(some might be interested in doing so.....here's my experience.)
Personal Objectives and Goals. 1) Learn about self in order to reevaluate life.
2) Experience skydive.
3) Cross off another entrйe on a things-to-do list.
4) Get adrenaline rush
Results:
This process was quite quicker than I expected. First and foremost they took my money and made me sign my life away on a ‘do not sue us’ waver. Then I got to watch a segment on a DVD with instructor next to me talking about proper body positions and timeline of the jump. Those are as following:
1) Before getting out of the aircraft, tilt head back and try to touch own butt with souls of shoes while aircraft floor is between two. Arch back a little. Keep arching back and keep trying to touch feet to instructors butt during freefall. Before fall, place hands on chest, than move them out.
2) After jump, practice pulling parachute cord without actually pulling. First time instructor assists. Second time do it yourself. To do so, move left arm forward while with right arm feel for the cord.
3) Instructor does couple left and right turns while freefalling.
4) At 6500ft – alert for 6000ft. At 6000ft, move hands to pull cord. 5500ft, pull cord.
5) Instructor steers chute to proper position.
6) Before touchdown move feet up while keeping them slightly bend.
After those instructions, we went to fitting room and got dressed. Then we walked to and got into a bright yellow singe engine airplane with 7 other people. We took off as quickly as possible and climbed to an assigned altitude. Passengers jumped and I and instructor moved to open door. I was in completely calm, no nervousness at all.
As previously instructed, I tilted my head back and placed feet into position. And then I got pushed overboard. Wiiii...We tumbled down and stabilized. First obvious sensation was of falling down, but my body got used to it quickly. The biggest surprise was rushing air and G-forces during turning. The air was pushing on my chests and going by so fast that I had difficulty breading for a few seconds. As we were stabilizing, I noticed our bright yellow airplane in a 75-60 degree nose down position flying past us. They must be very economical about fuel consumption.
Then we practiced pulling cord. Once that completed, instructor made few turns. Instructor yelled something alone “awesome” and ”yeahh” couple times and did that thumb-Funzzy-thing few times. Of course I participated as well. I looked at altimeter and it showed 7000 ft. At 6500 instructor pointed at altimeter again. I looked as it dropped to 6K and moved my hands to pull the cord. At exactly 5500ft I pulled it and parachute opened. Then instructor did couple left and right turns and said that I can steer. He commanded me what to do, and I followed his instructions. Obviously his hands were there on controls as a backup. We made few 360 degree turns, left-right turns and all that. To turn, pull cord all the way to the knee and hold it there, then release it to normal position. During final, instructor took control of the chute and we softly landed on our butts. End of quick and expensive excitement.
I expected it to be more adrenaline filled. My heard-rate barely increased from the jump which makes me slightly worry. Maybe I’m turning into Spak, or all of my fears are lost somewhere. Or maybe I need to try something less tandem and more by my self.
Anyhow, it’s an insteresting experience.
Edit:
And I did get a T-Shirt.
