Step in the Door

I finished up AM 490 (Jump) today. Let's just say jumping out of an airplane is the most insane thing I have ever done. I loved it. I know Josh has gone skydiving (tandem though...what a wuss). He has an idea of waht I'm talking about probably.

First we started out with 3 10-hour days of ground training. That's where we learned like how to jump out of the plane, pull our ripcords, stay stable in the air, and how to check our canopies for emergencies, and then how to resolve those emergencies. It was pretty crazy. The upperclassmen test us on these suspended harnesses. We get strapped up in our mock parachute harnesses and lifted into the air. Then we have to go through all the checklists and resolve emergencies they yell at us. The very last one (Suspended Harness 4 or SH-4), is done under lots of pressure. I has spun and thrown around while I did the checklists. Then a guy with a leaf blower started blowing air in my face, then switched to putting it up the leg of my flight suit. Then these two guys (one on the other's shoulders) with a parachute around them jumped on to me to simulate a canopy wrap. The whole time other people were yelling and doing other stuff while I'm trying to concentrate on what I'm doing and working through the problems.

Well, I got through all that fine, so then I got ready to jump.

But the first day, my element got screwed over. All six of us were suited up (parachutes, helmets, radios, everything) and in the plane. We got to 4500 feet, but got delayed because of high winds. We waited a while and tried again. Same thing, wind delay. After that, we had to land. In all, we spent nearly an hour flying around not jumping out of the airplane. That sucked.

Finally, on Tuesday, I got to jump. The weather was cool and slightly breezy, perfect for jumping. Since my group got screwed out of a jump, we went first. We got on the 30 pound parachutes and headed out toward the plane. At this time my stomach is churning, thinking "What in the world am I doing?" I was excited, nervous, scared, everything...what did I get myself into???

I was the third jumper in line, sitting on the wall next to the big jump door. We jumped out of a UV-18B Twin Otter, made just for jumping. There's about a 4X5 foot section with a rolling clear door that we jump out of. I was about 2 feet from that.

So we all got buckled in and the plane took off. At this point, I'm just trying to focus on the training that we had and not think about that fact that in a matter of minutes I would be hanging onto the outside of a plane 4500 feet about the ground going 100+ miles per hour and then falling toward earth at 120 mph before hoping that a piece of nylon would save my life. Yeah, it was pretty scaring.

When we got to 3000 feet, the jumpmaster, Don, opened up the rolling door and let loose a streamer to check the winds. So, I'm sitting 2 feet from this huge hole in the plane looking down 3000 feet with the wind coming in. About now I start to think I'll need a diaper sometime soon

Finally, we got to 4500 feet. Don looked over the first two jumpers and told them one at a time to "Stand in the Door." The guys did as they were told and I watched them plummet from view, no farther away that you are from the screen right now. Now it was my turn. I had to scoot up to the seat nearest the door to get my equipment checked. Don had to check this automatic deployment device on my right hip. For that, I had to turn sideways in the seat. At this point, my feet were literally inches from the edge of the plane and 4500 feet of air.

The plane came back around to the drop point and I saw the jump light turn from red to green. "This is it," I thought. "I've had a good life." So, I'm about to crap myself, and Don looks me straight in the eyes and says, "Sam, are you ready to jump?" Of course I wasn't, so I lied and yelled "Freefall!!!!!!!!!!!" Don was like, "Okay. Sam...Stand...in the Door!" Right about now is when all the training kicked in. I stood and swiveled. "Right hand!" I slapped my right hand on the inside jam of the jump door. "Right foot!" I stuck my right foot into the corner of the jump door. "Left hand!" I stuck my hand outside of the plane and slapped the Otter's skin. "Left foot!" I positioned my left foot about 6 inches behind my right and stood on my tippy toes. Don is holding onto my harness so I don't fall out...accidentally.

Right now, my entire body is hanging outside of the plane except for my right hand. The wind and prop wash are screaming past my face at around 100+ mph. But oddly, I didn't really notice the wind. I noticed it when I first stepped out the door, but after that my adrenaline was pumping and my mind pretty much shut off and went into "Jump" mode. I looked over at Don and yelled "Check in!" Then Don yelled back, "Go!" I steadied myself. Looked at the prop. "Prop." Looked over the wing by standing on my toes. "Up." Back down. "Down." And then I stepped to the left and let go of the plane.

I'm in total free-fall. I just stared at the plane while I was going through my Arch-Count-Pull sequence. Eventually I rotated from near vertical to horizontal. Then I pulled my right hand into the ripcord the same time I put my left hand on the top of my head, which keeps you stable in flight. I pulled the ripcord and a second later I felt like I was hit by a car...but a yellow, nylon, save-my-life kind of car. Once that canopy was open, I was so excited. I had just jumped out of a plane! At this point I was about 3000 feet in the air. It was kind of foggy so I couldn't see too far, but it was still insane. It's the same view you get from an airplane, but I could control where I wanted to go and I was moving at a much slower speed. It was incredible. My heart was racing and all I wanted to do was hang out there for the rest of the day. But then gravity and AM 490 started to check in. Eventually I had to make my landing pattern and get back on Mother Earth. I had a rough first landing, but I stood up my next four jumps, so that was cool.

I did this same thing four more times. It was awesome. Standing in the door is the scariest thing in the world, but once that's over, freefalling is incredible. There is nothing around you. Nothing at all. You can see all around and do whatever you want. It's amazing. And the canopy ride is great. On my last jumps I was doing spirals where my canopy and body were horizontal to the ground. Again, awesome. I would love to be able to jump more often, but the team here takes up a lot of time. Maybe I'll get a private licesence some day.

So, if you ever have even thought about jumping out of a plane, do it! It's the best rush you'll ever get. I doubt anything else could top it. And for me, it was just icing on the cake for a really insane summer. Japan for 3 weeks. Being home. Then jumping out of airplanes. And it was all free! I think I'm starting to like this place.

***I was trying to put up a picture of my wings, but the stupid site isn't working. I'll try again later.