I rode the plane down once on my 13th jump. It was also June 13th (yeah so I'm a little superstitious). Anyway, I had just had a fight with my family before I left my house because I had jumped the day before and they didn't think I needed to go out to the DZ again (typical whuffo's!). But I went out to the DZ anyway and got in the plane. I was in a plane that I had never jumped from before, with a different pilot, and had to try a new exit. I kept thinking about all of these things on the way up and freaked myself out. I kept telling myself that I didn't want to die after a fight with my family. So I refused to get out of the plane. My jumpmaster thought it was because it was really cloudy but actually I found the clouds very comforting. I finally told him the truth about a year later. But after that day, I was so mad at myself that I went out to the DZ the next four days it was open until I had finally graduated from the static line program. It ended up being great motivation for me. But don't ever be embarrassed to ride down with the plane if things don't feel right. If you're not concentrating on your jump, it's not going to be a very good one anyway. That's my advice, take it or leave it!
