So I went skydiving this past weekend...

[evenflow1121]

Decided to do a jump from 13, 500 ft, simply amazing. The world looks so small as you are falling down at around 150-180mph. Funny thing is it makes you think how insignificant one is when compared to the forces of nature. Gravity I tell ya.

 

[Obliquity]

Have always wanted to learn to jump.

So . . . how small is your target at that altitude? Can you actually see where you are suppose to land or do you have to search it out? Of course, thinking about flying, I guess you can see individual fields pretty well, eh?

 

[terryl965]

Better you than me, I hope you had fun.

 

[michaeledward]

It's a lot of fun. But, I always felt my jump was way too expensive. That's me in the purple headgear. Rich is the guy strapped to my back. He has the parachute.

They have a new indoor skydiving gym down the street from me. That looks fun too.

www.skyventurenh.com

 

[Xue Sheng]

There was this guy in my Long Fist class years ago that was a skydiver and he was desperately trying to get me to give it a try. And I was happy that he was so excited about it but I could never figure out why I would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

 

[stickarts]

Wow. That sounds like an amazing experience!

 

[MJS]

Thread moved to The Locker Room.

Mike Slosek
MT Asst. Admin

 

[evenflow1121]

Have always wanted to learn to jump.

So . . . how small is your target at that altitude? Can you actually see where you are suppose to land or do you have to search it out? Of course, thinking about flying, I guess you can see individual fields pretty well, eh?

Everything looks like little squares, at that altitude its real funny cause you can actually see parcel divisions. You can see the target pretty well, of course there were no clouds, if it is cloudy it may be a bit difficult. The jump is the scariest part, when you jump off the plane and you realize you are just falling, nothing is holding you, once you hit about 6, 000 ft and the chute opens up, its about 5-7 min of fall, its very relaxing. My girlfriend wanted to do it, so we went ahead, but once is enough for me.

 

[Sukerkin]

<snip>I was happy that he was so excited about it but I could never figure out why I would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Quite right sir ... barm-pots all of you that first of all leave the ground unnecessarily in the first place but then to compound the error by leaping out of the plane with nothing but a bedsheet to support you :faints:.

 

[Drac]

How did Clint Eastwood put it in the movie "Heartbreak Ridge".."Leaping out of a perfectly airplane is not a natural act"...That aside CONGRATS..I don't think that I could do it...

 

[mrhnau]

I went twice a few years ago

Not meaning to scare, but I'll give a little story. The guy I went tandem with the first time was really friendly and nice guy. Got to talk a good bit that afternoon. The dive was excellant, and I really enjoyed it I went again a week after that. Well, about a month later, I heard from a friend that the guy died in a skydiving accident He was trying a new trick while landing and landed too hard. Was so sad...

Maybe I'll go again, but as Michael said, it can be expensive, until you can go by yourself and get your own gear Maybe one day, but I've got higher priorities right now

 

[jdinca]

Gravity sucks. I see no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. That's why when some coworkers went through a skydiving phase, I learned how to SCUBA dive.

 

[Bigshadow]

I have my pilot's license, that is good enough for me.

 

[mrhnau]

Gravity sucks. I see no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. That's why when some coworkers went through a skydiving phase, I learned how to SCUBA dive.

gravity sucks. I see no reason to dive 100 ft and feel the pressure of 3 atmospheres. No reason to fall out of a perfectly floating boat. Man was not born with gills

actually, I like SCUBA I do it for the same reason as skydiving, its something exciting and fun to do It's a bit out of the ordinary, and alot of fun!

 

[jdinca]

gravity sucks. I see no reason to dive 100 ft and feel the pressure of 3 atmospheres. No reason to fall out of a perfectly floating boat. Man was not born with gills

And you're definitely not at the top of the food chain. I'd rather be at 100ft. than bobbing on the surface!

My preference for SCUBA diving over skydiving is also that you can usually survive a complete equipment failure under water, if you know what you're doing. It's that whole knowledge of your own mortality thing that makes me want to stay in the plane.

 

[Xue Sheng]

If its all the same to everyone I will stick to flying in planes and not jumping out of them, unless it is ABSOLUTLY necessary and I will stay in the boat on bodies of water that are not considered a pool too, again, unless it is absolutely necessary to jump out of said boat.

I can’t breathe underwater and I can’t fly so I will stick to MA on the ground. And there is NO shark punching training in Sanda so……

 

[Flying Crane]

Fun stuff! I got to make three jumps when I was in college, but from much lower altitude. I didn't go tandem, and didn't free-fall. They were just ripcord jumps, done solo. Apparently it was the first step in becoming a certified jumper, they would make you do 5 ripcord jumps before you could do any freefalls, but you always jumped solo.

Anyway, glad someone else out there experienced the adrenaline rush. I was weak as a baby after it was all over. Amazing experience. And climbing out of the airplane to hang from the struts under the wing by my fingertips before dropping away, was just intense.

 

[Bigshadow]

That is more than I can handle. If I am on the inside of the plane and we are doing aerobatics, I am cool! I love that stuff, but I don't want to be on the outside of the plane! Open cockpit, doors open, that is fine with me, just damn noisy. Standing on the steps in the prop wash at 10K feet is not my idea of fun!

 

[michaeledward]

Standing on the steps in the prop wash at 10K feet is not my idea of fun!

Actually, I thought that was the most fun part of the jump.

I jumped from a Cessna from about 11,000 feet. We had to crawl out the door, on to this little skateboard sized step - we being three of us, the photographer, me and the guy with the parachute. When it was my turn, I reached out for the wing-strut, and stuck my face outside the door into a 100 mile per hour wind ... wow - who would have thought wind blowing in your face at 100 miles an hour would feel like that?

On my first grab for the wing strut, I actually missed because of the onrushing air.

When we jumped, we twirled around once to look at the plane moving away from us. That was cool. But, on my jump, the coolest part was actually climbing out of the airplane - with a 6 foot 6 inch guy strapped to my back.

 

[Tames D]

It's a lot of fun. But, I always felt my jump was way too expensive. That's me in the purple headgear. Rich is the guy strapped to my back. He has the parachute.

They have a new indoor skydiving gym down the street from me. That looks fun too.

www.skyventurenh.com

How much is "way to expensive" if you don't mind me asking. Give me a really high number so I won't want to try it... lol