How did you get into skydiving?

[AlanS 1]

sparknote_s

How did you all get into skydiving? I thought this could make for an interesting discussion...

I got into skydiving twice.

First time I was college in 1980s and just turned 18. I said to my friend "Hey I'm 18 today". His response was "Oh, that means it is legal for you to skydive now. Want to go?". I said "sure", then thought "Wait did I just say that?!? Holy Crap". So, next day my friend and I were on a bus to the nearest drop-zone.

Everything was different then. (No tandems, no AAD, round reserve, rip-cord was by our chest - not a BOC). Back then, your first jump was static-line. You let go of the plane, and rope pulls your chute and then you watch the plane just fly away. As the plane flew away it got quite and I thought that was the neatest thing ever.

I jumped a total of 36 times in college. When it was time to graduate I was loaded with student debt to pay back. (which I did) and my fiancee asked me not to jump. I agree to stop (which in retrospect was a huge mistake, but in my mind a promise is a promise, so I kept it.) During the next decade, I would occasionally look up at a clear blue sky and think how great it would be to be up there.


18 years later with 2 wonderful kids were we divorced, so after a while of being single I realized I was no longer bound by my promise and decided to start doing again what I loved so much while in college.

So when it was my second time to "start skydiving" I skipped the tandem jump and went straight to AFF ground school. When I looked at the equipment EVERYTHING was different. They now had AADs, the reserves were square, the pilot chute was deployed from the back, but most importantly the CUTAWAY HANDLE was now where the old rip-cord use to be. I thought, "Crap When it is time to deploy, I might revert to my old muscle memory and pull the cutaway instead of deploying the BOC pilot chute".

My first ride up I wasn't so much worried about jumping out of a plane (even though it had been more than 20 years) I was worried that when it came time to pull the rip-cord I'd revert back to my old way and pull the cutaway instead, so I spent then entire ride up practicing the new deployment motion in my mind. The AFF program went smoothly and I was though without any repeat jumps. Got my A and B license soon after that.

It is great to be back.

[kallend 1,822]

sparknote_s

How did you all get into skydiving? I thought this could make for an interesting discussion...

First saw parachuting in the 1950s at the now disused Detling airfield in England. Had a kid's fascination with it.

Then in 1997 one of my freshmen students asked what he needed to do to start a college skydiving club. I told him the long list of tasks needed to get college approval. Foolishly offered to be the Faculty Advisor if he managed to complete the rest.

So two weeks later, after class, he told me the club now exists and that I have to go along with 30 members who are going to make tandem jumps. So I made a tandem jump, and enjoyed it so much I did two more on the same day, then signed up for AFP training.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[joeybee 0]

A friend was going through chemo and cancer surgery and wanted to do AFF for a bucket list kind of thing. 7 of us went to the same class and all made our first jumps that day. We went home watched our videos and had some beers..... And the next week I was back to do my second jump. None of the others ever jumped again. For me it has been over 4 years and 400 jumps and still jumping.

[Pablo.Moreno 0]

Power rangers movie 1 intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCqElVK9aw

[3mpire 0]

a terrifying zoo dive with a mix of speeds, orientations, and headings. left my hands clammy and my heart racing. 4/5 stars, would recommend.