Skydiving anyone

“How many other Skydivers are on TT?”

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

http://www.despair.com/idiocy.html”

“I thought I'd like to skydive, but I kept reminding myself I have this height thing...then I saw that you are attached to another person when you jump, and I knew I blow their eardrums out with my screaming - I do that when I'm having a good time. =D

This is the poster I have hanging in my cube wvabackpacker:
ineptitude”

“Demotivaters are awesome. We have them hanging in our living room. At work we changed the one in our office to this one Leaders...Funny thing is, our bosses haven't noticed it yet and it's been up since Jan.”

“If at first you don't succeed, better not try skydiving.”

“I've skydived a couple times. I wanted to get my five static line jumps in so I could free fall, but the place I was jumping kept bumping me back in the line everytime a club member drove up. I wanted to go back another weekend for more but couldn't find anyone to share the experience with me LOL”

“I've done five AFF jumps. Sounds like I had the same problem as hyway. I had to plan at staying at the drop center all day for maybe one jump. But there's nothing like the sensory oversight of leaving an almost perfect plane at 13000 feet!”

“I have 13 jumps and can honestly say that only one was fun,the first. After that it was gut wrenching terror followed by extreme discomfort with a side dish of blinding fear.”

“I did my first jump last summer. I hope to advance to free fall this year, but we'll see. I've come to find that it's an expensive hobby to fund.”

“huh...i figured there would be more falling freaks here. no worries.

Hyway, woodchuck, and birch:

i am sorry that your skydiving experiences have not been satisfying. one remedy i suggest is: find another Drop Zone. There are plenty of places that cater to students. i dunno how many are near you, but if you would like to find out go to
uspa.org

there is a list of DZ's on that site.


maybe there will be some more posts to this thread.

Blue Skies!”

“I'm on a similar level with Hyway and Woodchuck. Did 3 static line jumps in the 70's in Zephyrhills, Fla. Wanted to do the 5 to make it to free fall, but lost the will along the way. It was great,though the last jump freaked me out a bit. Had a hot dog pilot that decided to do some gut wrenching maneuvers on the way up and I found it a little unsettling, to say the least...”

“I don't know what it costs these days, but when I went, it was through the University of South Florida parachute club. They charged me 40 dollars for the (3) 3-hour classes and then 6 bucks per jump. I suspect that isn't even remotely near the same ballpark these days...”

“Pineneedles: by the sound of your comment on your user info it seems like you need to find a way to fund it!!!!! GOTTA LIVE!!”

“um..yeah...not even close these days. in MOST cases (at least in the mid west) it is around $130 for a 6 hour course and your first static-line jump. after that 1st jump it can range from $30-$50 per jump (depending on the DZ) until you get your own gear.

if you wanna go tandem it varies greatly between states and different dz's. anywhere from $150-$250!!

and AFF (accelerated freefall) training is a different course, and i will not bore you with the details of that unless you are curious.”

“Actually, I am curious. But that is something. I figured (considering the way prices on EVERYTHING have spiraled out of the hands of a lot of people) that it would be astronomical compared to when I did it...”

“PJ, I'm tired and going to sign off now, but I'd love to pick this up again tomorrow. Check ya in the morning...”

“AFF is a realatively new program.

you pay for your first "stage" of jumps. you go through certain criteria and manuevers, and need to pass certain requirements while in freefall, under canopy, and in the classroom. there are several stages, and each stage costs quite a bit. again, it varies so much between DZ's that if you want an accurate quote then you should contact your area DZO (Drop Zone Owner) and inquire. hope that helps, and makes you want to get your knees in the breeze!!!”

“ok”

“the first jump was expensive, after that it was just $40 a jump. That was about 10 years ago, though. I loved both my jumps. after taking the morning training session i was starting to think they had taken all the fun out of it. I had a speaker on my shoulder so they could talk to me and give me instructions. The landing zone was a bunch of huge fields, no power lines or trees or fence posts to impale myself on. But then, when the first group went up, the first guy out was the one that was the nervous nellie. he refused to take his foot off the step so when he let go of the wing strut he twisted around and caused the static line to not only pull his main chute, but his back-up shoot as well. The round back-up chute opened above him and the square main chute went out in front, essentially flying him into the ground. After a few terse minutes with the ground controllers screaming instructions into the walkie talkie while he plummeted toward the ground at a high rate of speed, he finally released the main chute at a very low altitude. His descent slowed, but he still slammed into the ground pretty hard about a 1/4 mile away. He just lay there while the ground controllers repeatedly asked him to signal if he was alive. after a long 2 minutes he finally stood up and waved. I was so stoked after watching that I could hardly wait to get my chance to jump :)”

“I have gone hang gliding and have flirted with the thought of sky diving, but the thought of the ground rushing towards me has me a little apprehensive.
hang gliding, on the other hand, is really fun and quite 'peaceful' and you can see for miles and not be scared crapless.”

“Skydiving (much like backpacking) will change your life. There is only one way to get that certain rush, that certain slight bit of fear and uncertainty mixed with the reality that it is not that dangerous to fall towards the earth, in any position, for a minute or more, and come out alive!

The total freedom of movement and ability to come closer to flying that anything else. To be unencumbered and free to move about the air. if you know what you're doing you can fly. wow...you gotta do it before you die.


"To venture is to risk one's life; not to venture is to lose one's reason to live."”

“punkjumper...i agree. i'm a broke college student at the moment, but i'm hoping that i can put some of my summer earnings towards a few jumps. i figure that i have my whole life to save money...:)”

“Don't want to be a spoil sport (actually, I wanted to skydive a long time back...just could've get any of my friends to join me), but saw a story a few years ago of an ad;

Brand New Parachute
Never Been Opened
Small Stain”

“hahahha...technicaly if it had never been opened ther could be no stain on it. lol”

“Intentionalaly jump out of a perfectly good airplane?
That's nuts!”

“hey, stoveStomper. here in the midwest, our DZ planes are NOT perfectly good. That's why they are at a Drop Zone!! hahahah”

“I was gonna take up sky diving, but I figured it would be hard to pick the trees from between my teeth.”

“That is absolutely unbelievable. I can't believe the guy didn't experience at least a slow malfunction. Actually, what I don't understand is how, if both chutes deployed, was the guy able to release the main chute at the low altitude. Seems like the dude should have been totally f—ked. But, as always, glad to hear a happy ending. I saw a 'Mae West' malfunction (do they still call it that?) right before I went up. That wasn't the most heartening (or timely) thing I ever saw, but didn't stop me nonetheless. I was too pumped to go up! Yam, the feeling of coming down, right after you see a beautiful, safe open canope over your head is just indescribable. The several minutes it took to descend to the ground could be some of the most memorable of my life. And I did this over 25 years ago. On my first jump, I obviously wasn't very good at paying attention to the signals given by the man on the circle on the ground as to which way I should turn, etc. I also wasn't very good at the PLF, (do they still use that term also?) Which is the way you fall. I wound up about 100 yards off course and rolled on my ass in the brush somewhere nearby. But the smile on my face told it all. An unbelievable experience, to say the least....”

“I've bungeed but not Skydived, always fancied trying it though”

“For some reason, bungee jumping freaks me out, but skydiving doesn't. Go figure...”

“they say it's more difficult to bungee as you can see what you're gonna hit if it doesn't work.”

“Something not right, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane!”

“I've been in a few Cessna's but never landed in one...”

“I'm really starting to like the idea of Kayaking too, must try and embrace that, as many of you here already have.”

“Might be rough to get the kayak in that small plane...


j/k :)”

“I feel sorta the same way about bungee jumping too, treebeard. Just seems unnatural. Maybe it's because I know how safe skydiving is? Dunno.

I'm not going to be hopping out of a plane anytime soon either, though.

Hey this reminds me of a skydiving UL. Maybe you guys know if this one is true.

A skydiving enthusiast buys himself a new helmet cam. He's so excited and in such a hurry to give it a try, he goes up and jumps without a parachute. He realizes this about halfway down, and the rest of the tape from his brand new helmet cam records his screams as he falls to his death.

True, or bull#&%!$?”

“I don't know, Bit. Did you do a search on it?”

“No, I guess I should. Hang on...

Nothing on Snopes...”

“Bit, (lmao) the only thing I came up with so far was a story about a Russian fisherman who had a cow plunge through his boat and how the insurance company laughed at him...

worth reading, i guess

cow”

“thats a true story. It was in teh news about 5 years ago. the guy was an expert photographer and the crew was doing that group hug thing in the crowd. For some reason he was so swept up with getting everyone ready he jumped without his chute.”

“When I jumped in Tampa, there was a guy named Arch Deel (sp?) that malfunctioned with a streamer and fell somethign like 5,000 ft., maybe more. He lived though. Lucky dude!!”

“There's also the story about the person who landed on the rotating helicopter blades”

“After the first 500' or so, it doesn't matter how far you fall, you're not going any faster.”

“Punkjumper, I didn't think the guy was going to release the main chut either. he wasn't wrapped up in the cords, for some reason both chutes opened perfectly. the guy flying the plane later said he thought the dude twisting sideways due to having his foot on the step was somehow the cause of both chutes opening.

We had walkie talkies mounted on our shoulders so we could here instructions from the guy on the ground. at first they were all shouting at one time into their walkie talkies, then one guy took over and slowly, but calmly talked the guy thru the release process.”

“What was the first thing that went through Jim O'Brien's mind as he hit the ground???









His Feet!!!!”

“That's true, Bit. The body will hit a maximum velocity...”

“Enjoy the view on the way down. It's the last one you'll get.”

“Of course, you will get going pretty fast if you jump from a high enough altitude. I've heard that Joe Kittenger broke the sound barrier during his record jump from a balloon gondola. Of course, he slowed down as he entered the thicker layers of atmosphere.”

“I can't find that helicopter story.... maybe I imagined it”

“the old myth about not being able to fall faster than 120 MPH is just that...a myth.

terminal velocity depends upon several factors. your wieght, shape, falling position, clothing, altitude, air density.

back in the day they used to have "drag racing" competitions. you know, who could get down the fastest. some guys would put on really slick rubbery suits and pointy helmets and go head-down, and reach about 300 MPH. pretty nuts. i'd like to try it some day.

but...on average, 120 MPH is about right. that is, if you are in a stable belly-to-earth attitude. personally, i fall faster because i am pretty muscular for my height. a guy that is my height but wieghs 30 lbs. less will fall lots slower. Density kicks in.

sorry if i bore you...”