I promised my students that if they achieved our goal on state testing, I would skydive. They did it, so here I go! Truthfully, it’s been on my “things to do” list for awhile, so this was really an excuse…and now I’m biting the bullet.
What should I expect? I’m not afraid of heights, but then I’ve never jumped out of a plane before! I do better when I’m armed with knowledge so I’m appealing to any skydivers out there to tell me what it’s like.
Will I feel a lurching, stomach clenching drop? Will I feel like I’m flying? Will the ground loom up at me in a terrifying way?
And, it’s a little late now, but should I be worried about safety? Anything I should know about choosing the company to go with?
(Formerly active skydiver with a couple hundred jumps)
No, you will not feel a stomach-churning drop like you would on a roller-coaster. Airspeed of the plane that you jump from is about the same as terminal velocity so you don’t really feel the acceleration, it’s just a gradual change in direction as you go from ~100mph forward to ~120mph downward. You will feel the wind (and hear the roar of it, stick your head out the car window on the freeway to get an idea).
Yes, it will feel like flying. The first few seconds will probably be a little disorienting as you go from being inside an airplane to being free in the air, then your brain will catch up
No. Assuming an exit altitude of ~13.5k feet the ground will look like a model or something. Tandems deploy at a higher altitude than experienced solo skydivers (there’s a lot more for the instructor to focus on as the gear is more complicated and there’s you, the passenger, as an extra element), say about 4000 feet. You really won’t notice much of a change in how the ground looks (assuming you aren’t spending your time in freefall staring at the sky and the freefall photographer floating in front of you and just generally grinning like a madman) - there’s a perceptual switch that clicks right around 4000 feet for most people, that’s when you just start to notice the ground is “getting bigger”. You might be cognizant of getting closer to earth but it’s not like it’s leaping up at you.
Of course you should think about safety, you are going to be jumping from an airplane. Skydiving is much safer than people think but it’s a high-risk activity. The general governing body for skydiving in the USA is the USPA (United States Parachute Association); many drozones are USPA group members (they pledge to follow the USPA safety regs, use properly licensed instructors and so on). This doesn’t mean that a non-USPA DZ is dangerous but I’d suggest going with a USPA place.
You can go check out a dropzone and just see how the staff behaves. If they seem professional and everything’s under control and everybody is having a good time, that’s a good sign.
Dropzones are used to people asking a lot of questions so give them a call or drop by on a nice weekend.
Be honest about any physical limitations you have - bad shoulder, weak ankles, whatever. It doesn’t mean you can’t jump but it’s good to let your instructors know about it so they can adjust.
It’s tons of fun and you’ll have a great time, enjoy!
I didn’t find that it felt much like flying when I had someone strapped to my back. It felt like someone turned the inflator fan from a hot air balloon in my face. I got a stronger sensation of flying when scuba diving, though much slower.
No. It’s not like a roller coaster with fast changing g-forces.
I’m not sure it feels like “flying”. It’s a strange feeling. The first 10 seconds out of the plane will feel REALLY WEIRD because your nothing under you is stopping your fall and your brain goes into sensory overload trying to make sense of what’s happening. If you think about it, your entire life has been enveloped by gravity. Whether you jump for a basketball or launch off a hill on a ski slope, you make contact with the ground again in a second or two. A 60 second freefall throws that lifelong expectation of terra firma out of whack which adds to the experience.
Actually, the ground appears relatively still at the beginning of the freefall.
Another thing that was unexpected was the ear deafening wind noise. Your instructor will be yelling instructions into your ear but it will be very difficult to communicate back to him. I remember my instructor yelling on the way down, “isn’t this great?” and I yelled back but couldn’t even hear my own voice above the noise.
Another side effect after the jump… anytime I see people jumping out of an airplane on TV (especially if the camera perspective is inside the airplane like Army recruitment commercials), I relive that experience for a second. It’s great.
Agreed. Especially the last bit, it’s an experience you can look back on and talk about the rest of your life.
If you have a bit of extra cash to throw around, you can often also get the jump taped, you might look silly, but it’ll be fun to watch 10 years from now.
What I recall was no fear of heights (which otherwise I don’t like), but a discomfort at being maneuvered by the instructor to the plane’s doorway. Discomfort because that pause, before you jump, and the jump itself, was totally out of my control.
If the guy asks you if you want to flip around for a bit, say yes.
Finally, I recall that the whole arching thing was much more difficult to actually do than it looks on tv. And the transition from freefall to being under the chute was like night and day for me. It is quiet up there.
Yeah, do yourself a favor and breathe through your nose. I have a tape of myself skydiving, and I opened my mouth to breathe…let’s just say it’s a pretty comical moment, seeing your cheeks inflate to the size previously only seen on cartoons.
And for everybody’s sake, don’t have a heavy breakfast or a runny nose when you go. I knew at least one tandem instructor who had a student barf on him (luckily while under canopy, not in freefall), and a runny nose at 120mph leads to what we called “snot whip” and you’ll be thankful for the goggles…
Oh, contact lenses…if you wear these, make sure your goggles are on TIGHT…like, so tight you think your brain might pop out. Otherwise they will end up stuck to the inside of the goggles, and you will have blurry vision.
IANASD but I’ve also heard that farting on the ride up can be an issue - so lay off the beans and cabbage and such the day or two before. You’ll be more comfortable without the gas pains, and your companions in the jump plane - which, incidentally, is typically packed to a greater density than a can of sardines - will be much happier if you are “venting” your intestinal gasses.
