This document was written the day I did my first tandem skydive. I have to say it was one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life!
To start, I now own a T-shirt that says, "I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane!"
And, you can't just go out to the store and buy one of these. I did, in fact make a tandem jump this morning, around 11:00 EDT, from 13,500 feet.
It's difficult to say what it was like. You go through about an hour or so of training and paperwork, then up you go. I was strapped to an instructor who was very cool, and had more than 1800 jumps to his credit. We rode up in a plane with about 10 other insane people, who all went out before us. Then, we're at the door to the outside, and the instructor says, (OK, he yelled it in my ear actually) "Are you ready to skydive?" and I nodded. We did a 1, 2, 3 thing, and on 3 we went out the door.
When you exit a plane at that altitude, you're supposed to relax (sure) and arch your back so your belly is "earthward" I/we did this, and he says we made a perfect jump. Before it had really sunk in that we had started to fall, I thought to myself, "That was REALLY dumb." At that point, that thought came a little late.
The sensations were not what I had expected. First, the thing that caught my attention was the sound of the wind. It was more of a roar than anything else. It was very loud, even through the helmet I was wearing. There was little sensation of falling at all. The pressure of the wind is almost like it's keeping you afloat, rather than you falling through it. My tummy didn't do a roll as if we dropped down a roller coaster either.
After around 50 seconds of free fall, I was signaled to pull the rip cord, (located on my right hip) and pull I did. The main chute opening was not jerky like I thought it would be. It was more like being lifted up quickly on an elevator. I sagged into the harness I was wearing a little, and then we steered the chute to the drop zone. It was a little windy, but we managed to do a perfect "stand up" landing. No hitting the ground rolling or anything like that. I was very pleased to be on the ground again, and gave Kelley a big hug when I met up with her on the ground.
It was pretty wild! I probably won't go again, but it was certainly an experience I won't soon forget. I received a "Jump Certificate" (suitable for framing) which I'm going to put up in my office as well.
And yes, I wore my T-shirt to school the next day!