Skydive Cross Training

Yesterday, I had, in the true sense of the word, an awesome experience.  My niece (Nina Schroeder) went skydiving last year and and had a glowing report afterward.  Thus, for her 2010 Christmas gift, I promised her another jump except this time she was going to have to haul along her uncle :-)  We tossed about some dates and settled on 05/22/11.  While it was touch and go there for awhile with the threat of thunderstorms, off we went to Canton Air Sports in northeastern Ohio.  Nina's friend, Corey Turnbull, decided to accompany her.    

The nerve center of Canton Air Sports ... "Mission Control".

Things have changed a lot over the years when it comes to this sort of stuff.  It used to be you had to sit through a course for half the day and then you would jump off a static line at 3,000'.  Well, I discovered it isn't that way anymore.  Nowadays, you jump at much, much higher elevations in a tandem freefall skydive with an instructor.  We had 10-to-15 minutes of instruction, mostly on how to exit the plane, before we were fitted with jump suits and harnesses.  It was decided that due to the size of the small plane, Nina and Corey would jump in the first flight.  I, on the other hand, would have to wait ('er, sweat out) my turn by myself for the second flight.

My niece and I walking to the plane.  She went first!

Nina and Corey did a great job on their jumps as I waited patiently below.  Their instructors rocked some spiral turns before sitting them both on the ground.  There were lots of big smiles, high fives, and hugs among all at the drop zone.  It was then my turn.

Getting ready in the final minutes before takeoff ... a bundle of nerves!

My instructor's name was Tom Sutton.  He was top-notch and reassuring which went a long way in my ultimate enjoyment of the total experience.  Our plane took off and then that is when I started to realize the magnitude of what I was doing.  My nerves were frayed, I had butterflies in my stomach, and my mouth was dry.  I was sitting on my butt facing the tail while Tom did likewise directly in front of me, trying to focus and get my breathing under control.  The plane climbed to around 10,000 before Tom wheeled around and instructed me to wheel around.  He shouted a litany of last-minute instructions in my ear, none of which I processed.  As I put my googles on, Tom engaged all four points of contact and snugged us together.  Finally, Tom opened the side door of the plane; all I could see below were the tops of the clouds whipping by.  The cabin was filled with wind and its roar.  Still on our knees, we eased to the side of the door and Tom carefully placed his right foot on the wheel footstep.  Clutching the door for dear life, I placed my right foot on two bolts connected to the strut.  We leaned outside the door at a slight angle so that the wind was now blasting me right in the face.  Tom nudged me to cross my arms across my chest and grab my shoulder straps.  I laid my head directly back on Tom's left shoulder and made my body go limp as Tom, almost imperceptibly, shifted our weight, and throw us out the door and downward so as not to get hit by the tail.  And just like that, we were flung out into the heavens ...        

Nina's friend, Corey, and his instructor launching themselves out of the plane. 

I recall tumbling, the roar of the wind, a feeling as intense as an orgasm of losing myself ... losing all sense of orientation ... of floating ... of every sense heightened, every cell aware ... of my stomach clenched as tight as it could be.  There was no fear, only acute awareness.  We stabilized the fall with me on the bottom, my legs craned upwards between his, and Tom tapped me twice to deploy my arms out like wings.  We hovered ... we flew ... we drifted on the currents of the wind.  I saw the curvature of the blue sky where it met the earth and as we fell into the bank of clouds, I felt a slight cool dampness as we plunged through it.  The ground appeared and I saw a vast panorama of rivers, lakes, fields, towns, and the sun.  I was immersed in an intense, adrenalized pleasure I had never before felt.  Our freefall time could not have been anything much longer than 30 seconds before we deployed the chute but it was as if I was in a state of suspended animation.

I love this shot!  You can see the plane still above the clouds!  You can also see the drogue parachute trailing behind the main parachute to slow our descent.   

As the chute deployed, there was an abrupt deceleration.  Honestly, I recall being completely relieved by this.  There was a small bank of clouds coming in from the west and the wind was still blowing a bit.  Tom gave me the hand controls to the chute and then gave me some brief instructions on how to steer us.  The slow, lazy descent was wonderful and I finally relaxed enough to the point where I started to let out a few "war cries" :-)    

We're coming in!  Nice tight spiral to recon the landing area.

The hangar where the plane took off was now plainly visible and I could see people scurrying around looking upward.  Tom asked that we discuss and actually practice our landing position.  The ground came up quick!  We came in like a plane with our legs up and skidded to a stop on our butts ... a perfect landing.

Knees bent, feet together, heels up for a "backside" landing!

Well done!  High five!  Let's do it again!  

Fear gives way to uncontrollable laughter.  Someone is awfully happy!

 I believe Tom had said he's done close to 6,000 jumps but I got the sense that he could appreciate the jubilation of a newbie completing his first jump.  And make no mistake ... I was jubilant.  My words frankly denigrate this adventure, an adventure that I will never forget.