Jumping out of airplanes

namaarie

namaarie

Joined
Aug 23, 2004
Messages
1,499
Today, I did a truly amazing thing. I went skydiving for the first time.

As you guys know, the events of the last year have really put things in perspective for me. So, I decided to cross another item off my life's big to-do list. And so, today at about 4:30, I jumped out of an airplane at 9500 ft! :eek:

My brain didn't really know how to process falling at that altitude, or jumping out of a plane for that matter. But I did it, and it was amazing!

It was truly surreal. Falling through the air, thinking of absolutely nothing other than what you're doing at that moment. Seeing a man with a camera on his head fly in front of you. Your mind says that men can't fly, but there he is, all the same. To call it thrilling would be a dramatic understatement!

Who else here has done this counterintuitive act and loved it as much as I have?

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Chris :D
 
Awesome, Chris, just awesome:) However, let me point out that there is no way in hell you would ever get me to do that:p . What a truly amazing life you lead, my friend:)

Jake
 
AWESOME!!!!!!!! Good for you Chris:thumbup:

Haven't done it....YET:D

Thanks for amazing pictures too!
 
Absolutely the coolest thread! :eek:

Man, the look on your face :D I'd be shi-, I mean, really scared!

How long was the freefall?


Enviously,
Mike
 
Freefall was the best part (lasted about 35 seconds, felt like about 4!), but the first second or so was basically sheer terror. Observe :D :


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!!!!!! :eek:

After we leveled out, though, the fear was gone and it was just purely thrilling and enjoyable. No time to fear when you're hurtling through the air at about 200 mph! :D

By the way, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and I'd recommend it to anybody without a heart condition!



Chris
 
I'm impressed. Good for you. I have to admit I'm scared just looking at the photos.

George Bush Sr jumped out of an airplane for his 70th birthday, didn't he?

The guy with you; he's taking care of you. Is that advisable the first time out- have an escort?



munk
 
Chris?

How absolutely cool!

Just freakin' cool.



(Jake? I'd be willing to push you out of a plane if you don't think you could do it yourself.:D )
 
If I had an escort take me out of a perfectly good airplane, it'd be a *she* and a *whole* lot prettier!

FWIW, I *had* to do this once (3 jumps) and ***NONE*** of them made me smile.
 
Yeah, Munk, jumping tandem for the first time is the way to go. First of all, you don't have to have a long (6-12) class before you go. About 30 min. of prep is all. Also, being strapped to a guy who has about 2,000 jumps under his belt without ever even having to pull the reserve 'chute is a mighty reassuring thing. And reassuring is good when you're looking out that open door!


Chris
 
Nasty said:
If I had an escort take me out of a perfectly good airplane, it'd be a *she* and a *whole* lot prettier!

FWIW, I *had* to do this once (3 jumps) and ***NONE*** of them made me smile.
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Good on you Chris, but I never could see the sense in jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.:rolleyes: :eek: ;) :D

And Uwinv if you were to be able to have a female escort take you out of a perfectly good airplane it would definitely have to be that extra large beautiful blonde gal from Sweden that was passed around on the Internet a while back in order to be bigger than you are.:p ;) :D
 
I hope to do this next year when I finally get some dinero again. One of the flight instructors I flew with takes up jumpers on the weekends here and invited me along. Tandem jumping for me is probably not going to work as I am a bit large, but he said the first couple of jumps are just static line jumps from 10,000 feet. Nothing to pull, just jump and it's all automatic. Looks like a real blast! But, I think I'll just have to make sure I have my "Depends" on. :D

Great pictures!

Norm
 
I've got to do this.

Makes you wonder, why are there so many things we truly want to do in our life but we dont?

Thanks for the reminder.

Looks like you had a great time. congrats.

Keno
 
Well, i did the same, but learned the old fashion way. First jumps where with a static line from 3000 feet. My experience was less thrilling. The first jump the lines in my chute tangled up due to a bad exit from my part. I entangled them just before hitting the dirt, but my instructor later told me he would have cut away the main chute and go for the reserve.:jerkit:
jump #3 landed me on the soft dirt right in between two glass greenhouses.:jerkit:
Jump #5 tore my knee apart when my chute partially collapsed due to a sudden gust of windsheer at about 20 feet above the concrete landing strip.:jerkit:

I paused my skydiving experience for a while after those incidents.

But with hindsight more them 90 % was operators fault.
:o
 
In 26 years in the Air Force, I've flown in just about every transport aircraft imaginable, including some funky stuff belonging to friendly nations. Never once jumped out of any of 'em. You see Chris, them there aeroplane contraptions got these thing-a-ma-bobs called, what is it, oh yeah, landing gear. :p

Just teasing, good on you, that's how you git 'r done. :thumbup:

Sarge
 
richardallen said:
Makes you wonder, why are there so many things we truly want to do in our life but we dont?
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The next big thing on my list is lunch. :rolleyes:

I'm not very adventurous.
 
BruiseLeee said:
The next big thing on my list is lunch. :rolleyes:

I'm not very adventurous.
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Aw c'mon Bruise. Go to one of them Beni Hana restaurants, where the chefs are all flamboyantly flinging their knives around for no apparent reason. Whip out your trusty khukuri, call 'em all a bunch of slack jawed, weak kneed pansies, and challenge 'em then and there to a duel to see who's going to pick up the tab. Take a boombox so you can play some loud, funky, background music while the "festivities" are underway, and you got yourself a Quentin Tarantino movie. Since the fight is over who pays the check, you could call it "Kill the Bill". ;) :p :cool:

Sarge
 
I've lived long enough to see Sarge go abstract on us. What next? A contract with the Sundance channel?

....no wait; an endowment from the NEA; script's better than the short films of the Independent channel.




munk
 
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