Skydiving Trip Report
 

My brother-in-law has always wanted to skydive. So we got him one for Christmas. My wife asked if I wanted to go. I said, "Hell no." I do not want to spend the last 40 seconds of my life thinking 'Why the hell did I jump out of an airplane?' And I want to avoid that situation more than 15,600 times the thrill of skydiving (the reported risk of fatality is about 1 in 15,600).

"So how about YOU go and I'll be the single parent."

She didn't want to either.

So, Saturday my brother-in-law and I went skydiving. He flew down from Massachusetts, we played in the local Friday night tournament, I bubbled, we woke up slightly hungover and headed to Carolina Sky Sports about 30 miles away.

We are escorted to Briefing Room 1 by Frauline Paula where we are to watch a video. The bulletin board says "Expect to be in this room 3-4 hours." Kevin says "3-4 hours? F*** skydiving!" The video comes on. Bill somebody-or-other, a dude with an abnormally long beard who appears in shorts and long white tube socks, identifies himself as the chute designer and video host for our tour of "The Document," which forfeits all rights in the event of becoming a human cow pie. He looks like a backup singer for ZZ Top. Or a cult leader.

Me: "Did you bring your $5 and bandana?"

Kevin: "You have to ride in front, but you'll make a fine strap-on."

Etc.

So, after 8 minutes of videop and 5 minutes of signing our lives away, we're ready to dive. Ah but there's just one issue. We're on wind delay.

Here's the drill. Every half hour they tell us the status of the howling wind. We spend 4.5 hours in this waiting room waiting for the wind to unwind. At one point, we head to Louisburg to this Fifties-style cafe. On entering, we are enthusiastically greeted by two waiters, one cook, and the guy washing the dishes in the back. Huh. Not sure how to take that. We get the royal treatment, burgers to go, and the waitress even holds the door open for us on the way out. The food kind of sucks, but it's the best service I've ever received in a cheap joint if you exclude the blackjack pits in Tunica.

We are bored as hell, so they put on a skydiving movie. Gene Hackmen comes on. Excellent. The movie mirrors the tedium of waiting for skydiving with excruating precision. Clearly, someone had the bright idea of filming a few skydives and making a movie out of it. That's the last 5 minutes. The rest of the movie is C-grade dialog and dozens of shots of Manly Man considering his Possible Fate as a skydiver. The irony of waiting interminably for the wind to die down so we can skydive while watching an interminable movie that supposedly ends in skydiving is not lost on us.

"Well, they did say 3-4 hours."

"True."

We bail. Next morning is Easter. 10am sharp we're at Carolina Sky Sports. 10:15 we're getting rigged up. I get John. John is very professional and kind of serious. Kevin gets the other guy, didn't hear his name. We suit up, review the drill. There is a lot of drill. We don't spend much time drilling, so clearly John will beat me into unconsciousness and land us if there are any issues. I immediately like John for not taking [censored] from his loads.

We hop in. Several skydivers climb in behind us. We take off. The pilot forgets to close the tail door. This is effing cool. John keeps asking me how I'm doing. I'm fine, but feel like I'm disappointing him that I'm not nervous. I briefly consider a courtesy puke, but it's just not in me.

John runs through Procedure efficiently. He tells me, does it, then tells me what we did. We get strapped together. John has the parachutes. I got four clips holding me to John. He goes through the 100-point checklist like a pilot.

Meanwhile, Other Guy clips onto Kevin and says, "Dude we're gonna fall out of an airplane! Gravity'll do all the work!" That's it.

Both teaching styles have their benefits.

Another guy in red asks me permission to fall with John and I. Clearly he is doing an eval. on John. No problem, because John will just knock him out too if there are any problems. Plus these guys are all right.

We are 14,000 feet up. Up to the ledge. Yes, it's a long way down. We jump, pulling into a backflip and settling face down. Skydiving rocks. Two seconds pass. Wind blows up my leather bitch helmet. Skydiving is extremely [censored] cold. John taps my shoulder, the signal for me to go arms out. I drop my right arm and we do a hard 360 to the right, lining up facing Red. Awesome. Drop the left, we do a hard 360 left and end up facing Red. Red eases up, gives me the thumbs up and a handshake. Awesome.

My right eardrum blows out. Big [censored] hole too. Awesome.

John pulls the chute. So far we've been dragging a small chute called a drobe. That keeps us down to 120mph instead of 200mph. When John releases the chute, the drobe is let loose briefly. We drop fast. Then the chute catches, and it hauls hard. The gear is well designed, since it is almost impossible to catch a nut. Catching a nut under that would be horrifying.

And then, the scariest part of the trip happens. John loosens my straps.

Holy [censored]! John, I'm sorry man, just knock me out or something. I didn't mean to blow an eardrum. But, it's all Procedure.

We do two hard turns, and I'm surpised how much centripetal force it generates. Then we float donw for a few minutes, a long flight.

The landing is smooth, touch down and fall on your hip. No problem. Unhook and there you go. I have skydived.

If my eardrum does not heal, I'll have surgery in a few weeks. They'll probably repair it with fascia, in which case I'll be able to skydive again. If instead it heals, my skydiving career is over.

btw my life did not change. People whose life changes when they skydive are shallow and annoy the [censored] out of me.


P.S. Oh yeah this is a discussion forum. So someone hijack this thread with something interesting. Or better, post pics of you skydiving.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

"Skydiving is cold."

After I went skydiving, this was pretty much my only thought on the subject.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Matt,

Had you not had the eardrum accident (sorry man, that sucks I'm sure), would you have had a desire to do more skydiving?

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
"Skydiving is cold."

After I went skydiving, this was pretty much my only thought on the subject.

[/ QUOTE ]

Also, "Wow, I really shouldn't have opened my mouth during freefall."

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
"Skydiving is cold."

After I went skydiving, this was pretty much my only thought on the subject.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is skydiving always this cold, wherever you go? Or is it only cold in cooler climate areas (like the northern half of USA)?

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Skydiving is cold."

After I went skydiving, this was pretty much my only thought on the subject.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is skydiving always this cold, wherever you go? Or is it only cold in cooler climate areas (like the northern half of USA)?

[/ QUOTE ]


at 15,000 feet Id assume that it doesnt matter where you are, its going to be cold.


Im more interested in the ear drum thing, is it common? did you lose your hearing? etc

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

mja,
That too.

solids,
It's not the temperature; it's the wind.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

I went skydiving on Long Island in September. It was probably like 60 degrees out. I wore shorts and a t shirt and I don't remember being particularly cold at any point.

I had a ton of fun and I'd recommend it to anyone hat is thinking about it.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

I apologize in advance for nitting up your post.

[ QUOTE ]
And I want to avoid that situation more than 15,600 times the thrill of skydiving (the reported risk of fatality is about 1 in 15,600).

[/ QUOTE ]

This is very inaccurate for someone doing a tandem skydive. (I think it is a ways off even for any type of skydive.) There were something on the order of 500,000 tandem skydives made last year and 4 fatalities. And last year was a bad one for tandems.

The majority of skydiving fatalities for the last 5-10 years have been experienced skydivers with correctly functioning gear making parachute piloting errors. The canonical example of this is making a high speed turn too low to the ground without enough time to level off and slow down.

[ QUOTE ]
My right eardrum blows out. Big [censored] hole too. Awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ouch!

[ QUOTE ]
John pulls the chute. So far we've been dragging a small chute called a drobe.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a "drogue".

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btw my life did not change. People whose life changes when they skydive are shallow and annoy the [censored] out of me.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was relatively unimpressed by my tandem jump, but was peer pressured by a friend into returning for AFF (basically "learn to jump yourself" school). Then I landed a parachute by myself and that was all she wrote. There was something about having responsibility that completely changed everything for me.

A skydive I did last Saturday:

http://a600.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...600eaf744f.jpg

Flying by yourself (as opposed to tandem) is a completely different thing. When people ask me why I skydive, the best answer I've been able to come up with is this: Have you ever had one of those dreams where you can fly like Superman? That is exactly what it's like for me.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
My right eardrum blows out. Big [censored] hole too. Awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you know this right away? What did it feel like? Did you have so much adrenaline going through your body that you didn't really feel it till you hit the ground?

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Skydivers,

Class A license - How long does it take to get? How much does it cost?

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Falcon,

You need a minimum of 25 jumps for an A license. There is a checklist of skills and knowledge you must demonstrate:

http://www.uspa.org/publications/for...Card_09-06.pdf

Depending on how often you can jump, it will probably take something on the order of a couple of months of weekends, and cost around $2000. This is not including the gear you will undoubtedly be buying.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
I went skydiving on Long Island in September. It was probably like 60 degrees out. I wore shorts and a t shirt and I don't remember being particularly cold at any point.

I had a ton of fun and I'd recommend it to anyone hat is thinking about it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I live about 5 minutes from the place in Calverton at the old Grumman facility. Everyday in the summer you see people doing jumps, its pretty cool. I actually went to Skydive Long Island last summer as well and it was a great experience. I remember it being a little cold during the fall but nothing uncomfortable. I was wearing a t shirt and jeans.

IMO the best part of the jump was the initial fall from the plane. It is such a different feeling to anything I had previously experienced. Pretty cool thing to do but I don't think I would ever do it again. Don't see the point in pressing my luck.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

I did a tandem jump once about 2 and a half years ago and the instructor guy wanted us to slide into the landing on our butts. I ended up with a broken tailbone.

One thing you didn't menitoin was the view, which was the best part IMO. Also you were right about the loosening of the straps being scarier than jumping out of the plane.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

I went 3 years ago in Hawaii for spring break. I had an awesome time and would recommend that everybody do this once. Two downsides: Signing away my life in a 20+ page waiver and flying up in an old, rickety, shaking plane were both terrifying. The actual drop was amazing though.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

I thought the scariest part was when I had to exit the plane and the wind was so fierce and then the flip out of it. Intense.

But hella fun, and pretty awesome view.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
I went 3 years ago in Hawaii for spring break. I had an awesome time and would recommend that everybody do this once. Two downsides: Signing away my life in a 20+ page waiver and flying up in an old, rickety, shaking plane were both terrifying. The actual drop was amazing though.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't even imagine how cool it would be to skydive in Hawaii.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

My brother is trying to talk me into doing this when we go to switzerland/sweden next year. They take you up around the snow covered mountains I guess and you jump/step off of a helicopter instead of out of airplane...to be honest I'd much prefer doing it solo rather than being strapped to some rnaodm person.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
"Skydiving is HOT ."

After I went skydiving, this was pretty much my only thought on the subject.

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i went in vegas, and damn was it hot outside. i was sweating like crazy being in the crappy lil tin bucket airplane on the way up. jumping out was the biggest releif i could have experienced. but yea, skydiving was pretty fun, but not enough reward during the 'diving' part with all the driving, prep, etc to make me do it more than once unless im extremely bored or find a girl that wants to sex me in the chute so i can win prop bets

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

ElD: Not sure. It's expensive and tandem would get old quick. but I can see loving solo jumps.

quids: No clue if it's common. My eardums are pretty much scar. I blow the right one every 10 years. Last time was rounding the 6-buoy waterskiing on the last run of the day.

After thinking about it, I'm more concerned about retinal detachment.

potato: Well at least that's safer than going to a bar with Boris. That picture is excellent. I'd skydive again for that.

AZK: Yes I knew right away. But it barely hurt and hasn't since.

BadBoyBenny: I suspect there are a lot of minor injuries that go unreported. Busting your tailbone can really hurt. Hope yours has healed with plenty of love and affection from various supermodels.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Sorry about the ear, that really sucks.

I went when I was 17, freshman year college. A blast, even though we jumped much lower (~3,000 ft), and used static lines, so we were out of the plane and boom, chute opens. But at least it was solo all the way.

We were all first-timers, except one 2nd-timer. Interesting thing was when the 2nd-timer said it was much, much scarier the second time, because he actually knew what was going to happen every step of the way.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Cool trip report. I hope you were doing some editing on the way down.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Excellent trip report...brings back great memories of my first (and only) trip.

Here's me at 10k feet

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

I went skydiving once. The preparation video and signing of documents took like 15 minutes. I thought it was too expensive for the experience, but they say that its more fun if you go solo as opposed to being tied to someone else.

It isnt really how you think itd be. Its more of a surreal experience. I felt like I was infront of a virtual screen or something instead of actually skydiving.

My ears killed me for the next three days. I was happy I did it, but I dont have any intentions to continue. I didnt realize the fatality rate was that high. Are you sure?

Oh yeah, for me the absolute scariest part and funniest was going up in the plane. That beat any roller coaster Id ever been on. Sooo scary.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Hek,

You're much older than I thought.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Damn, I was going to go in Interlaken, Switzerland, but we bitched out when it came down to it. I'm still regretting it.

Does anyone know about how common it is to blow out your eardrums though? 'Cause My ears are all [censored] up from scuba diving that I can't even do it anymore. As soon as I reach 20-30 feet the pain is worse than anything I've ever felt. I might have to look into getting that surgery.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

this thread is unreadable, edit HEK's post pls

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyObbwNxf6Q

because i like to bring up old news when it becomes relevant.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
Also, "Wow, I really shouldn't have opened my mouth during freefall."

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I did this too. I look like a retard on the video.

Very enjoyable read, Matt. Gl with the ear.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Matt,
Cool TR. I have gone back and forth between wanting to sky dive and thinking that it is a crazy activity that would just scare the [censored] out of me.

Have any of you seen this story before?
This is an old video (year and a half ago) but it is insane. A woman's parachute partially opens and she crashes face first into a parking lot. Both the woman and baby survived. (search wikipedia for Shayana Richardson)

Click on second video on the left.
VIDEO OF SKYDIVER CRASH

Not for the faint of heart.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

wikipedia has that fatality rate in the US at 1/166k. a little bit safer than what the op stated. i think he might have been quoting an accident or injury rate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skydiving#Safety

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]

My right eardrum blows out. Big [censored] hole too. Awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Does this sort of thing hurt badly? Does it heal? Seriously wtf.

Great story to this point, btw.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

My right eardrum blows out. Big [censored] hole too. Awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Does this sort of thing hurt badly? Does it heal? Seriously wtf.

Great story to this point, btw.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascia

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

I'm going tomorrow evening for the first time actually. Looking forward to it.

Is it THAT cold? What should I wear? Jeans & sweatshirt?

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

Freakin,

Temperature is really not that big of a deal. If this is your first time, I guarantee you how hot or cold you are is going to be the last thing on your mind. They will give you a jumpsuit to wear. I'd bring the sweatshirt and jeans and ask them about it when you get there.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
Freakin,

Temperature is really not that big of a deal. If this is your first time, I guarantee you how hot or cold you are is going to be the last thing on your mind. They will give you a jumpsuit to wear. I'd bring the sweatshirt and jeans and ask them about it when you get there.

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The jumpsuit worked well, but my face was searing cold. Definitely had my attention.

Eardrum is still plenty busted. Doesn't hurt, but I can't hear well. Give it 3 weeks, then I will follow on with a operation trip report. If they give me propofol again, I will make a drug trip report.

Re: Skydiving Trip Report
 

THAT WAS AWESOME

best 5 minutes ever.

A+++ would recommend