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I've been skydiving on several occasions, |
Britt - in the plane before our first jump
| The first time I convinced my Dad and friend Britt
to go with me.
We each did a static line jump, where the rip-cord is connected
to a tether attached to the plane. When you jump out of the plane
and reach the end of the tether (which happens very fast) your parachute
automatically (hopefully, heh heh) opens. The most fun for me was
crawling out on the strut underneath the wing of the plane. The wind
was whipping and
the adrenaline was flowing.
Then you let go.... |
My Dad - Getting ready to let go of the wing strut
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...and after a few instants of freefall...
...the parachute opens...
...and it is unexpectedly and amazingly quiet and serene.
In fact, after my parachute opened, I didn't feel like I was falling at all. Initially, the ground was so far away, the relative motion was practically imperceptible. I felt like I was gently swinging in a harness that was somehow fixed to the sky. It was very quiet, and the view was great. During the trip down, I burned through a whole roll of film- which completely fails to capture the spectacular panorama. |
My knees- with the ground far below |
The view |
The view |
The view |
| Flying the parachute was also fun: turning right and
left, swinging back and
forth, intentionally stalling the canopy, and spirals as tight and fast
as I could make them.
It was a blast! |
Ben & Dwight
| In 1999 I did my first tandem freefall. 60 seconds of falling through the sky at 120 mph isn't enough time. So one of these days, I'll be doing it again, and perhaps even get certified. |
Ben & Pam