Free Fallin’
lindsay and i jumped out of a perfectly good airplane (if there is such a thing) from flt110 in tullahoma today. yes, we’re perfectly sain. yes, we were well aware of what we were doing. and yes, it was one of the most incredible things i’ve ever done in my life.
for the record, i didn’t have to convince lindsay. she was all about it.
off to tullahoma, where we arrived… paid…. got less than 15 minutes of ground training, which can be summarized: hold your harness, exit the aircraft, enter the “box man position” when your instructor taps your shoulder, enjoy the ride.
we waited for our turn then crammed (all 6 of us - not including the pilot) into a cessna 195. it’s one of 3 in the u.s. they say… but it was cool. first ride in a taildragger. first time i took off in a plane that i didn’t land in…
at 8,000, we started getting strapped onto our instructors. there are 4 points where you’re connected to the instructor / tandem skydiver (hips and shoulders) and each is capable of holding several thousand pounds. i had been sitting by the “door” for the flight up to 11,000, so we were the first out.
it was a bit weird hanging out of the plane attached only to my instructor, looking down at the ground below. i can honestly say i wasn’t scared - it was intense, it was nerve racking (i was about to jump out of a plane!) but it was peaceful at the same time (if that makes any sense). they don’t give you much time to think, then your out…
your stomach doesn’t drop, like on a rollercoaster. there’s just a ton of wind hitting you really fast. it really was sensory overload. my mind was all over the place, but mostly on remembering to breathe and thinking about how awesome it was to be free fallin’ at 120mph.
when the canopy opened, that’s the only time you realize how fast your falling… cause the cameraman just disappeared in an instant. i watched him below us until i couldn’t see him anymore, which took an instant.
it doesn’t snap you or jerk when the canopy opens, you just slow down. the wind noise is gone and you are sitting in silence… flying like a bird. it’s a surreal few moments gliding back in… for me it was cool to have that vantage point on a runway - coming (literally) straight in from the top.
my instructor had me stand on his feet and push up, so he could loosen a few of the connections to make the ride down more comfortable. we talked a bit, but i was mostly giggling like a little kid on xmas.
highly recommend doing this and i look forward to doing it again (and learning how to jump by myself, which will come in 2008).