How do you pass time in the RIDE to altitude? Sleep? Watch a ripped DVD on your helmetcam? :-)

[mdrejhon 8]

Hi,

I'm at the jump numbers where I am almost dozing off to sleep at the back of a Cessna, waiting for altitude. I just had my first high-altitude yawn above 10,000 feet recently, the door fear having been diminishing for some time now...

Now is the time to figure out how to pass time. The most nervous moments in skydiving is often performance anxiety with an instructor, especially in a last-minute no-dive-plan "I'll jump with you" offer. As I am deaf, I always bring a notepad with me on the plane for communications (and give it to the pilot before the door opens).

Sometimes I use the notepad to joke around with sketches and funny jokes. Sometimes the skydivers will ask for a small piece of paper each, to write a note on them they'll let go in freefall (like a bottled message that floats to far destinations). Other times I'll sketch a parody/joke based on decals I see on somebody's helmet. Other times I'll attempt to quickly sketch a landscape I saw out of the airplane's window, and complete it before jump run where I have to give the notepad to the pilot next to me (in the Cessna's I fly in, the pilot is always an arm's length away ;-).

I've also made shadow animals in the sun projecting onto the wall (just like with a projector on a white screen, that you did in school days, you put your hand in front of the projector to put shadow animals on the screen.) I kept at least one skydiver awake watching "shadow Godzilla" on the wall.

I have witnessed the following:

- Sleep (Yessiere, sometimes they *actually* fall asleep and need to be kicked awake... Not even pretending to be asleep.)

- Watch various videos on their helmetcam's screen. Sometimes videos unrelated to skydiving.

- Two jumpers hook up their helmet cameras with a FireWire cable to copy videos to each other's cameras. (How convenient, one actually carries a FireWire cable in their jumpsuit pocket for this purpose!)

- Invent new, funny sitting positions to be comfortable on the Cessna 182. Cozy enough for ya, yet, eh?

- Or, heaven forbid, play videogames on their cellphone (which they keep inside their jumpsuit for off landings)

[Mike111 0]

Im always thinking about how to stay calm and not panic and not shit myself.... i wish i was in your shoes!!!


Mike

[mdrejhon 8]

It comes in time! You've only got 7 jumps. The people who fall asleep in the plane are the 500+ jumpers. I won't really fall asleep. But I will close my eye and relax now for the slow lane to 11,000 feet. I didn't yawn in the plane until maybe 25 or 30 jumps, and only at lower altitudes when there was plenty of time before the door fear sets in!

When the Twin Otter plane visits, there's no time to sleep though

[Mike111 0]

kl!

could i ask you a question - when in freefall im really tensed and chippy, and don't enjoy the freefall as much because im scared, but when im not jumpnig i can't wait to get back though and miss it - is that normal door fear which when overcome make you enjopy the freefall?

Thanks Mike

[JohnRich 4]

Sleep. Review dive plan. Talk. Review dive plan. Blow up balloon and bat around inside the Otter. Review dive plan. Stretch rubber band in slipstream outside door to make funny buzzing nosies. Review dive plan. Oh, and check gear about 10 times. That doesn't leave much time for anything else.

And every once in a while I think weird thoughts. Like the history of the Brazos river just to the west of Skydive Houston. Once the home to thousands of Tonkawa and Karankawa Indians, the latter being cannibals. Millions of thundering buffalo. White settlers moving in to snatch up the first land grants from Mexico. Growing cotton. Paddlewheel steamers driving up the river to pick up 450 lb. cotton bales, stacked high on every inch of deck. Santa Anna driving his Army up from Mexico to take back his land from the settlers, crossing the river to the south. The Texians meeting just to the north to declare Independence and draw up the Texas Constitution... Jump Run!

There sure is a lot of history down below.

And we are just the present-day spoiled brats reaping the comforts and benefits of all that toil and sacrifice by our predecessors.

Is that weird enough for you?

[Diversgodown 0]

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Im always thinking about how to stay calm and not panic and not shit myself.... i wish i was in your shoes!!!


Mike

I was right there with you, untill I did my last three jumps. I still get a little nervous but I am definetley alot more confident now that I have a little more control in FF.

***Glory Favors the Bold***

[kansasskydiver 0]

I usually just try to zone out and sleep. I've got about 750+ jumps from our 182, and on hot summer days, 25-30mins to altitude gives you a nice little nappy time to kill off that hangover.

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[sharimcm 0]

When I was jumping out of a 182, I used to try to take a nap... Otherwise I'd be sitting there wondering what everyone else is thinking... Now that I jump out of a Caravan, I don't have time to do much but take my helmet off and put it back on at altitude. Awesome!

"I had a dude tip his black cowboy hat to me after I provided him with a condom outside my hotel room at 3-something in the morning." -myself

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

On the climb to alti...depends on the jump I'm making:

If it's just a "fun" freefly jump, usually I'm back by the tandems so I like to f with them a lil and say "you skeered?" "yah, me too!"

If I'm doing a H&P..I'll have a "play fight" with a male jumper and have him say "i'm sick of your shit bitch" and push me out as I say "noooooo!" and then I give the thumbs up and a wink on the hill (tandems freak out on that one)

If it's an RW jump..as you know..it's all serious and shit..so I get to do the "Stevie Wonder/Ray Charles" visualization routine

If it's freefly "serious", I usually tell my Japanese Fart Joke, and blow ass!..cuz "front hole happpay"

_________________________________________

[jlmiracle 7]

well, our main aircraft only takes 7 minutes to altitude so I usually do nothing but guess who is going to fart and at what altitude.

In the C195, I usually sleep. the engine puts me right down.

j

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

[Mike111 0]

Glad i aint the only one

[weegegirl 2]

Lately all my time has been spent filming interviews for student videos. I used to keep an MP3 player in the pocket of my freefly pants. Naps are always good. And, there is always some retarded conversation going on to take part in.

[NWFlyer 2]

Depends... am I in the "special" seat on the Skyvan?

Seriously... at my home DZ I tend to look out the windows a lot. The rides to altitude are singularly gorgeous and I try to enjoy the scenic airplane ride aspect of it. I never get bored with staring at Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker. If we're flying the Caravan, it's much faster, so I'm usually just chilling out, harassing whoever's near me, having fun. I don't generally sleep (though after a few sleep-deprived days at Prairie I was dozing on the late afternoon rides to altitude in the Otter).

Also depends on the jump I'm doing. I'll generally go through the exit and dive flow a couple times in my head to make sure I've got it ingrained, and also think about the "little things" I want to work on for the jump.

Some days I get into what I call the malfunction paranoia headspace, where no matter how many times I've checked my gear, I'm still convinced I'm gonna have a pilot chute in tow or something. So rather than panic, I visualize myself seeing that malfunction, asessing it, and executing my EPs. Good to keep my mind sharp.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[calledisrael 0]

it made me laugh on my last jump, though, when i turned around and my AFFI was all comfy, leaned back on his rig, and popping a red bull. :)

life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.
(helen keller)

[BillyVance 35]

Once in a while I've been taking my blackberry up and playing the bass fishing game!

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[mdrejhon 8]

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is that normal door fear which when overcome make you enjopy the freefall?

Yeah. I don't get nervous in solo freefalls anymore. I immediately get more relaxed as soon as I am in freefall.

Although I do tense up with an instructor! Performance anxiety.

[heidihagen 0]

whoa-- sleep? movies? how long is your ride to altitude???

walking to the plane, it never fails. suddenly i a. gotta pee or b. i'm starrrrrvving. lately, it's been "a" because the amount of water i take in
anyway...
past 1500, i go over the dive, say a little prayer, go over the dive again. i usually have a song stuck in my head, so i just go with that. we have cool scenery too so it's easy to make treelines into animals.. (but that's getting old- i have a lot of buffalo and sheep).
when my dzo starts whining "are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? i wanna go to mcdonalds!" thaaaaaat zones me back in... and it's usually time to check my handles and gear again. then ofcourse, get my skin slappys

i didn't lose my mind, i sold it on ebay. .:need a container to fit 5'4", 110 lb. cypres ready & able to fit a 170 main (or slightly smaller):.[/ce

[mdrejhon 8]

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Once in a while I've been taking my blackberry up and playing the bass fishing game!

Ever tried to send a short email while in freefall? I can thumbtype fast enough type a full sentence in 30 seconds. I can thumb touchtype 72.4 words per minute on a BlackBerry, so that should give me time to compose a short email in freefall.

But I'll need a short removable bracelet and attach the BlackBerry to it with 3-4 inches of lanyard, so I don't lose it! (Note... I'm the maintainer of the BlackBerry FAQ at www.BerryFAQ.com)

I may try that sometime, once my jump numbers are up. At my jump numbers with a still-pending "A", I don't have any business doing this stuff yet...

[BillyVance 35]

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Once in a while I've been taking my blackberry up and playing the bass fishing game!

Ever tried to send a short email while in freefall? I can thumbtype fast enough type a full sentence in 30 seconds.

I may try that sometime, once my jump numbers are up. But I'll need a short removable bracelet and attach the BlackBerry to it with 3-4 inches of lanyard, so I don't lose it!

I've only done the short message in the plane. You kind of have to get it sent out before you get too high or you climb out of antenna range. I might try it under canopy though. Maybe the next time I do one of those big way CRW camps where I'm totally locked in a diamond canopy formation, I'll pull it out and send a message... but yeah, I would need some kind of leash on it so I don't drop it...

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[mdrejhon 8]

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whoa-- sleep? movies? how long is your ride to altitude???

Usually about 20 minutes. You have to watch the movie in bits at a time. You can finish watching a full hollywood movie on a helmetcam screen in one day's worth of loads.

[mdrejhon 8]

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Sleep. Review dive plan. Talk. Review dive plan. Blow up balloon and bat around inside the Otter. Review dive plan. Stretch rubber band in slipstream outside door to make funny buzzing nosies. Review dive plan. Oh, and check gear about 10 times. That doesn't leave much time for anything else.

I do something like that if I am not going solo. Review. Joke around. Review and mental rehersal. Self-check my 3rings and check handles. Mental rehersal. Poke fun. Mental rehersal. Jump run time. Have somebody pin check me. Door ready, climebout, nod, ready, set, go. But about 60-70% of my jumps are solo freefalls, so I don't always have a dive plan. (I do for a portion of the solos, but...) Once I get a "B", this will change since people will start asking me to jump with them

[Channman 2]

Passing the time might have more to do with the fact you are hearing impaired and other jumpers are not able to sign to you. But if you can start teaching them sign will open up a new form of communication to them and expand your friendship base.

My wife is a CODA from birth, Child of Deaf Adults and she has passed sign lauguage down to our children as well as to me. Although I must admit my girls are much better at it then me.

If you ever make it to Texas, I'll jump with ya and you can brush me up on my signing skills.

[jtval 0]

well for the last 50+ jumps I have been videoing tandmes. so normally I am filming chatting with said tandems and goofing around with the TI and other jumper (we're flying a censsa for now. can't wait til october TURBINE)

My photos

My Videos

[mdrejhon 8]

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Passing the time might have more to do with the fact you are hearing impaired and other jumpers are not able to sign to you. But if you can start teaching them sign will open up a new form of communication to them and expand your friendship base..

I don't do sign language (a common assumption though). I'm trained since birth on other communications methods. I already have friends at the dropzone (another assumption you made ) I leave my $3,500 hearing aids on the ground, since I don't skydive with them.

However, if I am travelling (Texas or anywhere else), I'll definitely post somewhere on here...

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[grue 1]

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The people who fall asleep in the plane are the 500+ jumpers.

Like hell, you say :P I've been smacked awake a couple of times already :)

In any case, I'll usually talk, er, yell to other people on the plane, but I've been tempted to bring my Sony PSP up a few times :P

cavete terrae.