Until I stumbled on to rec dot it never occurred to me to jump out of a plane. The people seemed to be really passionate about jumping that I thought I would do it once just to see what it was like, and to be able to say I did it. Below is a copy of a letter a sent a friend shortly after my first jump, which was a tandem. I FINALLY DID IT. I finally jumped out of an airplane. It was so cool. I surprised myself at how calm I was in free-fall. I got to the drop zone about a half-hour early on Saturday. I filled out the mountain of paperwork, disclaimers etc. and watched their disclaimer video. As I was signing the credit card receipt, the woman helping me turned around and asked the guy behind her what load I would be on. The guy said, "This one." She turned to me and said, "Oh you lucked out. They're loading in 5 minutes." “5 MINUTES? WHOOOOLY COW!” It turned out to be a good thing. I didn't have time to get scared and wonder what on earth I was thinking. I get dizzy looking over a balcony on the third floor and here I am, going to jump out of a plane at 12,500 feet. I went over and put on the jump suit I was given. My harness was strapped to my midsection, my altimeter was strapped to my wrist and my frap hat (a leather hat that would do nothing more than contain my brain matter should I plummet to earth) was placed on my head and adjusted. We were off to the plane; I got my instruction as we were walking. I thought, “This can't be good. Shouldn't I be getting more training than a couple of words before the flight?” But as it turned out, it was OK. I was given the meaning of a few hand signals I would be given during the dive. I was told two thumbs up shortly after exiting the plane would mean we were doing fine in free-fall. I was told a tap on the right thigh would mean I needed to arch more, and a wave of a hand in front of my face would mean it was time for me to pull the ripcord. We were second in line to board the plane. As I stepped in behind my instructor, Armond, bending down to keep from hitting my head on the fuselage I viewed the passenger compartment. There were windows lining the length of the brightly-lit passenger compartment and two long bench seats padded with black vinyl, which also ran the length of the passenger compartment. In all 23 students, instructors and experienced skydivers were crammed into the small white plane. On the way to altitude, I was given more instruction on how to exit the plane. I was told how to position my body, how to keep my eyes on the wing as we were positioned to exit the plane and, most importantly, how to safely hurl myself out of the plane in unison with the guy strapped to my back. Armond kept reviewing, with me, all of the things I had learned. We reviewed what the hand signals meant, what body position I should be in for exit, and he kept saying "Remember to thrust your hips on exit." This allows for a proper arch during free-fall. In between impromptu quizzes I was getting increasingly nervous and I was having a hard time breathing. My lungs felt expanded. I was taking frequent shallow breaths and I thought “Keith, you’re gonna pass out” so I started taking long, slow, deep breaths while fighting the urge to look out the window at all of the tiny little objects on the ground that I would soon be plummeting towards. Armond kept asking me how I was doing and I kept lying and saying "I'm doing fine." Some of my anxiety was released while one of the other tandem instructors was telling Armond and me that he had a bet going with his student. If the instructor could make his student puke while doing spins, turns, and other tricks during free-fall then the student would have to buy him lunch and if he couldn’t make the student puke then the instructor had to buy the student lunch. That day was the birthday of another first-time-tandem-student, so we all sang happy birthday to him. One of the experienced skydivers turned and gave me a high-five. I was feeling more calm and decided it was going to be OK. I would not have to ride the plane back to the ground after-all. Armond told me it was time to hook our harnesses together. He told me to turn and back up into him, so I did. He told me to scoot back more, then more and still more, I thought to myself, “If I scoot back anymore I’m gonna insist you wear a condom buddy!” As he explained each step taken to hook each of the four latches that would keep us bound together, I looked around at the other passengers and . . . Oh God, Oh God, Oh God . . . half of them were missing. I knew some of the divers were exiting the plane but for some reason it struck me: “These people are actually jumping out of the plane. What are they? Nuts? Wait a minute! AM I NUTS?” Just then Armond motioned that it was our turn. So I started thinking, "Keith don't think about what you are doing, just do what you were told to do. Otherwise, it's time for clean boxer shorts." We started scooting to the hole in the side of the plane they call a door. After reaching the door, I crouched down on my feet while in the fetal position with my arms crossing my chest like I was told. Too terrified to look down, I kept looking up at the wing, then I got the command. Armond rocked us forward and yelled “ONE”, he rocked us backward and yelled “TWO”, he rocked us forward and yelled “TREE . . . THRUST.” Out of the plane we went and I arched as hard as I could. As soon as we exited I suddenly felt this calm come over me. The wing I had been watching was now an entire shiny white plane. There was a small dark hole in the side, the landing gear was permanently extended and on the front of the plane, under the cockpit, was a large smiling face with large jagged shark teeth. Armond kept telling me not to look down. He would say, "There's nothing down there but ground." But I couldn't help it. I found myself marveling at the birds eye view, the rolling hills now brown from a lack of rain that two months ago were unusually green, the dirt roads made by off road enthusiasts and the buildings that just minutes ago I was afraid to look at. I heard the rush of the wind passing through my hat into my ears and felt the cool, crisp, fresh air being forced into my lungs as we fell at 120 miles an hour. I wanted to keep falling and soaking in all of the new sensations I was witnessing for the first time. But all good things must come to an end. With the wave of a hand in front of my face and a tug of the ripcord, we were under canopy. We did some high-speed turns that brought us, what felt to be, horizontal with the canopy. I know we weren't but that is how it felt. Armond asked me if it was "OK" to be making such aggressive maneuvers on my first canopy ride and I told him it was fine and strangely enough, it was. I was given control of the canopy for a while. I did some turns left, some turns right and then gave control back to Armond so we could land. I was amazed. The only time I felt scared, after exiting, was when I was in control of the canopy. If I could have afforded it I would have done another dive the same day. While driving home, trying as best I could to keep my truck in its lane, I wished I had brought along a designated driver. Keith
