skydivingdutch 0 #1 September 12, 2003 I anticipated a boring summer, and decided to do something fun. I am advanced SCUBA certified, but its so damn expensive, especially if you dont know anyone who does, and you cant really dive well here off the coast of OR, unless you drive hella far (expensive) or charter a boat (really expensive). First I thought, hanggliding, but all the people i talked to said its such a hassle with the huge frame and all, most people paraglide. That seemed too tame, just dangling there all the time. So I was like skydiving it is, and damn its fun. http://dropman.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #2 September 12, 2003 Ever since I was a little kid, I had always wanted to skydive. I made "parachutes" out of trash bags, bed sheets, tarps, and other stuff, jumped off of roofs, trees and out of swing sets. Now fast foward to my teen years, I read a LOT of military books, mostly non-fiction, mostly spec ops/seal/USMC Force Recon stuff. All of it has some sort of parachute jumping in it and all it does is make me really want to jump. A buddy of mine(Malachi, aka FlyingFerret) shared the same experiences with me growing up (well, we grew up together), so one day in March of 2000 he calls me up and says "hey, I need $100, I booked us for a skydive!" So one thing led to another, a $100 SL jump at Eagle Flight Skydiving led to more and here I am now. 3 1/2 years later, over 700 jumps later and a couple ratings later, I still can't get enough.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lazerq3 0 #3 September 12, 2003 Driving down the High way and saw canopies and thought " I didnt know they do that here " Did a tandem for my B-day..then saved up for about a year for AFP and the rest is history!!! jasonFreedom of speech includes volume Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Samurai136 0 #4 September 12, 2003 I have had many vivid flying dreams through my life. Eventually I got around to skydiving in reality. Ken"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pawl 0 #5 September 12, 2003 I wanted to try it just once ! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt syndrome. Did my first static line jump on the 28 July 1990. Drove all the way home (1hr 20min) thinking about it the whole way. When I got home, I didn't even get out the car. Just sat and thought some more. Started the car and drove all the way back to the DZ for my second jump... And I'm still driving that same route every week end since ! Damn !"Africa is not for sissies" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mofo554 0 #6 September 12, 2003 Senior year in high school, I was taking a blowoff class called Publications. Basically, all we did was sit around for weeks on end and shoot the shit with friends. Our only real assignment in the class was to write one article per month for the school newspaper. Well, despite this being the easiest class I ever took, I still wasn't doing so hot. It was my last semester of senior year, and I REALLY didn't want to do work. Most of the kids in the class would write these lame stories about the new science teacher or the basketball game or whatever. I never wanted to do this. So, I started coming up with random ideas which I thought would be cool. I called Ken Kal (radio voice of the Detroit Red Wings) and told him I wanted to do an article on his profession. A little sweet talking and I had two VIP passes to a Red Wings game...even got to go into the locker room and take pictures with the players after, (Thought I'd beat my own drum there for a sec) Anyways, I'd always wanted to skydive, and knew it would make a great article. After two weekends on weather delays, I went out to Skydive Tecumseh on a Wednesday, made a tandem jump, and have been hooked ever since. That's my story. Wussah! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phonics1981 0 #7 September 12, 2003 Always wanted to do it for as long as I can remember. So I saved up and paid for an AFF course and here I am! Like AggieDave I used to jump off walls with a carrier bag over my head! ------------------------------------------------------ "Ive given up on sigs cos I make a mess of them!" ------------------------------------------------------ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slotperfect 7 #8 September 12, 2003 My Army recruiter showed me a film of the Basic Airborne Course at Ft. Benning, GA and I was hooked. That spawned my first jump from an airplane. My friend Rui talked me into doing static-line progression at the Green Beret Club in 1985. That was my first civilian skydive, albeit at a military club. Three years later I became HALO qualified, and have been skydiving since. Happy to be here. Arrive Safely John Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luv2Fall 0 #9 September 12, 2003 Last November I saw a skydiving sign near/at an airport from the road as I was traveling home from out-of-town. Upon seeing that sign, I told myself I would like to do that once just to see what it was like. I did a tandem (with no thoughts of going further) that weekend............the rest is history. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nutz 0 #10 September 12, 2003 I went with two buddies on a dare. They never went back and I can't stop. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites flyingfrog 0 #11 September 12, 2003 I dreamed about skydiving since I was a child... some years ago I suddenly had the opportunity to do a tandem organized by the company I'm working...for sure I took the chance and I was soooo enthusiastic about that I decided to learn skydiving and feel how it is to jump out from an airplane without someone on your back Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites pilotdave 0 #12 September 12, 2003 I read a flier on a bathroom door. Ok, it was a flier for a new skydiving club on my dorm bathroom door my freshman year of college. I showed up for the first meeting, did AFF1, and a few years later I was the president of the club. Skydiving was something I always wanted to try. In fact, before I ever seriously considered doing it, my dad had told me I was allowed to skydive as long as I was at least 40 years old and he was dead. Well, I broke both those rules. I actually got quoted in the Washington (DC) Times in an article about our club. My quote was something like "I always wanted to skydive but my parents wouldnt let me... but they're in Massachusetts and I'm here." Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites JeffD 0 #13 September 12, 2003 (a little long) Well I saw the Golden Nights do some training out at YPG, in Yuma Az (before the accident) when I was 8rs old. SO during that time period I thought I was going to be able to jump hehe needless to say it didn't happen. So I just kept dreaming and watching movies and such. 9yrs later I was 17 and my mother and I went to go watch Jay Stokes do his 500jumps/day record. We got out there late ~ 9:30pm and he was jumping like mad it was cool. They had 2 cessnas running one after another and they had a turboprop (dont know what) running by itself when the cessnas were refueling. Amazing to watch. Anyway 8months later a local radio station was giving away a tandem jump(that they bought during his record) to the caller who answered a question. Well my mom won but she didn't want to jump so she gave it to me. BUT I was 17 and coulden't jump. So I had to sit with a tandem jump ticket for like 3months until I turned 18. A week after I turned 18 a whole group of friends went with me/us out to Arizona Airplay to watch my jump. Well after an aff student jumped(had to wait for the plane to come back) it was my turn. And I got to jump with none other than Jay Stokes as my TM. now Im 6'2" ~ 250 and Jay is about 5'6" ~ 150. I'm gona have to get my VHS onto the net somehow (anyone want to help?) its cool. Anyway so we get the CameraFlyer doing his tandem stuff "what are you doing" etc... So we jump out, Small front flip, and I go big, my arms are outside of his, My legs are outside of his, so we started sliding when he pulled the drouge and I cought the slide b4 he did (you can see it on the video) then 4500ft later he waved to the camera and pulled. I had the chest strap just a tad loose so when he pulled I kept going for a second while the canopy was opening and had a bruise where the chest strap was. Also while opening I almost kicked the camera guy (again you can see it on video) on accident because my body just flung forward. But the best thing was that we had a standup landing!!! Now 2.5yrs later I am trying to start to get my license, only thing holding me back is $$ but I will return to the sky. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites chuteless 1 #14 September 12, 2003 I first jumped with an umbrella off my fron veranda railing at age 9. SPLAT. Next time I had been taking pictures of jumpers in 1961, and one said, " If you ever want a free jump, come back and see me" I took him up on it Aug 5 1962 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites skydiverek 63 #15 September 12, 2003 "Gypsy Moths" and " Point Break"... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites nightjumps 1 #16 September 12, 2003 I went to Airborne School in 1980. In 1981, I was asked to start getting prepared to go to Jumpmaster School. So I got the FMs and started reading. Concurrently, I came home on leave. While home, I had a few of those "everyone's at work or doing something else, so I have to entertain myself" days. In the FM, they talked about "spotting" and the only thing I knew about spotting was planting my nose on the guy's helmet in front of me and following him out the door. I heard about skydiving down at Muskogee, so I drove down there to a huge old WWII Air Force base (Davis Field). I walked on to the field and there was this scraggly looking, hunched over, unshaven guy standing next to a hollowed out C-182 with no paint on the tarmac. I had a copy of my new Airborne certificate in my hand. I walked up to the guy and said, "I hear they teach skydiving on this airport, would you happen to know who I talk to about that?" He replies, "That would be me." Course, me being a high speed, strac, spit-shined Airborne trooper with images of rock-hard retired HALO instructors is thinking, "This fuckin goofball is going to teach me how to skydive?!?!?" So, I think, "Well, I can always decide not to later" and proudly whip out my Airborne certificate and say, "Does this mean anything?" Cause ya know I'm thinking "discount." And, he looks at me and says, "It means I gots to unlearn you some bad habits." "Shit... what is this guy talking about?" And then he says, "Son, now since I used ta be a Black Hat Officer at Benning, we're going to be able to use some o' the things you learned at Airborne school like PLFs and canopy control and stuff..." As he continues, my mind tunes the rest out while I'm thinking, "This stumble-fuck was a Black Hat at Benning?!?!?!?" Well, he was. And the training I got was no less than professional. In a day and a half, I was off static-line and in freefall. I spent the rest of my leave and all future leaves at the DZ. And, there's no doubt, that skydiving made me a better military jumper and prepared me to pass this wonderful session on abuse called, "Jumpmaster School" - the first time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites dterrick 0 #17 September 12, 2003 My early experiences with roof-jumping were a little more like cliff-diving. In Manitoba, in the winter, we have GIANT snowbanks and they are soft enough to fall into off the porch rood so long as you occasionally fluff the snow - I learned to PLF at an early age... ... and promptly forgot about the idea for about 20 years. In my mid-teens I got very hooked on sports cars and becan racing them at age 19. First it as ice racing (modified econo-boxes on ice) then 'proper' cars like a Datsun 240Z and a Mazda RX-7. It so happens that our DZ is located on the other side of a twin runway comples upon which I race (old WWI complex). For ten years I Whuffo'd along with all my other 'adrenaline junkie racer friends'. Then something happened. Simultaneous to my burning-out on (now) organizing the races an attractive blonde skychick had an off-DZ landing and I was introduced to "skydivers". Wow. This had some potential. Two weekends later I did my FJC - Sept 1, 2001. On race weekends I still help out as a senior official but as soon as the last race is over I'm over the fence and on the manifest list. At first they all thought I was crazy and had a death wish - now they ask me for details -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Fast 0 #18 September 12, 2003 Always had some facination with flying. When having to choose flying or invisibility or x-ray vision as a superpower I always choose flying. Had falling dreams as a kid, always been obsesed with something that flys (fav show when I was young was Airwolf, go figure) Anyways fast-forward to now, In may I went to skyventure because it 'looked and sounded cool.' Did the 2min $30 tourist thing there, talked to I belive Arlo who told us a lil bit about skydiving. Had a blast, came home from vacation, looked up the local DZ and did a tandem. Which hooked me, and here I sit! )~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites usedtajump 1 #19 September 12, 2003 In the 50s when I was 8 years old, a guy my father worked with was a jumper and my dad was always talking about how crazy he was for doing it. We went out to watch one Sunday afternoon and what I saw amazed me and I was hooked. Every weekend I would beg my dad to go to their DZ and maybe once a month he would take me. I thought it was great that the guys would ask me to 'lean" for them. Sounds rather preverted in this day of child molesting preistsThe older I get the less I care who I piss off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Aviatrr 0 #20 September 12, 2003 Back in '95, I started flying aerobatic airplanes. Early '96, a buddy and I were flying a Pitts S2 and had a bit of a scare, making us think of the very real possibility of bailing out. Luckily, we were able to safely land the airplane...though control got a bit marginal at the end. We didn't know anything about the rigs we were wearing except....Get out, clear the airplane, pull the silver handle. WTF?! WHAT HAPPENS THEN?! We decided to go out to a DZ about 50 miles away and do a jump(IAD)....just to see what the canopy ride would be like, how to control it, etc... Little did we know that the emergency rigs had rounds and we would be jumping squares. Well, we both did it, and we are both still jumping to this day. Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TheBachelor 5 #21 September 12, 2003 Skydiving was something I always wanted to do ONCE. I finally made my first jump and I was hooked. 700+ jumps later, and I'm just as hooked as when I started.There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Tailwheel 0 #22 September 12, 2003 Peer Pressure! I flew for a DZ near Fort Campbell for awhile and when you're constantly in the company of SFers, Rakkasans and Screaming Eagles it kind of grows on you. Thats why I started to do a few. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites sirenoremac 0 #23 September 12, 2003 My dad and brother have been jumping since I was 7 years old, and I always used to hang out at the DZ with them. So when my 16th birthday came along I made my first jump. Then made my second jump. And my third. And so on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TaeKwonDoDo 0 #24 September 12, 2003 I've always wanted to do it but never had the time to take it seriously - and my wife complains that I take my hobbies too extreme whatever they are (fly fishing, TKD, snowboarding, etc ...). So, its a few days before my daughters (#2) 18th BD and I ask her what she wants... Destiny "I don't know" Dad (semi-joking) "How about skydiving?" Destiny (not skipping a beat) "Sure!" We did AFF1 Ground on a Monday, then got fogged out and came back and did Jump 1 on a saturday... We were only going to do the one jump... Really - just one (I promised)...and $2000 later we were enrolled for AFF Jumps 2-7. My wife was right - Now I can't stop (I bought 50 JTs when we were having a $16-to-16K day). Should get my "A" (Beer) tomorrow. My daughter went off to college right after jump 8 - so I'm flying out to SD-AZ next week to meet some of this gang and get her in the "continuing education" program there... Doing my best to prevent AIDS (Altitude Induced Divorce Syndrome) . - Jeff "That's not flying, it's falling with style." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites dreamsville 0 #25 September 12, 2003 Dining with friends on July 31, 1997 at 8pm, one was late because he was at the old airport at Skydive Chicago doing his first AFP. I asked Rob Faurot if I could go with him in 2 weeks when he was going again. He said yes, expecting that it would be like the others who expressed interest but never showed. I rationalized on the way up that Ross Brooke, the TM, knew what he was doing so I wasn't going to get upset about it. Knew 2 seconds out the door that it was for me. Every good-weather weekend has me with friends in the sweet sky. BTW, mofo554, your plane N220EA was apart in our hangar this week when I was there. It'll be all checked out and ready to go for you, provided the weather cooperates this weekend. Edited to add: When I would fly from Detroit to Los Angeles as a kid, my face would be up against the window when we got over the desert and the mountains. I imagined myself out there somewhere, either as a pilot or a bird or gliding or something. I fantasized about having a small aircraft that could land on our street in Grosse Pointe, and how cool that would be. The point of this is that the seeds were there from an early age, I didn't know what they meant. BTW, flying and jumping together are too time consuming and expensive, so I'll stick with the body pilot. Love those flock dives!!! |I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane. Harry, FB #4143 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. 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flyingfrog 0 #11 September 12, 2003 I dreamed about skydiving since I was a child... some years ago I suddenly had the opportunity to do a tandem organized by the company I'm working...for sure I took the chance and I was soooo enthusiastic about that I decided to learn skydiving and feel how it is to jump out from an airplane without someone on your back Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilotdave 0 #12 September 12, 2003 I read a flier on a bathroom door. Ok, it was a flier for a new skydiving club on my dorm bathroom door my freshman year of college. I showed up for the first meeting, did AFF1, and a few years later I was the president of the club. Skydiving was something I always wanted to try. In fact, before I ever seriously considered doing it, my dad had told me I was allowed to skydive as long as I was at least 40 years old and he was dead. Well, I broke both those rules. I actually got quoted in the Washington (DC) Times in an article about our club. My quote was something like "I always wanted to skydive but my parents wouldnt let me... but they're in Massachusetts and I'm here." Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JeffD 0 #13 September 12, 2003 (a little long) Well I saw the Golden Nights do some training out at YPG, in Yuma Az (before the accident) when I was 8rs old. SO during that time period I thought I was going to be able to jump hehe needless to say it didn't happen. So I just kept dreaming and watching movies and such. 9yrs later I was 17 and my mother and I went to go watch Jay Stokes do his 500jumps/day record. We got out there late ~ 9:30pm and he was jumping like mad it was cool. They had 2 cessnas running one after another and they had a turboprop (dont know what) running by itself when the cessnas were refueling. Amazing to watch. Anyway 8months later a local radio station was giving away a tandem jump(that they bought during his record) to the caller who answered a question. Well my mom won but she didn't want to jump so she gave it to me. BUT I was 17 and coulden't jump. So I had to sit with a tandem jump ticket for like 3months until I turned 18. A week after I turned 18 a whole group of friends went with me/us out to Arizona Airplay to watch my jump. Well after an aff student jumped(had to wait for the plane to come back) it was my turn. And I got to jump with none other than Jay Stokes as my TM. now Im 6'2" ~ 250 and Jay is about 5'6" ~ 150. I'm gona have to get my VHS onto the net somehow (anyone want to help?) its cool. Anyway so we get the CameraFlyer doing his tandem stuff "what are you doing" etc... So we jump out, Small front flip, and I go big, my arms are outside of his, My legs are outside of his, so we started sliding when he pulled the drouge and I cought the slide b4 he did (you can see it on the video) then 4500ft later he waved to the camera and pulled. I had the chest strap just a tad loose so when he pulled I kept going for a second while the canopy was opening and had a bruise where the chest strap was. Also while opening I almost kicked the camera guy (again you can see it on video) on accident because my body just flung forward. But the best thing was that we had a standup landing!!! Now 2.5yrs later I am trying to start to get my license, only thing holding me back is $$ but I will return to the sky. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuteless 1 #14 September 12, 2003 I first jumped with an umbrella off my fron veranda railing at age 9. SPLAT. Next time I had been taking pictures of jumpers in 1961, and one said, " If you ever want a free jump, come back and see me" I took him up on it Aug 5 1962 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydiverek 63 #15 September 12, 2003 "Gypsy Moths" and " Point Break"... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites nightjumps 1 #16 September 12, 2003 I went to Airborne School in 1980. In 1981, I was asked to start getting prepared to go to Jumpmaster School. So I got the FMs and started reading. Concurrently, I came home on leave. While home, I had a few of those "everyone's at work or doing something else, so I have to entertain myself" days. In the FM, they talked about "spotting" and the only thing I knew about spotting was planting my nose on the guy's helmet in front of me and following him out the door. I heard about skydiving down at Muskogee, so I drove down there to a huge old WWII Air Force base (Davis Field). I walked on to the field and there was this scraggly looking, hunched over, unshaven guy standing next to a hollowed out C-182 with no paint on the tarmac. I had a copy of my new Airborne certificate in my hand. I walked up to the guy and said, "I hear they teach skydiving on this airport, would you happen to know who I talk to about that?" He replies, "That would be me." Course, me being a high speed, strac, spit-shined Airborne trooper with images of rock-hard retired HALO instructors is thinking, "This fuckin goofball is going to teach me how to skydive?!?!?" So, I think, "Well, I can always decide not to later" and proudly whip out my Airborne certificate and say, "Does this mean anything?" Cause ya know I'm thinking "discount." And, he looks at me and says, "It means I gots to unlearn you some bad habits." "Shit... what is this guy talking about?" And then he says, "Son, now since I used ta be a Black Hat Officer at Benning, we're going to be able to use some o' the things you learned at Airborne school like PLFs and canopy control and stuff..." As he continues, my mind tunes the rest out while I'm thinking, "This stumble-fuck was a Black Hat at Benning?!?!?!?" Well, he was. And the training I got was no less than professional. In a day and a half, I was off static-line and in freefall. I spent the rest of my leave and all future leaves at the DZ. And, there's no doubt, that skydiving made me a better military jumper and prepared me to pass this wonderful session on abuse called, "Jumpmaster School" - the first time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites dterrick 0 #17 September 12, 2003 My early experiences with roof-jumping were a little more like cliff-diving. In Manitoba, in the winter, we have GIANT snowbanks and they are soft enough to fall into off the porch rood so long as you occasionally fluff the snow - I learned to PLF at an early age... ... and promptly forgot about the idea for about 20 years. In my mid-teens I got very hooked on sports cars and becan racing them at age 19. First it as ice racing (modified econo-boxes on ice) then 'proper' cars like a Datsun 240Z and a Mazda RX-7. It so happens that our DZ is located on the other side of a twin runway comples upon which I race (old WWI complex). For ten years I Whuffo'd along with all my other 'adrenaline junkie racer friends'. Then something happened. Simultaneous to my burning-out on (now) organizing the races an attractive blonde skychick had an off-DZ landing and I was introduced to "skydivers". Wow. This had some potential. Two weekends later I did my FJC - Sept 1, 2001. On race weekends I still help out as a senior official but as soon as the last race is over I'm over the fence and on the manifest list. At first they all thought I was crazy and had a death wish - now they ask me for details -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Fast 0 #18 September 12, 2003 Always had some facination with flying. When having to choose flying or invisibility or x-ray vision as a superpower I always choose flying. Had falling dreams as a kid, always been obsesed with something that flys (fav show when I was young was Airwolf, go figure) Anyways fast-forward to now, In may I went to skyventure because it 'looked and sounded cool.' Did the 2min $30 tourist thing there, talked to I belive Arlo who told us a lil bit about skydiving. Had a blast, came home from vacation, looked up the local DZ and did a tandem. Which hooked me, and here I sit! )~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites usedtajump 1 #19 September 12, 2003 In the 50s when I was 8 years old, a guy my father worked with was a jumper and my dad was always talking about how crazy he was for doing it. We went out to watch one Sunday afternoon and what I saw amazed me and I was hooked. Every weekend I would beg my dad to go to their DZ and maybe once a month he would take me. I thought it was great that the guys would ask me to 'lean" for them. Sounds rather preverted in this day of child molesting preistsThe older I get the less I care who I piss off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Aviatrr 0 #20 September 12, 2003 Back in '95, I started flying aerobatic airplanes. Early '96, a buddy and I were flying a Pitts S2 and had a bit of a scare, making us think of the very real possibility of bailing out. Luckily, we were able to safely land the airplane...though control got a bit marginal at the end. We didn't know anything about the rigs we were wearing except....Get out, clear the airplane, pull the silver handle. WTF?! WHAT HAPPENS THEN?! We decided to go out to a DZ about 50 miles away and do a jump(IAD)....just to see what the canopy ride would be like, how to control it, etc... Little did we know that the emergency rigs had rounds and we would be jumping squares. Well, we both did it, and we are both still jumping to this day. Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TheBachelor 5 #21 September 12, 2003 Skydiving was something I always wanted to do ONCE. I finally made my first jump and I was hooked. 700+ jumps later, and I'm just as hooked as when I started.There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Tailwheel 0 #22 September 12, 2003 Peer Pressure! I flew for a DZ near Fort Campbell for awhile and when you're constantly in the company of SFers, Rakkasans and Screaming Eagles it kind of grows on you. Thats why I started to do a few. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites sirenoremac 0 #23 September 12, 2003 My dad and brother have been jumping since I was 7 years old, and I always used to hang out at the DZ with them. So when my 16th birthday came along I made my first jump. Then made my second jump. And my third. And so on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TaeKwonDoDo 0 #24 September 12, 2003 I've always wanted to do it but never had the time to take it seriously - and my wife complains that I take my hobbies too extreme whatever they are (fly fishing, TKD, snowboarding, etc ...). So, its a few days before my daughters (#2) 18th BD and I ask her what she wants... Destiny "I don't know" Dad (semi-joking) "How about skydiving?" Destiny (not skipping a beat) "Sure!" We did AFF1 Ground on a Monday, then got fogged out and came back and did Jump 1 on a saturday... We were only going to do the one jump... Really - just one (I promised)...and $2000 later we were enrolled for AFF Jumps 2-7. My wife was right - Now I can't stop (I bought 50 JTs when we were having a $16-to-16K day). Should get my "A" (Beer) tomorrow. My daughter went off to college right after jump 8 - so I'm flying out to SD-AZ next week to meet some of this gang and get her in the "continuing education" program there... Doing my best to prevent AIDS (Altitude Induced Divorce Syndrome) . - Jeff "That's not flying, it's falling with style." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites dreamsville 0 #25 September 12, 2003 Dining with friends on July 31, 1997 at 8pm, one was late because he was at the old airport at Skydive Chicago doing his first AFP. I asked Rob Faurot if I could go with him in 2 weeks when he was going again. He said yes, expecting that it would be like the others who expressed interest but never showed. I rationalized on the way up that Ross Brooke, the TM, knew what he was doing so I wasn't going to get upset about it. Knew 2 seconds out the door that it was for me. Every good-weather weekend has me with friends in the sweet sky. BTW, mofo554, your plane N220EA was apart in our hangar this week when I was there. It'll be all checked out and ready to go for you, provided the weather cooperates this weekend. Edited to add: When I would fly from Detroit to Los Angeles as a kid, my face would be up against the window when we got over the desert and the mountains. I imagined myself out there somewhere, either as a pilot or a bird or gliding or something. I fantasized about having a small aircraft that could land on our street in Grosse Pointe, and how cool that would be. The point of this is that the seeds were there from an early age, I didn't know what they meant. BTW, flying and jumping together are too time consuming and expensive, so I'll stick with the body pilot. Love those flock dives!!! |I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane. Harry, FB #4143 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
nightjumps 1 #16 September 12, 2003 I went to Airborne School in 1980. In 1981, I was asked to start getting prepared to go to Jumpmaster School. So I got the FMs and started reading. Concurrently, I came home on leave. While home, I had a few of those "everyone's at work or doing something else, so I have to entertain myself" days. In the FM, they talked about "spotting" and the only thing I knew about spotting was planting my nose on the guy's helmet in front of me and following him out the door. I heard about skydiving down at Muskogee, so I drove down there to a huge old WWII Air Force base (Davis Field). I walked on to the field and there was this scraggly looking, hunched over, unshaven guy standing next to a hollowed out C-182 with no paint on the tarmac. I had a copy of my new Airborne certificate in my hand. I walked up to the guy and said, "I hear they teach skydiving on this airport, would you happen to know who I talk to about that?" He replies, "That would be me." Course, me being a high speed, strac, spit-shined Airborne trooper with images of rock-hard retired HALO instructors is thinking, "This fuckin goofball is going to teach me how to skydive?!?!?" So, I think, "Well, I can always decide not to later" and proudly whip out my Airborne certificate and say, "Does this mean anything?" Cause ya know I'm thinking "discount." And, he looks at me and says, "It means I gots to unlearn you some bad habits." "Shit... what is this guy talking about?" And then he says, "Son, now since I used ta be a Black Hat Officer at Benning, we're going to be able to use some o' the things you learned at Airborne school like PLFs and canopy control and stuff..." As he continues, my mind tunes the rest out while I'm thinking, "This stumble-fuck was a Black Hat at Benning?!?!?!?" Well, he was. And the training I got was no less than professional. In a day and a half, I was off static-line and in freefall. I spent the rest of my leave and all future leaves at the DZ. And, there's no doubt, that skydiving made me a better military jumper and prepared me to pass this wonderful session on abuse called, "Jumpmaster School" - the first time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dterrick 0 #17 September 12, 2003 My early experiences with roof-jumping were a little more like cliff-diving. In Manitoba, in the winter, we have GIANT snowbanks and they are soft enough to fall into off the porch rood so long as you occasionally fluff the snow - I learned to PLF at an early age... ... and promptly forgot about the idea for about 20 years. In my mid-teens I got very hooked on sports cars and becan racing them at age 19. First it as ice racing (modified econo-boxes on ice) then 'proper' cars like a Datsun 240Z and a Mazda RX-7. It so happens that our DZ is located on the other side of a twin runway comples upon which I race (old WWI complex). For ten years I Whuffo'd along with all my other 'adrenaline junkie racer friends'. Then something happened. Simultaneous to my burning-out on (now) organizing the races an attractive blonde skychick had an off-DZ landing and I was introduced to "skydivers". Wow. This had some potential. Two weekends later I did my FJC - Sept 1, 2001. On race weekends I still help out as a senior official but as soon as the last race is over I'm over the fence and on the manifest list. At first they all thought I was crazy and had a death wish - now they ask me for details -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fast 0 #18 September 12, 2003 Always had some facination with flying. When having to choose flying or invisibility or x-ray vision as a superpower I always choose flying. Had falling dreams as a kid, always been obsesed with something that flys (fav show when I was young was Airwolf, go figure) Anyways fast-forward to now, In may I went to skyventure because it 'looked and sounded cool.' Did the 2min $30 tourist thing there, talked to I belive Arlo who told us a lil bit about skydiving. Had a blast, came home from vacation, looked up the local DZ and did a tandem. Which hooked me, and here I sit! )~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
usedtajump 1 #19 September 12, 2003 In the 50s when I was 8 years old, a guy my father worked with was a jumper and my dad was always talking about how crazy he was for doing it. We went out to watch one Sunday afternoon and what I saw amazed me and I was hooked. Every weekend I would beg my dad to go to their DZ and maybe once a month he would take me. I thought it was great that the guys would ask me to 'lean" for them. Sounds rather preverted in this day of child molesting preistsThe older I get the less I care who I piss off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aviatrr 0 #20 September 12, 2003 Back in '95, I started flying aerobatic airplanes. Early '96, a buddy and I were flying a Pitts S2 and had a bit of a scare, making us think of the very real possibility of bailing out. Luckily, we were able to safely land the airplane...though control got a bit marginal at the end. We didn't know anything about the rigs we were wearing except....Get out, clear the airplane, pull the silver handle. WTF?! WHAT HAPPENS THEN?! We decided to go out to a DZ about 50 miles away and do a jump(IAD)....just to see what the canopy ride would be like, how to control it, etc... Little did we know that the emergency rigs had rounds and we would be jumping squares. Well, we both did it, and we are both still jumping to this day. Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheBachelor 5 #21 September 12, 2003 Skydiving was something I always wanted to do ONCE. I finally made my first jump and I was hooked. 700+ jumps later, and I'm just as hooked as when I started.There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tailwheel 0 #22 September 12, 2003 Peer Pressure! I flew for a DZ near Fort Campbell for awhile and when you're constantly in the company of SFers, Rakkasans and Screaming Eagles it kind of grows on you. Thats why I started to do a few. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sirenoremac 0 #23 September 12, 2003 My dad and brother have been jumping since I was 7 years old, and I always used to hang out at the DZ with them. So when my 16th birthday came along I made my first jump. Then made my second jump. And my third. And so on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaeKwonDoDo 0 #24 September 12, 2003 I've always wanted to do it but never had the time to take it seriously - and my wife complains that I take my hobbies too extreme whatever they are (fly fishing, TKD, snowboarding, etc ...). So, its a few days before my daughters (#2) 18th BD and I ask her what she wants... Destiny "I don't know" Dad (semi-joking) "How about skydiving?" Destiny (not skipping a beat) "Sure!" We did AFF1 Ground on a Monday, then got fogged out and came back and did Jump 1 on a saturday... We were only going to do the one jump... Really - just one (I promised)...and $2000 later we were enrolled for AFF Jumps 2-7. My wife was right - Now I can't stop (I bought 50 JTs when we were having a $16-to-16K day). Should get my "A" (Beer) tomorrow. My daughter went off to college right after jump 8 - so I'm flying out to SD-AZ next week to meet some of this gang and get her in the "continuing education" program there... Doing my best to prevent AIDS (Altitude Induced Divorce Syndrome) . - Jeff "That's not flying, it's falling with style." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamsville 0 #25 September 12, 2003 Dining with friends on July 31, 1997 at 8pm, one was late because he was at the old airport at Skydive Chicago doing his first AFP. I asked Rob Faurot if I could go with him in 2 weeks when he was going again. He said yes, expecting that it would be like the others who expressed interest but never showed. I rationalized on the way up that Ross Brooke, the TM, knew what he was doing so I wasn't going to get upset about it. Knew 2 seconds out the door that it was for me. Every good-weather weekend has me with friends in the sweet sky. BTW, mofo554, your plane N220EA was apart in our hangar this week when I was there. It'll be all checked out and ready to go for you, provided the weather cooperates this weekend. Edited to add: When I would fly from Detroit to Los Angeles as a kid, my face would be up against the window when we got over the desert and the mountains. I imagined myself out there somewhere, either as a pilot or a bird or gliding or something. I fantasized about having a small aircraft that could land on our street in Grosse Pointe, and how cool that would be. The point of this is that the seeds were there from an early age, I didn't know what they meant. BTW, flying and jumping together are too time consuming and expensive, so I'll stick with the body pilot. Love those flock dives!!! |I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane. Harry, FB #4143 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
