Quake120 0 #1 May 5, 2006 Well, I've been waiting since October or so to skydive and have been unable to since it has been cold. Now that it is springtime, I set a date and a time! Tomorrow, May 6th, at 2:00 PM! This will be my first jump! My brother and my dad did it last weekend and were immediately addicted, as is everybody that does it... Anyways, I've got a few questions, not so much about the tandem tomorrow, but just general skydiving questions... Where is it legal to dive? Can I jump over a park, school field, etc? This is assuming I'm certified and have something to jump out of. Have you had any reserve rides? Were they horribly frightening or was it just like "Oh shit, my main chute didn't work!" and pull your reserve easily? I know this is thrown around a LOT everywhere, and statistics are always thrown around to make it seem one way or the other but in YOUR PERSONAL OPINION how safe do you think this sport is? I've heard everything from it's safer than driving to horribly dangerous. I know jumping out of a plane cannot possibly be THAT safe. I am going into the sport with this attitude, so I hope it will prevent any injury or death from thinking it is super safe. Maybe some of you experienced skydivers can give me some insight here. I'll let you all know how my dive goes tomorrow! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waltappel 1 #2 May 5, 2006 Quote Where is it legal to dive? Can I jump over a park, school field, etc? This is assuming I'm certified and have something to jump out of. That used to be an easy question to answer. Post 9/11, it isn't. By the time you are qualified to do jumps like that, the answer will be different. Quote Have you had any reserve rides? Were they horribly frightening or was it just like "Oh shit, my main chute didn't work!" and pull your reserve easily? Training, training, training. Be prepared and you'll have no problems. I've had two "because I had to" cutaways and a two or three intentional chops. It's no big deal *most of the time*. on a heavily loaded, fast spinning canopy, though, all bets are off. Quote I know this is thrown around a LOT everywhere, and statistics are always thrown around to make it seem one way or the other but in YOUR PERSONAL OPINION how safe do you think this sport is? I've heard everything from it's safer than driving to horribly dangerous. I know jumping out of a plane cannot possibly be THAT safe. I am going into the sport with this attitude, so I hope it will prevent any injury or death from thinking it is super safe. Maybe some of you experienced skydivers can give me some insight here. When you jump out of a plane you will almost certainly die unless something happens to save your life. That something, hopefully, is a parachute deployment. The thing to look at are those things that can interfere with parachute deployment or initiation and execution of emergency procedures. When you think about it, there really aren't all that many things that can interfere with initiation and execution of a parachute deployment and in general, the things that can interfere are well known and you can minimize their risk. I have been in the sport about 28 years and have made 1500+ skydives. I have never had to seek medical attention as the result of a skydive. There are plenty of people who have had similar experiences. For the most part, it's as safe as you make it. Walt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quake120 0 #3 May 7, 2006 Just got back from my first jump about 2 hours ago... Wow...just ... wow! I LOVED it. I wasn't nervous when I got there, and I wasn't nervous in the plane. I was nervous when the plane flew overhead and I saw how high it was. I was like "oh...my...god...that is HIGH" After that, it was about two hours before they called our group to get suited up. I was assigned my tandem master, Lance, and went through the short ground school. It was another 10 minutes till the plane was refueled and it was our turn to board the plane. Prior to today, I thought I was going to be TERRIFIED when I got on the plane, but I was relaxed, and was STOKED to jump! Once we rode to altitude (a pretty quick 12 minutes), the door was opened, and the single jumpers jumped out. There were two tandems before me, which were my friend and my g/f. It was AMAZING how fast it was to the door. My adrenaline was flowing HARD and I was ready to go! Jumped out of the plane and into freefall, which lasted the shortest 60 seconds of my life. The canopy ride down was awesome, great scenery here in Utah! I landed fine, took my equipment off and had the greatest sense of accomplishment and euphoria EVER. I LOVED it and will be going again and again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thegreekone 0 #4 May 8, 2006 welcome to the party. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snowwhite 0 #5 May 8, 2006 so when are you going to start AFF? You sound like a skydiver to me!skydiveTaylorville.org freefallbeth@yahoo.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #6 May 8, 2006 Quote...You sound like a skydiver to me! I'm withholding judgement until he sells his first-born son for jump money.... My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
