I used to have a horrible fear of flying. Now I can get on a plane and I make it OK, but it’s still not my favourite thing to do. Still a four hour trip to San Francisco beats a 48 hour bus trip 
But falling out of a plane, just thinking of it, makes me ill with fear. I can’t imagine the feeling without feeling scared to death.
So my question is, has anyone here ever been skydiving? If so what is it like. And no I will NEVER do this 
Not yet but I received a gift certificate from my husband for our anniversary for just this event. I’ve wanted to do it for years (decades, really). Now I’m scared and excited at the same time.
I did it years ago - tandem jump.
The instructor said “I’m going to count to three and then we’ll jump”; I said “no, mate, you’re going to count to three, then you’re going to jump. I’m just tied to you.” I don’t particularly like heights, you see
Freefall is indescribable. It’s aeons of instinct saying that this is suicide being overcome by reason saying that lots of people do this every day. It only lasted thirty seconds, but seemed to go for both much less and much more time than that.
Five minutes sailing down to the ground under the canopy was also pretty damned amazing. I was still mostly incoherent from the adrenaline rush (I think all I could say was WOOHOO!), but it was incredible to go so suddenly from falling, with the air thundering around you to this graceful descent.
Landing kind of sucked, though. Rather than a steady descent in which the instructor took what force there was, for some reason we pretty much dropped the last few metres like a pair of tied-together stones; I took the force of the landing, which was much more than expected. Broke tib & fib just above the ankle and dislocated my ankle besides. Nine pins and a plate to put it all back together again.
Fun, but not something I’ve ever been able to contemplate repeating.
Similar, but not so breaky landing as **tavalla’s **but solo with a round chute and static line. I had to climb out and hang off the wing strut until given the instruction to [del]fall[/del] let go.
Absolutely brilliant, still get a buzz remembering it (from 1988). Never had the slightest inclination to do it again.
I used to be a paratrooper so I’ve done static line jumps, but never any free falls. My jumps were lower than free fall jumps and there was only 5 seconds before the chute opened, so I could see right away that I was OK. There’s fear, of course, but there’s also adreniline and I always thought it would be very dangerous if someone doing this wasn’t at least a little scared.
Years ago, my wife bought me two tandem jumps for Christmas. I’d love to do it again.
There’s no sensation of falling- when you jump out of the plane, you’re already moving close to terminal velocity. There’s also no real sensation of height, since you’re so high up.
In '95 I did a static-line jump; this is where you jump out of the plane and a tether attached to the aircraft yanks your rip cord before you’ve fallen more than about 15 feet. The jump was preceded by about 8 hours of extremely thorough instruction on what would happen during a normal jump/chute deployment, and on how to deal with various contingencies (twisted chute lines, irretrievably tangled main chute, water landing, etc.). My jump happened exactly as they said it would, so there was very little nervousness on my part. I will say that during the parachute ride down, it was unsettling to look down and see half a mile of air under my feet. But all in all, it was pretty damn cool. Each jumper was equipped with a one-way radio to receive instructions from an observer on the ground. We were permitted to steer our own canopies pretty much wherever we wanted to until the last few minutes, when the ground observer directed us on a course that had us landing back at the airfield. Skydiving is not something I feel passionate enough about to pursue it as a hobby or anything, but I enjoyed the one jump I did, and I would probably do it again if a group of friends were going.
In 2008 I went to a Skyventure indoor skydiving facility in Colorado. If you haven’t seen one of these places, they use huge electric fans to create a 120+ MPH updraft in a chamber, enough to support your body weight. Basically, you “freefall” a few feet above a wire-mesh floor, with an instructor there to make sure you don’t do anything stupid. If you’re skittish about actually jumping out of a plane but still itnterested in the aerodynamic aspect of skydiving, you might check one of these places out; there are several of them around the country.
I felt a need to assert my air supremacy in my 20’s, apparently:
Skydiving 3 times - two static line, one tandem. The freefall of the tandem was wonderful; the solitary feeling of the static line, where once the chute deploys and it’s just you, is a unique feeling.
2 bungee jumps - scarier than the skydiving: with a skydive, you are jumping into a photograph (given the perspective/view at 3,000 or 12,000 feet) so it is less mentally jarring vs. being up only 150 feet, which feels like the tallest high-dive and evokes all those kid fears.
1 ultra-light flight - motorized hang-glider over the Scottish countryside. Beautiful, but noisy having a two-stroke engine putting away behind you.
I used to skydive a lot. I’ve made well over 1,000 jumps. As Lightnin’ says, there’s no sensation of falling. There’s nothing whizzing past you to give a frame of reference. When you’re stable in freefall, it feels like you’re floating on the wind.
I stopped getting the adrenaline rush after a hundred jumps or so. For me, it was like being Superman, flying around in the sky. I could do flips, barrel rolls, headstands, or link up with a group of friends and make formations. There’s nothing like it.
I did 3 static line jumps back in the early 80’s when I was at university. The chutes seems to be WWII surplus, round and slow to turn. The plane the club had was a bit scary. It had been cobbled together from 2 planes that had been damaged in a tornado. The colors on the wings didn’t match the fuselage. There was only a seat for the pilot and about half the places for gauges in the instrument panel were empty. I wouldn’t want to go up in that without a chute!
It was the last jump that put me off skydiving. After getting kitted up there was a bit of waiting around before getting in the plane. I was in first and crawled to the back of the plane. During the standing around and squirming into the back, a leg strap loosened just enough to let my left testicle get under the strap. It was a huge :eek: when the chute opened and a continuing :eek: all the way down.
Skydivers have a saying… “Skydiving is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”
This is incorrect. Skydiving is the most fun you can have.
Cheers, CedricR.
I remember everything about it except for the 5 or so seconds before actually jumping out. That’s lost forever, I guess to sensory overload.
I’ll have to tell you about my naked jump sometime.
My bravery takes the form of having the will and ability to kill anyone who tries to jump out of a plane with me tied to them.
Yep, bravery, that’s what it is.
Yep. Once. Many years ago. Static line with square chute. Lots of prep.
It was absolutely fantastic. I was as scared as I could ever imagine myself being when it was my turn to jump. It was a small Cessna (172?) with the back seat and the starboard door removed. I had to stand in the door with one foot on the wing and then fling myself out of a perfectly good airplane at 3,000 feet. The first 10 seconds were sheer terror, but as soon as the chute opened it felt like I was the emperor of the world: amazingly peaceful and serene.
And boy does the ground ever arrive quickly. Perhaps more so if your chute never opens!
During my last year in the airforce I worked on the promotion boards as support staff. One of the reviewers was a major in a paratrooper unit. As a reward for our assistance he arranged for the entire support staff to join them in Borden for a training exercise. We were able to watch some jumps while sitting in the plane and others from the ground.
I was so fascinated that I booked a training jump and a solo jump of my own the next month. I loved the sensation of floating, and had to keep reminding myself of the training so I could remember to pull the ripcord. Had a great time and I probably would have continued if I hadn’t completely wrecked my knee a couple months later while on my first and only ski trip.
Oh to be 20 again.
I’ve done it once, so “banana tandem”. It was in Ampuriabrava, which I understand is a prime spot: according to the Russian friend I was with and who had 40 jumps under his belt so far, the prime spot in Europe.
If I’d had to jump myself, I would probably have backed up at the last minute - I mean, I’m afraid to go down steps because when I was a teen I kept twisting my ankle! But once you’re strapped to the instructor, there isn’t much you can or have to do other than hold tight and open your eyes. I got the package where someone takes pictures of you as you go down: in the first one just off the plane, my eyes are clearly closed.
The two things I wasn’t expecting: the earth looks real curvy and your cheeks try to fold themselves behind your ears.
Like running with the bulls (which I haven’t per se, I’ve only run cows and calves), an adrenaline-laden thing I needed to do at least once but which I’m not in any hurry to repeat, I enjoyed it but I have this attitude where once I’ve proved to myself that I can do certain things I’m happy enough. I’ve proved to myself I can jump off a plane strapped to a guy’s chest and feel no need to do it unstrapped. If I ever repeat, it will be banana again.
Groupon has offered me a discount on a tandem skydive, and I was surprised at how cheap it was. Personally, I have no intention of doing it anyway, but it also occurs to me that it might not be the sort of thing where you should scrimp.
Here’s what happens when a man jumps naked. (video, possibly NSFW).
I did a static-line jump, either '94 or '95. The thing that struck me, after being in the noisy plane with people shouting and then the rush of air and the pop of the chute, was how unbelievably peaceful and quiet everything suddenly became. Just after looking up to see the perfectly deployed canopy above me, I felt about as serene as I ever had before, or have since. It’s quite a feeling.
Like **Machine Elf **describes, an observer was radioing instructions to us. Two jumpers went out on each pass, and I was the second of the two, so I listened to the instructor directing the jumper before me while taking it all in and waiting for my turn to be told what to do. But he either fell asleep or figured I’d be fine on my own, because suddenly THE GROUND IS COMING! It really does come up on you fast at the end. I received no instructions other than “Wheelz! Flare! Flare! Flare!” (Flare means pull down on both toggles to stall into a soft landing.) I landed okay, but because I hadn’t really thought about getting myself into position until it was too late, I ended up in a cornfield at least 300 yards from the target landing spot and had to gather up my chute and schlep all the way back. Got a good bit of ribbing from my friends about that.
While I’m glad I did it, I haven’t felt a burning desire to do it again. I think I’ve come around to my Dad’s view: “Why would anybody jump out of a perfectly good airplane?”
Fortunately (or unfortunately) I don’t have that problem. In fact, I had a severe case of Scared Turtle Syndrome due to the cold temperature at 13,000 ft. I can testify that boobs do funny things in freefall, however- as can the young lady I jumped with.