Climbing out onto the strut of the dinky little Cessna was sheer terror, and I landed wrong and hurt my foot. But damn it, I want to go skydiving again.
I got to the jump site at around 9:00 am, and just barely because hey, it's my day off and I'm never up that early on my days off unless I absolutely have to. My nervousness was worse than ever, but at the same time the anticipation was building. I was actually going to do it! Jump out of an airplane! It turns out I didn't need to rush, because we didn't start on time anyway.
The lessons took somewhere between four to five hours. I didn't really time it because I was worried I'd miss something important, like how to survive. So we listened in class, did a little practice, and before we knew it, it was time to jump. There were 21 of us, so we were going to go in groups of three. Being there alone, I had to find a couple of people who needed a third, and sure enough by the time we were ready, we were the last to get our flight cards done so we would be the last to jump. That's not too bad really, because it gave us the chance to watch others do it. For a while anyway. Speaking for myself, I was starting to get a little bored and very anxious to get up there. One group of first jumpers went up after another, with the occasion group of other, more seasoned skydivers going up every so often. Eventually though it was our turn. We finally got into the plane at around 7:15pm.
Let me tell you about this airplane. It's a little Cessna that's been modified for skydiving. The only seat in the thing was the pilot's, and the rest of us had to kneel. There was also in the plane, and I'm not kidding here, duct tape. But I don't think it was holding it together, because despite how scratched up the thing was, I didn't feel unsafe. Until they opened the door.
Despite the relatively slow speed of the airplane (about 86 mph), the wind was nasty and cold. I think if it wasn't for the wind, this next stage would have been a snap. We had to climb out as we practiced, down onto the wheel holding the strut, then off the wheel and hold until the jumpmaster said go. This was absolutely bloody terrifying. It was the closest I've come to a panic attack since after I was robbed at gunpoint. It didn't help that my legs were almost asleep from sitting on them wearing a heavy parachute. But I did it! I got out there holding on for dear life at 3500 feet.
The closest word to describe what came next is "spiritual". When I let go of that strut, there was the most absolutely incredible feeling of release. Not just physical either, but emotional. The wind stopped buffeting me and my fear just vanished (to be replaced by a disoriented confusion once I got past that moment of total release). For those few seconds alone, I'd keep going back up. The ride down didn't hurt either. Wanna talk views? Try from a few thousand feet up with nothing but the sound of the instructor on the ground over the radio and the canopy flapping and no solidity under you except that which you are rapidly approaching. Depending on how often I try this, one of these times I'll have to take a camera. A disposable one though, and I'll tell you why...
My landing sucked the big one. Going back over it in my mind, my legs were too stiff and I was looking straight down instead of at an angle, which would have helped judging distance which I have enough problem with as it is. From the video it appears I also flared (a skydiving term that refers to using the canopy to slow down) a little too quickly and from the wrong position with my hands, but that wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the first two things. I got the tiniest of scrapes on my hand, but it was the muscle or tendon or whatever it is at the front of my leg going onto my foot that seems go have got the worst of it. I can't run right now and climbing stairs is fun, but it doesn't seem to be bad enough to warrant going to a doctor.
Despite the problems, it turns out I had the best arch (another term, this one about how you hold your body when you let go until your canopy opens) my jumpmaster had seen all day, and he took nine of us up. I was a little slow climbing out of the plane, but between the terror and the legs being numbed from sitting on them, that's reasonable.
I just hope next time I'll have better news on my landing. That did fulfill my bad omen though. That omen? When I fell off a small step earlier at the dropsite.
posted
by Tabby at 9/01/2002 12:43:00 a.m.
