Uh-huh. On Friday. And I didn’t even have anyone tied to me, I did a program where I went for about 5 hours of ground school, and then I left the plane with two jumpmasters who saw to it that I got started OK, and then stayed nearby until it was almost time for me to deploy the parachute and backed off.
I did a full minute of freefall. I plummeted from about 13,500 to around 4,500 before opening.
What a rush, man. Absolutely wild, stepping outside the door of that plane, waiting for the jumpmasters to be ready as I stood up there in the air, and then just going for it… I was totally tense on the way up and hanging outside, but once I was in freefall I really chilled out and had a great time.
The parachute opened just fine, and I did a fine job of navigating back to the landing area. I also came to a perfectly smooth stop… about 20 feet from the ground, where I stalled the canopy and then fell the rest of the way. Apparently that’s a common mistake the first couple of times… “Oh my God the ground is coming very fast it’s coming VERY FAST FULL BRAKES NOW… uh oh. This is going to hurt.”
All in all an awesome experience that I hope to repeat soon. Wild!!
My husband took skydiving lessons some years back - one day of ground school, and jumps the next day. The instructor stayed on the ground and the student jumpers wore radio receivers in their helmets. It was a static line jump - no freefall.
His first jump went OK, but the instructor talked him down to a landing WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY across the airfield - I bet he had to hike 1/4 mile back carrying his chute. So he decided for his second jump, he wasn’t going to listen to the instructor - he’d navigate to the target zone himself.
He did really well. Flew the chute to within a few dozen feet of where we stood waiting. As he approached the ground, he reached out with his feet, landed and fell face forward. Broke his leg upon landing and wound up getting 2 screws put in to hold the bone together. (He occasionally sets off metal detectors) Moral of the story: Don’t forget about PLF*.
He’s never jumped again. I’m glad.
*Practice Landing Falls - learning how to touch down with legs bent to absorb the shock. Reaching out for the ground is not a good idea…
I’d like to try skydiving, but I don’t want to take any chances. For example, I don’t want a parachute the first time. There’s always the chance it won’t open, and I don’t want to risk it.