SKYDIVING!!!!!

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and finally was able to. It was actually a birthday present from my parents. We had some extra fun with it because MP set AP up to do it (his birthday is in 2 weeks) with us and we surprised him with it that day! He did figure out where we were going before we got to the airport – even though MP was sure he new nothing – but he was still pretty surprised and thrilled when we got there. KS and RB also came along and proved they are as brave and crazy (if not crazier) than all of the boys. No one had any second thoughts or hesitated at any point we were all really pretty gung ho.

After an hour and a half drive out to Hutch we met the lady who runs the company (Skydive Hutch), she is about as crazy as anyone I’ve ever met. Not that I expected anything else. They took us into a room off to the side of the hanger and explained their safety record how things work and what to expect. Then we watched a really lame video from the inventor of the tandem system. The video is approaching 30 years old and the man giving the lecture is as ancient as they come. He had a long white beard that went to the middle of his chest and talked about the waiver we had to sign that kept us, or our heirs from suing the skydiving company or the equipment manufacture. After that we took twenty minutes or so to fill out the forms and read/sign the waivers.

Even though our appointment was at 11:00 no one from our group jumped for a couple of hours. They split us up into two groups AP with KS and RB and myself. There were only 7 people in the plane when RB and I went up; our instructors, cameramen, us, and one other jumper. I thought at this point I should be scared or at least really, really nervous but I wasn’t. Maybe having flown in small airplanes all of my life has made seem pretty normal but the flight up seemed nice and smooth to me. After about a 10 min ascent it we were at altitude (about 14,000 ft above see level – 2.5 miles or so). At this time they opened the door – kind of a roller door that works like a roller desk top – and the lone jumper leaped out and disappeared in less than the time it takes to blink.

That is when you finally understand you are about TO JUMP OUT OF AN AIRPLANE! First the cameraman climbs out the door and hangs on to the side of the plane. This way they can get photos of you actually leaping. Then you shuffle up to the door with the instructor attached to you back – I say shuffle because the interior of the plane is to short to walk or waddle to the door – at this point to hang your toes over the edge of the door cross your arms to your shoulders and wait. You have no control of when you jump the instructor takes care of it all. You just look out at the ground below and wave at the camera man and then…..then….you are propelled out the door and in freefall and on your way to a terminal velocity (yes that is a title of a crappy movie but it is also a real term) of 120 mph.

The free fall is amazing. It is nothing like you expect. You are moving at 120 mph straight down but you feel suspended in midair. In this case it lasted 90 seconds or so but felt like 10. There was no crazy uneasiness in my stomach. In fact the power tower at Valley Fair is more upsetting. It is more serene than anything. At this time you are in a crazy arching position, trying to kick you instructor in the rear at the same time you are raising your head and have your arms out in a w shape. The g forces make your skin press back on you face but it’s not much different then hanging you head out of a window on the freeway. The view is amazing – at least it was with a crystal clear sky – and the freefall was easily the biggest rush of the whole experience. Though, it is kind of weird to have this camera guy getting into your face for most of the time. After 90 seconds or so the instructor taps you shoulder and then you get jerked upwards as the shoot deploys and you start to slow down.

For the next four minutes or so we floated back to good ole terra forma. We did a few turns which are like a carnival ride you control yourself by pulling down on either control. This dumps air on side of the shoot and you spin one direction or another it is quite fun. I only got to do a couple because we spent a lot of our time actually heading back to the landing zone. RB jumped out closer to the landing zone so she had more time and got to do a lot more turns. It is absolutely an amazing ride coming down. You are still moving fast, I found the experience once the shoot open to be a lot like flying a glider without the glider. You have some control but you still have to be aware that you are moving forward and downward all the time. As we came toward the ground I was supposed to pull my legs up and hold them straight out in front of me. Unfortunately my harness was too tight and holding my legs down so I could only move them a few inches. This combined with my instructor coming down to fast and to soon kind of landed us on our hands and knees instead of on our feet. But that’s ok it was worth it.

With the exception of the jump the day was actually vary lazy. The drive out was uneventful though we were all excited. Then we lazily hung out at the airport for a few hours before suiting up to jump. After the jump we went to the VFW (yeah it’s a small town) and had a quick linner. Then everyone went home and took a nap. Well with the exception of KS who went to her old apartment to clean. Later that night RB and I met up again with AP and MP and went to the Cheese Cake Factory and saw a movie. The movie was hilarious but defiantly not the highlight of the day