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How did you get into skydiving?

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i did my first tandem right out of highschool. at the time i just wanted to do it once and check it off my list, ...6 years later, i saw the movie Avatar, and couldnt stop thinking about flying. I tried to recruit some buddies to do it with me, but no one was interested. So i signed up for AFF in may and being doing it everyweekend since. Best thing it the world.

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I've really enjoyed reading this thread, there are so many different reasons people find this amazing sport and I love hearing them:)
My boyfriend and I did a tandem on a whim during a Florida vacation. We were so pumped, stoic, elated etc that on our way back to Orlando, we missed our exit by 60 miles:D

I saved up for a year for AFF, and would go to sleep every night thinking about getting certified...skydiving is more than I ever thought it would be, and an integral part of my life. When said boyfriend did his AFF this March, the sport got that much better:$

And for the record: the appropriate ranking of cool modes of transportation is jet pack, hover board, transporter, Batmobile, and THEN giant ant.
D.S. #8.8

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I moved to a new town and needed a job. I'm a pilot, so I started banging on every door at every airport I could find.

The local drop zone was the first place that hired me. I had absolutely zero interest in jumping, but I liked collecting a pay check.

They offer a deal to all of their pilots. For every 25 hours you fly for them, you get a free jump if you want it. After flying for 25 hours, I still had no interest in taking it up as a regular hobby, but I'm a cheapskate and can't pass up anything that's "free." Curiosity got the best of me. I had to try it out and see what the big deal is.

I took the FJC and did a static line jump, all for free. As soon as my hands left the strut, I was hooked. Between money, weather, and time, it was a slow progression, but I finally got my A license about 2 years after my FJC.

Now my standard response to the DZ manager when he asks me to fly is, "You know I'd rather be jumping. But call me if you can't find anybody else." Thankfully they've found enough pilots that I'm able to jump more than fly nowadays B|

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I have to admit I sucked at skydiving, perris has always had the best and brightest, I was safe and always had my eye out on chest straps and loose pilots chutes.

I saved a few mals here and there and maybe a fatality or two but my RW skills sucked ass, what kept me doing it except the rush?

Being able to party with the Sky Gods Like Scotty, NickDg, Blue and Pat McGowan, Holy crap what a fun time. I don't know if Nick ever posted his down under bridge jump here or not, it was awesome to hear it from him, he is a good dude...

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I'd always wanted to jump ever since reading the book Curahee, about paratroopers. In my freshman year at college, I was dating this girl, and her roomate walks in sporting a cast on her leg. I asked her how she broke her leg. The rest is history.

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I'd always wanted to jump ever since reading the book Curahee, about paratroopers.

That's a great book, isn't it?



Sure is. I wonder how many people that book inspired to go out for Airborne, or become sport jumpers?

What still impresses me is his description of how opening shocks used to slam the be-jeesus out of them. Canopies were free-packed in those days: "What's a bag?"

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First time I saw skydivers was in the early 90s at the annual airshow at a small local airport in Nairobi, Kenya. I was in awe how wicked cool it was to see them flying with smoke. And after seeing the movie Dropzone and Point Break, it was a done deal. Even though I had no idea of any details as to how one jumps out of an airplane, I knew that I would one day do "that".

Over the years I thought that maybe only armed forces and the filthy rich were the few who could jump and put the thought jumping on the back burner. Fast forward to ~'06-'07, a friend of mine who just finished AFF asked me if I wanted to come hang out at the DZ to watch him jump. Having nothing to do for the day, I thought I'd tag along and since I was a broke student (still am) I knew I there was no way I was gonna jump anyways. But as soon as I saw the swoopers on first load come down, I was giggling like a 12 year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert. It was done. Tandem was for one hit wonders, I planned on being in this for the long run. I asked for the price list and the discount deals for packages. I knew if I paid for AFF one lvl at a time I was gonna run out of $ and never finish so planned to save up for the entire 'A' package. Took me 2 years, till I had enough for the AFF package. I told myself, "screw this, I'll finish AFF and then figure out how to complete the A license".

Thanks to my DZ's free gear rental Fridays, a little over a year later, still jumping on a shoestring budget I got my B license, and still plan on being in it for the long run with the hopes of eventually earning instructional ratings.
- Neil

Never make assumptions! That harmless rectangle could be two triangles having sex ...

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Dad was a pilot, brother's a pilot so when they offered to buy me a flying lesson for my 21st birthday present I gratefully accepted on the proviso that I got to 'fly' not drive a plane ;). Completely hooked after that, the rest is history and we've now all taken off and landed at the same airfield in the UK albeit at different times!

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All my life, I never thought much about skydiving. One day in the fall I decided I wanted to make a skydive. I was lucky that my university (Ohio State) not only had a club but a skydiving class. I took it the following spring and made a tandem jump. I am not sure why but I came back a few weeks later to make my first AFF jump. We got winded out and the next morning I was on the first load. I flew the plane up and climbed out but once I was there I chickened out. I rode the plane back down. I battled nerves the entire day and about 10 hrs later I tried it again. Almost chickened out again but my instructor urged me to go and I did. After that, it was something I had to prove to myself. I wasn't a skydiver, I was just going to do one more jump to break my fear. I think it was probably 10 jumps later before I actually enjoyed the skydive and then the rest is history. Created friendships and even married a skydiver.

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How did you all get into skydiving? ..



The how is easy... They why is better.

I met a guy at trade school who was a skydiver. I looked up to him so when he offered to take me to a rural Pennsylvania DZ on a Wednesday afternoon to watch I figured it might be cool. It was really quiet when he pointed out the Cessna so I heard the cut and saw the little black dot coming from 7500'. After a short time I heard this rushing crackle of the freefaller blasting thru the atmosphere hurtling towards the ground. My jaw dropped. Then he pulled and the dust packed into his PC came out in a long streamer and another ripping whack tore the silence apart.

I didn't even look away when I said out loud to my buddy "I wanna do THAT part!" I didn't even know what it was called but THAT was what I knew I had to do.

I took the $60 class the following Friday for a jump that Saturday. Performed miserably. Sprained the shit out of my ankle. Came back every single weekend, rain or shine, for the next two years and learned more about the sports roots and traditions than in the next thirty.

Thank you Beaver Valley Skydivers, 1974-76!

jon

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I'm absolutely terrified of airplanes (well, I was) to the point where I needed an Ativan prescription to fly anywhere.

My friend was graduating college and sent out a facebook email to a bunch of people to go skydiving. At first I was like, HELL NO. Then I thought about it, and figured, why on earth not.

I was so scared my first tandem I could barely get into the aircraft. Our airplane is a Caravan, and I said "Ohmygodthat'sthesmallestplaneI'veeverseen" and actually backed away from it. Something made me get in, and then something made me get out. As soon as we left the aircraft I knew I was hooked.

Ditched some girlfriends who'd come up to visit from all over the country to take my first jump course a few weeks later. That one was out of a 182, and I was like - Holy shit the planes get SMALLER???

Took me a few jumps before I could watch people leave the aircraft, for some reason that always freaked me out. Couldn't look out the door, either. Now I've no problems with spotting, sticking my head out the door, etc. I can even sit next to an open Otter door and not be *too* scared.

Three seasons later, I'm Coach 1 (Canada) and Instructor rated to teach FJC. Got some jumps in Eloy, Perris, and some tunnel time booked for Christmas in Eloy, with a plan to get my C licence and Coach 2 next year and perhaps one day even AFFI.

And then there's the small detail I also met my SO skydiving...

I am no longer (really) afraid of airplanes. I'm still not fond of landing with them, thankfully I don't have to very often. I still bring the Ativan just in case when I fly commercially, but rarely have to use it anymore. I'm not super fond of turbulence in jump planes, but then remember I'm wearing a parachute so if I needed to get out, I could.

I absolutely love working with novices, and one of my favorite things now is to teach FJC and talk to my students after they've landed, and I've even got to see a few of them go on to AFF and beyond this year. That's been so rewarding for me.

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When my mom was in her twenties back in the day she did a static line jump. Growing up I knew she had done that and always wanted to try it.

This summer, I had gotten out of a long term relationship (7 years) and had no idea how I was going to use all this free time I had on my hands. So I decided to make a static line jump. Turned out I found a way to use up all my free time!

To bring it full circle, last weekend my mom who lives on the other side of the country flew out. I took her to the DZ and bought a tandem jump for her. Good times.

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Cool posts, Me, I always knew. When I was a kid I watched Ripcord and Sky King. Always said when I grow up I'm going to fly and jump. 1964 when we were on vacation in Canada I was 7, we went to a Fair and 3 guys jumped in from a Cessna. I was in awe, Gods, landing right in front of me. Fast forward 1973 I'm 16 my brother is 19. He finds Lakewood NJ and we go, he makes a jump. Come home tell Mom and Dad. Mom freaks, Dad was like why didn't you invite me? A week later my Dad makes his first jump at 56. And after working on Mom a week later Aug 23 1973 I made mine. We started together. Which was cool. Also it really helped me cause I was better. For the first time in my life I could do something better than my big brother and my Father. I wasn't perfect but I progressed thru the SL and Freefall course faster then they did. To me that was something, see my Dad was almost super human to me. WWII 8th Air Force Heavy Weight Boxing Champ. So it really helped me, and we were doing it together. I had 200+ plus jumps by the time I graduated High School. Doesn't sound like much now but 36 years ago it was. Still a dumb kid though, Showed up at Marine Corp Boot Camp wearing a Russian Para-Commander T-shirt. Boy that hurt.

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Work as a diver and do alot of deep diving on the holidays. Was talking to a friend about different sports, and I said "I'll dive deep, in caves, darkness whatever, but one thing is damned sure, I'll never jump out of an airplane!" Scared of heights and don't care to much for small airplanes.

Two days later I thought to myself......f**k it...I gotta do it.
Ordered a tandem, weather messed it up.
Booked a flight for Australia and signed up for AFF.

First jump hooked me completely, LOVED the feeling of standing on the edge looking down and the feeling I got when I jumped. I could almost hear my brain going "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" as I sprung out. Loved the freefall, loved it all! Except for the plane ride...still dont like that ;)

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i always wanted to as a kid. The trigger was seeing someone die though for some reason as a 16 year old kid I believed that reduced the odds of me going in. My parents signed the waiver but never believed I would jump as I am so scared of heights. 4 years of jumping and then a long layoff.

I got back into jumping because I liked the farm so much having spent the weekend there just before christmas.
Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

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I had 200+ plus jumps by the time I graduated High School. Doesn't sound like much now but 36 years ago it was.



Sound like a lot to me! Good story.

I had a bartender at the place I work put a sign-up sheet for skydiving.

I signed up. It ended up being me, him, one of the cooks and the girl who drew the pictures on our chalk boards.

As soon as i landed my tandem I thought, "where have you been all my life?"

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