Skydiving Trip Report

[potato]

I apologize in advance for nitting up your post.

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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).

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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.

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

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Ouch!

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

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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.

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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:



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.

[AZK]

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

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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?

[2/325Falcon]

Skydivers,

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

[potato]

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.

[BadBoyBenny]

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.

[27offsooot]

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.

[ginko]

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.

[lippy]

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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.

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

[CharlieDontSurf]

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.

[Matt Flynn]

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.