Any skydivers here?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I like driving to jumping.

My older sister had done it all, night water jumps, instruction and all that was usual for the 70’s. Lots of new stuff, especially military.

Most fun for me was going on repo-raids with her which she did part time for a while. She sometimes had to jump in airplanes of types that she had never been in before, firewall them from inside hangers and us the ramp or taxiway to get into the air fast nuff to beat the stuff the bad guys had in place to prevent just this thing from happening.

Don’t do as much of this anymore I expect but they have taken a lot of the fun out of flying since 9-11. It was fun while it lasted.

Now, you can put an engine & wheels under the parachute and skip the plane. Stopping the engine is cool and you still do not come down as fast as parachuting though.

22

I’ve never understood why anybody subject to repo would leave fuel on board. But I’ve heard they do.

Other than that it sounds like your sis is a heck of a gal. Bigger “eggs” than most guys, and a heck of a lot more of 'em. :smiley:

This story (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10060459&postcount=16 )is my contribution to repo lore. I wasn’t there, but I’m real confident the story is true.

23

I made my first jump in 1982, a static-line jump on military surplus gear. I only intended to stick with it long enough to experience freefall. It turned out that I liked freefall- a lot. As others have said, there’s no sensation of falling. For me it’s like flying around in the sky like Superman. I can stand up, stand on my head, do flips and barrel rolls, link up with other skydivers to make formations- it’s incredible. There’s nothing like it.

I ended up buying my own gear and I now have over 1,000 jumps logged. I was a jumpmaster for several years and took a lot of people up for their first jump. I’ve never had to use my reserve parachute- but I have had some close calls. Once when my parachute was taking its sweet time about inflating, I was about 2 seconds from cutting it away and going for my reserve when my main canopy caught air and opened all the way.

I only remember a couple of incidents involving the jump plane. One time we were climbing to jump altitude and we lost oil pressure. This was a C-182 with a pilot and four skydivers onboard. The pilot flew over the landing area and we exited at 3,500 ft. AGL instead of our intended 9,500 ft.

Another time we experienced a cracked cylinder head just after take-off (at approx. 500 ft. AGL). The pilot did a fine job of bringing the plane around for a safe landing on the same runway we took off from. We didn’t bail out that time; we were a little too close to the ground. During training I was taught that below 1,000 ft. we stay with the plane. The pilot was hoping we could lighten his load and make his job easier but he was stuck with us. All’s well that ends well!

24

Did it a few years ago as a part of a friend’s birthday celebration. I’d never do it again but I also have no regrets and am glad I did it. And I was scared shitless.

First thing we did was sign an encyclopedia sized stack of disclaimers and waivers. Basically every scenario imaginable is covered and you’re agreeing that under no circumstances whatsoever is the jump school liable for injury or death.

We then suited up and met our tandem jump master. Mine looked like Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I had hoped he had small children, a loving wife, and a mortgage. You know, lots of reasons to live a long and healthy life. Nope, he lived on a trailer out back of the hanger. Great.

As mentioned above, each jump master drilled us on what to expect and exactly what he’ll be instructing us to do in the plane, at the door, in the air, and on landing. From there, we boarded the plane and took off. At this point my fear went from manageable with a light tightening of the stomach to Hooper in Jaws not able to generate any spit.

When we got to the appropriate elevation, I think it was 14000 feet the door on the side of the plane was opened and the solo jumpers took great joy leaping out of the plane as casually as you’d step out of you car in the church parking lot on a Sunday morning. This did not have a calming effect. A couple of our friends went before my turn and I watched in abject horror and had no idea why I agreed to this stupid, stupid birthday idea. One of our group went out sitting down, they literally sat in the doorway with legs out and rolled forward and out of the plane. My jump master pointed out that we were men and would go out on our feet. Hoo-rah.

When it was our turn, we stood up and did the most awkward walk of your life to the plane’s door. As mentioned earlier, I was instructed to cross my arms and grip my shoulder straps. This was in the event I freaked out, I’d be less likely to claw at the airframe to avoid leaving the plane. Everything went smoothly until my left foot had to take its last step to the edge of the door. Shit you not, I locked up. My brain was instructing my foot to raise itself up a few inches and move forward a foot but my foot was in utter disobedience. Fortunately half-crouched over as you are with a grown man on your back a foot from the door it didn’t matter. He started the countdown and out the door we went.

I’m sure it was a matter of a split second or at best one to five seconds but the world went insane. Complete sensory overload as the blast of air hit me, we twisted and turned, and I tried desperately to remember to arch my back and bend my legs at the knees so my feet were up.

Once we stabilized then it was amazing. Absolutely f-cking amazing. I’d say the only sense of falling was the incredible way falling through the sky rams the air around you into every opening on your face. They recommend smiling by the way, it tightens the muscles and keeps you from looking too much like Chevy Chase in Spies Like Us. What it is not is that “falling” feeling you get on amusement park rides with the stomach fluttering/floating feeling. Freefall was a speedball of adrenaline slamming through my body. I can’t explain it and never experienced anything like it and I have rappelled, rock climbed, white water rafted, and other dumb things that could get me killed. This was a whole new level of rush.

Eventually the jump master gave me the signal and deployed the main chute and the deceleration was sudden but not the “My balls just got crushed” experience I expected. Most probably because my balls were visiting my stomach from about the time I pulled into the parking lot of the jump school 3 hours earlier. The rest of the way to the ground was the polar opposite experience to the free fall portion. It was peaceful, quiet, and serene. This was the point where I’d say there was nearly zero sense of falling. I remember thinking it felt like I was just hanging in the sky. Then the jump master started having fun and doing these corkscrew-loopty-loop things and well I was actually laughing at that point. Probably because I realized I might just live.

We came in for a landing and the jump master had me bring my legs up at the waist with my legs out straight in front of me. We literally slid on our bums to a stop. Now I’m not a terribly small guy and he did say we’d be coming down a bit faster than the others. Lets just say that I left a much longer skid mark than anyone else.

We unhooked and my girlfriend landed almost at the same time and one of the best moments of my life occurred in total Hollywood style. We ran to each other, embraced and kissed, and laughed and hooted and hollered. And then she said “Let’s go again, right now!”

I did eventually marry that woman but I didn’t go back up in the plane for a 2nd jump.

25

It used to surprise people here, but I’m not one.