Skydiving... anyone tried it?
Discussion
a strong contender on the list of "things that don't involve racing cars but that give you a serious thrill"
if there are any gassers that are regulars, or indeed know anything about this I'd be most intrigued to find out more. Toying with doing the AFF in Spain in April/May.
Is this a good idea? is it safe? am I mad?
if there are any gassers that are regulars, or indeed know anything about this I'd be most intrigued to find out more. Toying with doing the AFF in Spain in April/May.
Is this a good idea? is it safe? am I mad?
I've done a tandem jump for charidy, quite an exhilerating experience even if you are leaving control of the parachute to the expert strapped to your back! Wouldn't mind giving it another go at some point, learn to jump solo but it is pretty damned expensive and doesn't excactly last very long.
Safety wise, well modern chutes even have a self deploy mechanism if the chutist should pass out but as with most dangerous sports its never completely safe, you cannot eliminate risk entirely.
Safety wise, well modern chutes even have a self deploy mechanism if the chutist should pass out but as with most dangerous sports its never completely safe, you cannot eliminate risk entirely.
madbadger said:
The falling bit is pretty straight forward and if you keep your legs together on landing, and roll as practiced, you can't go too far wrong.
Isn't there a bit between "falling" and "landing" missing there?
I wear different varieties of Irvin GQ's finest pretty much every
time I go flying, and as yet nothing has inclined me to step outside.
Still, the gravity-tempter brigade seem to get a hell of a kick
out of it, so each to his own. You'll never know unless you try it.
madbadger said:
........if you keep your legs together on landing, and roll as practiced, you can't go too far wrong.
You say that - the first time I went up the last thing the instructor said to me was "remember when you see the ground there is another 4 feet to go, it is a wheat field". Guess who landed in the only field that had been cut that week
I did parachuting a few times to see if it would help me get over my being sh1t scared of heights. Since jumping I would jump out of a plane any day but still won't go up a ladder so it was not much of a success in that way. It is one of those things that everyone needs to do at least once, driving cars fast is lame by comparisson.
Do it, I did mine in Australia and loved it - it was a really beautiful clear morning and a beach landing. You could see humpback whales from the plane on the way up and the whole experience was absolutely awesome.
In contrast, an Aussie colleague showed me the video of his jump that he did from a helicopter in the Swiss Alps and he fell between the snow capped mountains into a clearing in the forest below, which looked equally cool.
Half of it is about the adrenaline of the freefall, and the second half just drifting and taking in the views and chatting to the guy in tandem.
Not sure I'd fancy going on my own though, I'd rather let somebody else worry about remembering the parachute!
In contrast, an Aussie colleague showed me the video of his jump that he did from a helicopter in the Swiss Alps and he fell between the snow capped mountains into a clearing in the forest below, which looked equally cool.
Half of it is about the adrenaline of the freefall, and the second half just drifting and taking in the views and chatting to the guy in tandem.
Not sure I'd fancy going on my own though, I'd rather let somebody else worry about remembering the parachute!
MBH said:
a strong contender on the list of "things that don't involve racing cars but that give you a serious thrill"
if there are any gassers that are regulars, or indeed know anything about this I'd be most intrigued to find out more. Toying with doing the AFF in Spain in April/May.
Is this a good idea? is it safe? am I mad?
Yes, go for it. I did my AFF in Ampuriabrava, great dropzone, good atmosphere. Now got a twin otter as well as 2 porters which are slower to 13000.
The course itself is great fun, each level is geared towards a qualifying jump where you have to do 2 x 360 degree turns, 2 backflips and a track where you can feel the acceleration as you go from 120 to about 160mph in a second or so.
Is it safe ? well yes, lots of others sports carry a far higher risk. The reserve chute has to be opened, checked and repacked by a master rigger every few months. An AAD, automatic deployment device is also used on most chutes so if you're unconscious your chute will deploy at 1000 feet.
Had a couple of tricky moments, drogue chute got wrapped around the main chute, looked bad but I landed it, bloody hard landing though. Another was a bad spot by the jumpmaster putting us out over the town with the wind blowing us out to sea, stuck with it and made the perimeter of the airfield, half the load landed on the beach !
This is Empuria, airfield at bottom left of the town.
I did my AFF (Accelerated Free Fall) in Houston a couple of years ago, and would thoroughly recommend it.
6 hours in a clas room then thrown out of a plane at 14000ft.
You have an instructor on either side to help you keep control, but once you pull the rip cord you are on your own to land (well, you have an ear piece and a guy telling you when to "flare" just before you land).
One hell of a rush, especially when you exit the plane and just plummet. Very noisy in free fall, followed by incredible serenity after opening your chute.
Do it!
6 hours in a clas room then thrown out of a plane at 14000ft.
You have an instructor on either side to help you keep control, but once you pull the rip cord you are on your own to land (well, you have an ear piece and a guy telling you when to "flare" just before you land).
One hell of a rush, especially when you exit the plane and just plummet. Very noisy in free fall, followed by incredible serenity after opening your chute.
Do it!
smiley on the title? Do you find skydiving distateful or something?!)
Hi There!
Have 12 years of skydiving experience, as started when I joined the Army (Airborne Forces).
Still jump now and have also done one 'BASE' jump, although this was some time after I left the forces!
My ultimate ambition is to do the CN Tower in Toronto!
Feel free to mail me if you want any assistance.
Cerby4.5
Have 12 years of skydiving experience, as started when I joined the Army (Airborne Forces).
Still jump now and have also done one 'BASE' jump, although this was some time after I left the forces!
My ultimate ambition is to do the CN Tower in Toronto!
Feel free to mail me if you want any assistance.
Cerby4.5
Ribol said:
........if you keep your legs together on landing, and roll as practiced, you can't go too far wrong.
You say that - the first time I went up the last thing the instructor said to me was "remember when you see the ground there is another 4 feet to go, it is a wheat field". Guess who landed in the only field that had been cut that week
I did parachuting a few times to see if it would help me get over my being sh1t scared of heights. Since jumping I would jump out of a plane any day but still won't go up a ladder so it was not much of a success in that way. It is one of those things that everyone needs to do at least once, driving cars fast is lame by comparisson.
On one jump I had a very poor aim and out of 4000 Acres of nice soft field I landed on the tiny strip of concrete runway down the middle of it.
Wasn't really a problem but I was a bit worried at about 4 feet off the ground
It's been said that falling isn't a problem, it's the sudden stop at the end.
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