We went Sky Diving!!! Wow, that was incredible!!! (pics)

[WyteWatt]

Grasshopper27 i am going to skydive when i am 60 because being 60 years old + will be the best times of my life! Not 19, not 21, not 20 whatever, not 30 whatever, not 40 whatever, and not 50 whatever. 60 years old + will be the best time of life!

*Being 60 + will be better than even college and thats 100% for sure. Being 60 + will even be better than sex in my opinion too because in my opinion its dum and stupid which i am 100% sure on too. Heck anything is better than college.*

 

[sniperbob]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: Grasshopper27

Originally posted by: Moralpanic
How long did the 'training' take?

Class started at 9am, we finished up by about 4pm, with a 30 minute break for lunch.

We went over all procedures from start to finish, praticied emergency produres (how to release a bad main chute and deploy the reserve for example), and went over all the hand signals and other parts of a sky dive.

If all else fails, each chute has a CYPRES installed which is microprocesser controller and automaticly deploys the reserve chute at 750 feet if you are still desending at more than 29 feet per second, which means your main chute hasn't deployed (or failed and you can't release it for whatever reason).

: ) Hopper

Wow, that's actually a lot of instructions.. i thought it would only be an hour at the most. If it really did take that long, then $300 is definitely fair.

It took me two weeks before they let me jump out of airplanes.....of course I was being paid to do so and kinda jumping with a lot of other people

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: MaxDSP
Hopper, arent you a pilot? How are you afraid of heights then? Seems kinda ironic...

Yep, I fly helicopters for a living and small airplanes for fun.

Actually, the truth is, a lot of pilots are afraid of heights, that is not unusual. For whatever reason, being in control of an aircraft enables us to be comfortable with being off the ground.

Leaving out of the airplane took more willpower than I expected, that was not easy. Now that I've seen the parachute works and that I can control it, I feel 10 times more comfortable with going again, and leaving the airplane will be a lot easier next time.

: ) Hopper

 

[Grasshopper27]

BTW, I went to sleep last night at about 2am, I'm awake now at 6:45am. I'm still pumped full of adrenaline, the rush hasn't left me yet.

: ) Hopper

 

[ndee]

imtim83 is on a rampage again....

 

[Ciber]

Originally posted by: Grasshopper27
BTW, I went to sleep last night at about 2am, I'm awake now at 6:45am. I'm still pumped full of adrenaline, the rush hasn't left me yet.

: ) Hopper

Hurry up and tell thumper already and then come tell us what she said . Also how many stiches you will be needing .

 

[NogginBoink]

Ah yes.

The sixty most terrifying seconds of my life were spent at Skydive Dallas.

I have the video to prove it.

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
Ah yes.

The sixty most terrifying seconds of my life were spent at Skydive Dallas.

I have the video to prove it.

LOL!

Does this mean you don't want to go back?

Either way, I'd love to see the video!

: ) Hopper

 

[Lvis]

Just reminder, it is dangerous. My former boss was killed when his first chute didn't open correctly, and the emergency chute was tangled up in the first one.

 

[Muck]

My friend's dad broke his leg saving someone's life while skydiving. He had over 1,000 jumps. So he was experienced. The guy's chutes didn't open and he barely got to him in time. Luckily they landed in a spot with some water. So he only broke his leg. And they took something like 400 jumps credit from him (I think that's right. I guess there's some kind of protocol and accountability involved. I may be way off on both counts here. Somone correct me if they can). So sure, accidents can happen.

But as soon as he healed up, he got right back out....er, up there. He loves it.

 

[Gaard]

Does anyone else get the idea that maybe we've heard the last about Thumper?

Jumping out of the planes is the easiest part of skydiving for me. Up here at the place I go to the little planes that take you up are old rustbuckets. There's so much creaking and rattling going on that you can't wait for the doors to open so you can get the hell out.

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: L vis
Just reminder, it is dangerous.

True, but so is driving down the road.

It isn't any more dangerous than flying...

My former boss was killed when his first chute didn't open correctly, and the emergency chute was tangled up in the first one.

Sorry to hear that, it sucks when things like that happen.

: ) Hopper

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: Gaard
Does anyone else get the idea that maybe we've heard the last about Thumper?

Why on Earth would you suggest that?

Jumping out of the planes is the easiest part of skydiving for me. Up here at the place I go to the little planes that take you up are old rustbuckets. There's so much creaking and rattling going on that you can't wait for the doors to open so you can get the hell out.

Bummer that they have such old planes, but you just gotta work with what you have.

The Cessna Caravan was a very nice airplane, well equipped and obviouslly maintained well.

: ) Hopper

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: Grasshopper27

Originally posted by: Gaard
Does anyone else get the idea that maybe we've heard the last about Thumper?

Why on Earth would you suggest that?

Jumping out of the planes is the easiest part of skydiving for me. Up here at the place I go to the little planes that take you up are old rustbuckets. There's so much creaking and rattling going on that you can't wait for the doors to open so you can get the hell out.

Bummer that they have such old planes, but you just gotta work with what you have.

The Cessna Caravan was a very nice airplane, well equipped and obviouslly maintained well.

: ) Hopper

When I was there Skydive Dallas did seem to have well maintained airplanes. (I suspect, however, that they use a little fuzzy math when doing weight and balance calculations.)

 

[Azraele]

No way I'd ever jump out of a plane.

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: Azraele
No way I'd ever jump out of a plane.

Yea, it isn't easy, that's for sure...

But what a rush that is, impossible to really describe with mere words...

I can't wait until we go do it again!!!

: ) Hopper

 

[illusion88]

sweet dude. Looks cool.

 

[LordRaiden]

Awe man! No impact...er, mid jump pictures?

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: LordRaiden
Awe man! No impact...er, mid jump pictures?

There will be, soon enough. The mid-air pictures were taken on film by the video skydiver and we'll have those developed today or tomorrow.

As for the ones I posted, personally my favorite is the one of Kaci walking to the airplane, she looks all professional and swave in her jumpsuit with that parachute on her back.

I'm having someone turn the video tape into a video file so I can post that too, the video of us jumping out of the plane, waving hi to the camera, then pulling our chutes is just way cool!!!

: ) Hopper

 

[Ylen13]

Originally posted by: Grasshopper27

Originally posted by: Azraele
No way I'd ever jump out of a plane.

Yea, it isn't easy, that's for sure...

But what a rush that is, impossible to really describe with mere words...

I can't wait until we go do it again!!!

: ) Hopper

Do you feel that it would be much easier if you do it the second time?

 

[Mookow]

I'm deathly afraid of heights, I refuse to climb towers or even walk to the edge of tall buildings.

And yet you fly a chopper... wtf?

 

[Ylen13]

Originally posted by: Mookow
I'm deathly afraid of heights, I refuse to climb towers or even walk to the edge of tall buildings.

And yet you fly a chopper... wtf?

guess it all about having control.

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: Ylen13
Do you feel that it would be much easier if you do it the second time?

Oh yes, I think it will be a lot easier the second time. Now that I've actually felt the parachute, actually landed it myself, know that it all works, I believe I'll have a much easier time about leaving the plane.

: ) Hopper

 

[element]

Do they let you take your own digicam on the jump if you want to whip it out and take some of your own pics? My digicam can take 30 second vid clips too I'd like to cap falling toward the ground with it, and some stills.

 

[yoda291]

bah, I doubt I'll ever have the money saved up....the list of toys I want is just too damn long.