What did you write about your first jump?

[FlyinNover 0]

I'm figuring that anyone with a penchent for writing had something to say about their first jump. Here's what I wrote. What did you write?

Okay, so techincally this was about my *third* jump, but it was the first jump I did with definite plans to continue. (Check the end of the post for my question about this.)

I wrote this in a discussion group on Usenet that I've been reading and posting to for a bunch of years. Please disregard the things I got wrong (such as the Instructor only giving explanations "on the way up." I know extremely little about skydiving now, and when I wrote this I knew nothing.)

-----
So this summer I'm getting certified as a skydiver. By autumn I'll be
able to jump without instructors, and hopefully anywhere I want. (I'm looking forward to
jumping in North Jersey. There is a dropzone up there that is close enough
that, when you are up in the air, you can see NYC.) This morning I took my
first jump as a student. It was tandem, which means I was harnessed to an
instructor for the jump. Mark Norman has been jumping for six years. He's
been an instructor for most of that time. He checked our equipment
compulsively. He repeated everything important he said to me. On the way
up he taught me all the things I need to do for my T1, or first Tandem training
jump. Hand signals, altimeter, the four S's, remember to arch. I've jumped
twice before, in a tandem, but this was my first with the intention of
becoming licensed. Another student was in the plane with us. (All the
non-certifieds are called students. I guess they just can't conceive how
you would only want to do this once.) He was getting the same
instructions from his tandem partner. That instructor is called "Pancake".
I was glad I was with Mark.
Since I've been twice already, I wasn't nervous at all. I might have
looked bored, even, which Mark must have interpreted as anxiety, because he
repeated how important it was to relax. Since Monday, when I decided to go, and on the whole drive to the airport, and while putting on the harness, even while feeling
the plane lift off the runway, I was calm and unexcited during it all.

Then the door opened.

My stomach dropped a hundred feet, it seemed. Which was convenient
since the rest of me was about to do the same, and then some. Now, a minute
sounds small, but it's a LONG time. Sit there and count out sixty seconds.
That's how long we fell, free from everything except gravity.
There's nothing skydiving can be compared to. It's not "like" anything
else, whether it's bungee jumping, diving underwater, floating.......it's
more unique than that. It's almost as if you're suspended on a cushion of
air, but you're falling downwards at 120mph. (And it's important to remember
that fact.)
After a few practice moves, 90 degree turns, and altimeter checks, we
pulled the ripcord. All of a sudden.......it was silent. I felt a little
shake as we went from a falling position to hanging from the chute.......and
it was silent. And beautiful. It seemed like 20 minutes as we weaved back
and forth over the drop zone, but it was actually only 5. I looked up and to
the right and saw the other student and his jumpmaster.
We floated down through 500 feet, and circled around over the airplane
hangar. I thought we'd land right on a plane (and the propellers were still
spinning, which didn't make me feel good at all), but we weaved over the
grass and touched down twenty feet from the hangar. I was glad to feel the
ground under my feet again, but I was already thinking about when I could do
it again.


ObQuote:
If riding in an airplane is flying, then riding in a boat is swimming.
If you want to experience the element, then get out of the vehicle.
-Unk.

I watched him strap on his harness and helmet, climb into the cockpit
and, minutes later, a black dot falls off the wing two thousand feet above
our field. At almost the same instant, a white streak behind him flowered
out into the delicate wavering muslin of a parachute -- a few gossamer yards
grasping onto air and suspending below them, with invisible threads, a human
life, and man who by stitches, cloth, and cord, had made himself a god of
the sky for those immortal moments.
-Charles A. Lindbergh, contemplating his first parachute jump, _The
Spirit of St Louis_, 1953
-----

My "how many jumps" question:

So in my logbook I count my third jump as my first jump. It doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things, and it will matter less and less as I jump more and more. But I'm wondering if anyone else did this, and why.

My first two jumps were tandems, done about three years apart from each other, the second one being five years before I started AFF. I don't count them in my logbook for two reasons: One, when I did them I didn't have any definite intention to continue jumping. Two, my instructor wrote it as one and I was so juiced I didn't even notice. No big deal anyway.

I figure that a lot of us started just by "trying it once" and then didn't jump again for a long time. Do you count those first jumps?

---FlyinNover

[Chrisky 0]

A jump is a jump, sure you count them. Or didn't you leave the plane on these tandems?

The mind is like a parachute - it only works once it's open.
From the edge you just see more.
... Not every Swooper hooks & not every Hooker swoops ...

[Sheenster303 0]

I did my first jump 6 months before I was able to make another jump and continue the training. I just decided not to count it. Not really sure why. It just didn't feel necessary at the time. Although now when I'm figuring up my jump numbers, I always say well this is what my logbook says but I've actually jumped this many times. Ah well....pretty soon that extra jump won't matter much anymore.

I'm so funny I crack my head open!

P.M.S. #102

[Brodes 0]

Mines boring but here it is-

"Ok i got to my DZ about 10.30am or so and watched a couple of tandems go up and down, got manifested and i was on Load 4 of the day. Ran through my procedures a few more times and did some practice exits and spent some time on the torture table. My parents showed up a bit later, i didn't really want them to but i knew they would be there anyway. Had a chat to them they met my JM etc. and i got to scare the crap out of my mum for a while. Stupid i know haha. Geoff, my JM, put me through a last check to make sure i knew what i was doing then i suited up and before i knew it Load 4 was called up. THe ride up to 10,000 feeet was soooooo slow but the view was excellent, i ran through my procedure backwards as we went up with Curtis, my JM2. I got the one minute call and was still feeling very confident about the whole thing, Geoff opened the door, and i soon joined him on the strut (once i knew i was wasn't about to fall off). Check in check out, arch and sensory overload hit me i had no idea what was going on for about 2 seconds, and all of a sudden im stable and arched. Curtis gave me a shake so i arched harder then geoff got me to straighten legs a couple times and once i had it they stayed there. 9000ft awareness check and 2 PRP's was fine, even though my brain was about .5 second behind my physical actions. Had a look around for a while wondering what the hell i was doing, did a couple more awareness checks, saw 5600 so started my pull procedure, checked left checked right pulled, 1000 2000 BANG openiing shock happened much sooner than id expected but wow it was fun! I found my head in FRONT of the risers and i couldn't get it back to check out my canopy but i didn't stress just found a way to look up and saw 4 or 5 line twists, im very happy with the way i dealt with them, it was an easy kickout and i soo flared twice and decided i had a decent canopy above my head. After i thought about it i was very glad i had line twists because now i know how easy these idosyncracies are to deal with and it made it all so much more exciting hehe . Made sure i was close to DZ then played around for a while following radio directions every now and then, did a HARD right turn my TA told me not to let up until i couldn't handle it anymore, that was fun but i wish i went even harder now! Hit 1000ft and got in line coming straight in towards the hangar (but a long way off), minor adjustments and i flared landed on my feet expecting to have to roll over a couple of times but it never happened so i ended up softly on my butt. Debrief was excellent, my JM said it was an outstanding AFF1 jump, just have to watch my legs and get out of the plane a bit quicker. Plus i didn't drop my ripcord after my JM told me he had a strong feeling i would ;)

Bring on AFF2, its going to be so much better now i know what to expect!"

• Quote

[yoink 321]

OK... so now my 'GATW' has an inferiority problem... it's tiny compared to yours! That is a hell of a first jump entry!

but then I've never been much of a writer...

[Squeak 17]

I didn't write anything. My instructor filled in my log book

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[tombuch 0]

My first jump was made in 1979 at a tiny skydiving center near Buffalo, New York. The jump was arranged through a student newspaper and is briefly discussed in Jump! Make Your First Skydive Fun and Easy. I actually wrote a first person feature about that jump for the paper, and it was published along with a collection of photographs. The story is packed with the hyperbole of a young college student buzzing with adrenaline. I still remember every detail of that first jump, including the terror of landing my round parachute in a tree. That jump was made more than 20 years ago when the only training method available was static line, and everybody used military-style round parachutes. When I made that first skydive I was interested in photography, not writing, and never imagined that I would make more than 4,500 jumps, and become the author of a book about the sport.

The Spectrum Reporter Risks Life
By Tom Buchanan
Reprinted From The Spectrum,
University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
April 30, 1979

An intense sensation of fear rushed through my mind when George Wood, the jumpmaster, told me to “Get out of the plane.” I stepped outside the craft.
My body was numb, I instinctively grabbed hold of the diagonal wing strut, throwing my right leg forward as we had been instructed the day before. George, as he had done with the others, slapped the back of my left thigh as a nonverbal signal to “fly with the wind.”
My right leg shot back and my body assumed the arched position. I started counting…Arch-thousand, two thousand, three thousand. Suddenly at the count of three thousand, everything was quiet. A perfect canopy bloomed above my head. I was momentarily lost in the sky
I quickly found the drop zone by searching for the only body of water – Lake Ontario – and tracing it back to the grass runway. The big white arrow – which experienced jumpers were supposed to point out from the ground to help guide novices – was unmanned. Unlike most first time jumpers, I had to find the ground on my own.
The descent lasted only a few short minutes. I approached the drop zone faster than I should have, and swiftly passed over the landing target. If I continued on course and did nothing, my body would have crashed into a set of deadly power lines and been fried like a hunk of steak. Rather than die through painful, messy electrocution, I quickly maneuvered my canopy into a partial ‘run’ – heading with the wind – position and passed a mere 15 feet over the electrical hazard.
Once past the power lines, my final landing spot was 20 yards ahead, an area cluttered by a house, a garage, a barn, an empty swimming pool and dozens of man eating trees.

Fall To Earth
I saw myself moving first for a tree landing. Without hesitation I assumed the “covered position” learned in five hours of jump training.
My body crashed into a huge beech tree and then slipped through the snapping branches. I then slammed into the roof of a small garage and quickly bounced off, continuing my fall to earth. The canopy was wrapped in the overhead tree, suspending me one foot above the ground, in front of a badly frightened dog.
I unstrapped my parachute and quickly left the area in case the dog regained its senses and decided to attack.
Once away from the landing area, I inspected my body for damages but couldn’t even find a scratch. While walking back to retrieve the canopy, George explained that a tree landing is unusual. Most jumps are really quite routine, George explained. I was the exception.
Looking back, the jump was fantastic, and the landing, at least interesting. It seems strange, but jumping from a speeding airplane is, well, fun. There is no other thrill that can match an adrenaline-producing fall from 3,000 feet. It is easy to see why some people skydive as a hobby; it’s addictive.
I’m trying it again, after finals.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[pccoder 0]

hee hee, me too

PcCoder.net

[skybytch 259]

Here's my first jump story.

• Quote

[Jeth 0]

Ok, here is mine, just 7 weeks ago.

I wasn't expecting to be, but I was immediately hooked. It was a thrilling and profound experience for me that I couldn't get out of my head.

(But the 2nd one was even better.... and the 3rd one will be the best yet, cause I'll be doing it myself!!

"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

[Trish 0]

I have a page dedicated to my first jump - on July 10, 2004 - on the web complete with story and pics. Check it out!

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, and loudly proclaiming, Wow…what a ride!

[pajarito 0]

My first log book was stolen along with all of my equipment out of the trunk of a friend’s car while I was teaching a HALO train-up course near Montgomery, AL. I don't have the original verbiage; however, it was kind of a fiasco. I skipped a day of high school and met my Dad, uncle, and many adopted uncles out at Moton Field (Tuskegee Airmen training ground), Tuskegee, AL. 20th Special Forces Group Parachute Club. I told myself at first that I wasn't scared but, looking back on the kinds of things I did, I was. My first jump was out of a CH-54 Skycrane Army helicopter from 14,000ft and my AFF instructors were Jimmy Horak and Warren (Toad) Bullen. I didn't do anything right. They even had to pull my ripcord. I landed almost right on the "X" but the dive was terrible.

[Nightingale 0]

www.nightingalesnest.net

everything I wrote about my first tandem through the end of AFF is there.

[PabloCruz2 0]

Here is mine!

Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2000 23:03:21 -0500
Subject: I Fell! I Flew!! I Walked Away!!!

Hey everybody,
After a day like today I really have drop you a note ( no pun intended) =:-) After a few more hours of training this morning, I climbed into a Cessna 182 and took off with three of my friends, our jump master, (and of course our pilot)! It was about a 10-15 minute flight to an altitude of 3500 feet at which point our jumpmaster opened the door ( it is just plain wrong to open the door of an airplane flying about 90 mph at 3500 feet). The heart really starts pumping at that moment! Bryson and Keith jumped ahead of me. Then it was my turn. After each jumper left the door was closed and we circled the airfield for another pass. I was sitting with my knees to my chest and back to the control panel (the pilot on my right ) with the jumpmaster on his knees straddling my feet. He opens the door (let me again emphasize that this is just plain wrong)! He has me swing my legs out the door and place them on a small platform right above the main landing gear with my right hand on the door frame and my left hand on the wing strut. He turned my radio on (My instructor on the ground was on the ground watching me and radioing instructions to me as needed. Showed me my pilot chute ( a two foot diameter parachute which pulls your main chute out of your backpack ) and instructed me to step out and stand up the platform and hold on to the wing strut with both hands as far out as I can reach. I am now standing OUTSIDE an airplane flying 90 MPH at 3500 feet (this is really, REALLY wrong!!). The jumpmaster then instructs me to hang from the wing strut. I step off the platform. Now I am hanging from the wing strut of the airplane flying at 90 MPH with nothing but 3500 feet of air beneath my feet (Have I mentioned how REALLY, REALLY wrong this is?)!! I look at him (I'm supposed to smile at him as an indicator that I am ready.................I didn't). He says, "Ready"? (Stupid question!). Then he says, "Go". At this point I let go of the aircraft ( I have only been hanging for a few seconds ). Now at this point words can't describe how so VERY, VERY wrong this is!!! Words also can not describe the next 4-5 seconds. If their was ever a time in my life that I experienced what faith and trust (Both in God and man) are. This was that time. 4-5 seconds after letting go my chute opened. I have very few conscious memories of those seconds. The feeling of relief and joy that I experienced upon looking up and seeing a fully open and functioning parachute was amazing!! Once I had determined that I had a good chute and had reassured myself that I was safely secured to it ( I had already figured that out before I ever got into the airplane, but it was a good time to reconfirm it. Considering that there was still 3000 feet of air beneath my feet!). I really enjoyed the flight down. It was the single most amazing experience of my life. I am really looking forward to doing it again!! =:-) There was one guy there today that jumped twice. He now has 5,690 jumps under his belt spanning 29 years!! He had 1500 jumps under his belt utilizing the old round parachutes before they designed the square airfoil parachutes. Out of all those jumps, he has only had to cut away his main chute (due to some form of malfunction) 15 times. Statistically it is very safe! Many times safer than driving to the airport this morning. Time will tell but I doubt this was my last time. If you are adventurous, I would highly recommend it. Do your research and find a Skydiving center that has a really good safety record and all the latest technological safety equipment and take a major step into faith and trust. It is mind boggling!! One of our guys had a digital camera so I might have some pictures to share later. I did have my jump videotaped. Due to the altitude the cameraman didn't jump with me. The tape was made from the moment of opening the door. To the letting go of the aircraft and opening of my chute as the plane flew off without me. The look on my face is hilarious!! I better get to bed. I'm feeling a little tired. Talk to you later.

In HIS grip, Paul Fockler / [email protected]

[bodypilot1 0]

I wrote about 1 more check out of my checkbook for the rest of the 6 jumps.

Thats all I wrote....

-

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[HeatherB 0]

hehe....here's a transcript of my brief but funny (to me, at least!) first logbook entry. (an IAD out of a Cessna) I wrote down what my instructor said.

excellent climb-out
initial de-arch
pilot chute around my arm
rectified
excellent emergency awareness
excellent canopy control
slight radio assistance
high flare

hehehe...

oh, and with permission from my instructor I logged 5 seconds of freefall for that jump. (from 4 grand) Nothing like a little freefall by yourself for your first jump.

Yeeehaaaa!

[grue 1]

While it's still fresh in my mind, I should write about my first jump.


At 5am, my alarm clock sounded. At first, I reached for the snooze button, since I normally don't have any good reason to be up.. however, halfway to the clock, my brain reminding me that today, I would be skydiving. Instantly awake, I climbed out of bed and into the shower.


I arrived at the DZ around 730 and by 3pm, I had finished the static line training class and practical work, with a perfect score on the written test. Unfortunately, I didn't make the first load of students, so I had plenty of time to watch.

Before my class got their first load, we all watched some of the more advanced students do their last load. One of them had a cutaway, and high-flared his reserve into a pretty rough landing. This set some of the students on edge. I was happy to see the reserves work at the school, but I still got a bit nervous, though I would soon forget about it.

We all posed for a group photo, and then starting loading up for our jumps.

I watched 8 students come down, almost all of them forgetting to do PLFs in their excitement. I counted 6 ass slides, 1 stand-up, and 1 faceplant, and decided with a grin I wasn't going to ignore our order to do a PFL on the first landing, even if we stuck the landing perfectly. Around this time, I noticed the two cute blonde girls watching all the students jump.

Myself, 2 other students, the JM, and the pilot all piled into the C206, with me going in last. As the heaviest student, I knew I'd jump first on my load, and this made me kinda antsy.

As we began to taxi, the grin finally showed up on my face. We closed the door and took off without event, and I found myself checking the altimeter every few seconds to see how close we were. Around 2,000 the JM had me unbuckle my seatbelt, and clipped my static line in, and had me give it a tug to reassure me.

3,600 feet according to my altimeter: The door was opened, and the sudden rush of wind and noise made my heartbeat accelerate, but I started laughing, because I knew I was close to either mortal terror for the rest of my life, or the most fun ever.

"GET YOUR FEET OUT AND STOP!" came the JM's call. I placed my left hand on the 206's wing strut, and pulled myself to the edge of the door, placing my boots on the step. I made eye contact with the JM.

"GET ALL THE WAY OUT AND HANG" came the next call. This was where I anticipated having problems getting myself to do it. Without looking at the ground, I moved my right hand to the strut, and was surprised at the power of the wind, though I shouldn't have been. I crouched on the step, slowly slid my hands up the strut, and stepped off the platform, where I realised I was hanging 3,600 feet off the ground, going 80mph. I looked to my JM, who nodded, gave me a thumbs-up, and said "LOOK UP!"

I looked up at the red dot, screamed "DOT!" and let go, making a hard arch. Thus began my fall into nothingness. I tried to do the count to myself, but the sensory overload prevented me from doing so. A few seconds later, I heard my canopy open, and looked over my right shoulder to confirm it was a clean opening. No slider hang, no bag lock, no streamer, no line twists. I was good to go, and I let the world know this with some profane screaming and whooping.

I grabbed the toggles and unstowed my brakes, doing a few hard turns to get used to the controls. At this point, the radio on my helmet came alive, and began giving me directions. I looked around and got my bearings, and began to laugh. Oh man, I couldn't stop laughing. I could just barely make people out on the ground, and I remember screaming to them: "YOU ARE ALL MIDGETS! ANTS, I TELL YOU!"

I did some hard spinning turns, at the ground crew's instruction, and couldn't stop shouting out how fun it was. Eventually, the fun had to stop, so I was directed to begin my downwind leg when I got to 1000AGL. At 600AGL, I turned left into my base leg. At 300AGL, it was time for final. I made my approach, and prepared for landing. When I was told to flare, I did so, and stuck the landing. I then remembered to PFL, and did this, even though it wasn't the least bit necessary. After all, you've gotta follow directions.

I stood up, screamed, laughing, shouted, and bounced around for a minute before I daisy chained my lines and picked up my canopy. I walked back to the hangar with a huge grin, and it still hasn't left my face.

cavete terrae.