I’m really not sure what got me wanting to jump out of an airplane. It’s one of those things that I had always wanted to do, I just never had the money, or didn’t know where to go to do it. In April of ’99, it came up again, and I finally decided I would do it, just to say I had done it, and see what it was like. After a short amount of research, I came across Skydive Greene County in Xenia, Ohio. I told my roommate (Jon) and my friend Scott (Hereafter referred to as ‘Balki’ … I’ll explain later) what I was planning. They didn’t need much convincing. Balki said he had thought about doing it many times before, and Jon thought it sounded like fun. Finally the date was set for May 9th (yes, mother’s day…. Hi mom!!)
We showed up mid-afternoon on a beautiful, clear Sunday. Even though I’m writing this a few months after the fact, I still remember clearly, almost as soon as I got out of the car, I heard this strange noise, almost like a jet in the distance, followed by the sound a towel makes when someone snaps it at you. I looked up, and saw what must have been 40 canopies popping up all over the sky like popcorn! What a sight! I was thrilled and ready to go!
We were led back to a room with a TV and VCR, a bunch of forms placed in front of us, and a video was played for us to watch. Many people reading this may even know the video of which I speak: old guy with long gray hair and long gray beard telling you skydiving is dangerous (duh) and you could get hurt, killed, or even worse! Then we signed all these forms that said if we got hurt, killed, or even worse, we wouldn’t sue, our family couldn’t sue, and if we did, we’d have to pay for any damages awarded to ourselves (figure that one out!)
After all the legalities were out of the
way, we met our tandem masters and got suited up. My TM didn’t seem all
that thrilled to be there, Jon jumped with ‘The Boss’ (Jim West, DZO),
and Balki was paired up with Randy Sigulinsky (Awesome guy by the way, check
out his website) who had hair as long
as Balki’s!
So we all get into these really uncomfortable tandem harnesses, and after a short briefing, head for the plane. We would be jumping from the Beech: A nice twin-engine craft that can carry 12 jumpers to altitude in about 20 mins. I wasn’t really all that nervous. I didn’t have much to do on this jump, just enjoy the ride. I had plenty of time to think about everything on the ride up. I remember looking at my TM, and he looked like he was taking a nap! I didn’t whether to be upset by this, or take as a good sign, that he is so relaxed he can catch some shut-eye on the way up!
We got to 13,000 feet, and a few jumpers exited, I could feel the plane lurch as it lost the weight. I don’t remember what order the 3 of us exited, I just remember shuffling up to the door, and… "You ready to skydive?" I think all I did was nod my head "In the door!" The thought flashed through my mind "I am no kidding gonna do this" (Ok, so maybe ‘kidding’ was replaced with another word) then it was "Prop! Up! Down! ARCH!" and we were out!! It was the most awesome sight and feeling all at the same time! You can’t describe the feeling to someone who hasn’t done it, the closest you can get is that it just feels like you’re floating, not falling, from that altitude, you wouldn’t know you were moving at all it if wasn’t for the 120 MPH wind in your face and roaring in your ears! After a fast minute of freefall, my TM tapped me on the shoulders, telling me he was getting ready to pull. My freefall was over too quick, and I was abruptly (and I mean abruptly!) slowed to a nice 10-15 MPH. I looked around and could see for miles! We were at about 5,000 feet, my TM turned us toward the DZ, and I just enjoyed the view. We did a few hard turns (man those leg straps dig in!) and we flared a few times so I knew what we would do to land. I saw Jon and Balki floating around not too far from us. The landing was pretty good, not too rough. I got disconnected from the harness finally, and all I could say was "That was awesome!" I had a huge smile on my face for the next couple hours. Jon, Balki, and I talked about our experience, even when we stopped for dinner, Balki had to tell the waiter what we had just got done doing. All three of us were hooked, and had to do it again!