, I'm very much looking forward to doing it again.

Nope....


Nope, not gonna happen

Did my first one in March of 2014. Took my daughter and oldest son (youngest son too young). The time in the hanger was quite interesting as I was still trying to justify in my mind why I was doing it, the kids were stoked though. I joked with my daughter that we would let her go first and if her chute opened then we would all go out the plane. Believe it or not some accounting comes into play in skydiving. LIFO and FIFO. My instructor and I were the LIFOs. It was a rush, but not sure if I will do it again.

My instructor, who is also the owner of the skydiving school, broke his leg about 2 -3 weeks later as he was doing a jump into the local minor league stadium here in Chattanooga, TN.

I know a few Army guys who've flown in lots of planes but never landed in one.

chongosuerte,

Glad you enjoyed yourself and everything went safely.

But for me it's PASS and has been for decades. Rappelling out of a helo was enough for me thank you very much!

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
I know a few Army guys who've flown in lots of planes but never landed in one.

Your comment brought back a memory. Many years ago, I flew for a small air taxi / charter company. I had a flight, the passenger got on board, sat down, and buckled in. You can pretty much tell that a person has been there before, and it was apparent that this guy knew his way around airplanes.

We chatted during the flight, he was helpful in pointing out traffic, picking up landmarks, etc.

As we approached the destination he got quiet, started to look pale and nervous.

I asked him if he was OK, and he told me that he had actually flown many, many, times, but this would be the first time he would ever be in an airplane for a landing.

Congratulations Chongo and welcome to the sky family! I know what you are saying with the hard to breath thing. I felt the same way on my first jumps. I thinks its more about the power of the wind that takes your breath away. You get used to it pretty quickly. I doubt you will even notice it on your next jump.

There is so much more to the sport than people realize. I have around 2300 jumps and about 25 hours of free fall time. Night jumps, cross country jumps, water jumps, freefall formation and canopy formations are just some of the things to look forward to doing. It truly is the greatest sport on or off the planet. Glad you had a good time. Blue skies!

Closest I ever got to skydiving was the beautiful brunette gal I dated in the 70's who skydived.
(I was happy just to hear her tell me all about it-and very politely telling her, no, I have no desire to jump outa a airplane.)

Back in the late '70's a five jump package at the small drop zone outside Pottstown, Pa. cost $125.

That's solo, using surplus military gear. First three jumps were with static line and rest were free fall. Pilot took me up to 3,000 ft and I went out the door of a Cessna 172.

I did about a dozen jumps and gave it up after seeing a few broken legs and one death.

My parachute was made in 1957. Pilot chute was made in 1955. I have the highest respect in Nylon.

Good for you. I still have the itch to try free fall. Did the paratrooper thing for awhile, have in the vicinity of 40 jumps. It's been long enough now that I *might* be able to catch that dragon after all these years... I've experienced two real "life changing" moments - the first was the first time I exited an aircraft in flight (I'm scared shitless of heights), and the second was the first time I really got shot at.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by WildSig:
There was a guy that burned in two weeks prior to me jumping because his main failed and he wasn't jumping with a backup. Made me hesitate for a moment about going but then I figured I had fresh odds.

Jumping with no reserve? That’s nucking futs!
On my first aerobatic lesson the instructor showed me how to preflight the chute, explained that while jump schools want you to hold onto the ripcord, if you use this one you are to throw that SOB as far away as you can, etc. When he got done, I asked where the reserve was. His reply? “This IS your reserve. If you pull the ripcord and this chute doesn’t open, it wasn’t your day.” I was careful to bring the airplane back in one piece.

When dropping with the Skyvan, there's not enough room in the pilot seat to wear a rig, so it's usually hung over the back of the seat. In theory if one has to get out, put it on, but that's not likely to happen if something has gone badly enough to need to exit the aircraft.

I've dropped loads in the skyvan that take the aircraft far outside the CG envelope as they move aft. Some of the heavy test loads sit on the center of gravity, and get pushed out the back of the aircraft on rollers. If they get off the rollers or block in the doorway, they the aircraft will be far aft out of CG and no longer under the control of the pilot. Fortunately, the load is only there for a moment, but if it hesitates...everyone is getting out. Except me.

Jumped once with a static line and military surplus chute. Wonderful experience until I landed. I broke my left leg.

At the time I was in the Navy. My roommate jumped also. He broke his right leg. Needless to say, the Navy was pissed and issued a directive.

Memories.

do the people on the ground really look like ants?

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
do the people on the ground really look like ants?

Of course not. Ants are red.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Jumped once with a static line and military surplus chute. Wonderful experience until I landed. I broke my left leg.

At the time I was in the Navy. My roommate jumped also. He broke his right leg. Needless to say, the Navy was pissed and issued a directive.

Memories.

As I recall, the rate of decent with military gear was higher...14-15 feet per second, so broken legs were common, but military gear I used a the time, 28' modified conical in a US Army Pioneer four pin pack, was one of the most reliable chutes TO COMPLETELY OPEN at the time. Also the cheapest as it was military surplus.

Most memorable time was when I landed in a guys back yard, while he was having a birthday party.
His guests thought it was part of the event.

After several drinks and food they provided to me, they drove me back to the drop zone, where Instructors had been looking for me, think I had landed in trees or on the road and got run over.

whoawhoa. Glad you had fun