whamac

All signed up! It'll be my 3rd tandem. I did my first one last August at Chicagoland, then another one in September in Colorado, along with my son (his 1st).
With a kickstart of $150 from myself, I'm up to $300 in donations so far.

Can't wait!

FINALLY!!
After all these years, I finally got a taste of freefall last week, when I did my very first tandem jump!

14,000 feet and 60 seconds of freefall.
Did a few altitude checks, pulled the handle myself, and did some of the steering.
WOO-HOO! What a feeling!

And I learned a valuable lesson. Old geezers should not enjoy a milkshake right before doing a bunch of corkscrew turns while under canopy.
For a couple minutes there, I thought I was gonna lose my cookies.

Tomorrow is Ground School; here we go.......

Don't look down when reaching for the handle. I did that on my first PRCP; and as I was admiring my own feet, I simultaneously saw my canopy opening up.
I knew right away, that wasn't proper.

PLF's are definitely your "friend"!

Not really strange; just MUCH better!
It's no fun landing under one of those round Army surplus things.

I was one of the fortunate ones; the day of my very first jump, there were students landing on the tarmac, between hangars, coming in directly over power lines, you name it.
I was lucky to land in a rocky, scrubby field.
-Doug

Oh, by the way; thank you!
(Didn't mean to be rude.

Howdy!

Just found this forum, and I thought I'd introduce myself.

My name is Doug, and I recently did my fifth IAD jump at a (fairly) local drop zone.

I'm 57, and I actually made my first jump way back in 1978 at a drop zone in South Dakota, using surplus military chutes.
Didn't jump again until 1981, at a place in IL; again with military chutes.
After several years of starting a family, nine static-line jumps in 1984, at yet another IL drop zone.
Square canopies this time; what a difference!!
(and forgive me if I don't use proper terminology; I'm pretty green)

Now it's 27 years later, and I was wondering whether I could still do it; I'm pleasantly surprised!

I'm thinking of switching to the AFF method, though. Just gotta work up a bit more "nerve" first.

Cheers,

Doug