last updated: 06/17/2010
For Fun
Who has not wanted to fly?
Me too. So I did!
It took 8 years of looking for a qualified person to jump with, until finally he appeared, thanks to a relative, in Hawaii. I felt completely safe with this professional jumpmaster on the tandom jump. We were strapped together in a harness, with 2 extra emergency chutes. The plane climbed to 14,000 ft, and we fell out of the hole in the plane. Incredible!! It was exhilerating, not frightening.
The first few minutes were very, very loud as we fell at about 120 mph. The noise was the wind. It was hard to breath for a few seconds because the air was rushing at us so fast. But I did get accustomed to it for the couple minutes of free fall. Don't know how long that was - there was no sense of time.
Then the chute opened ....... it was completely silent ...... not a sound. The plane was out of hearing range by now, and we were too high to hear noises of cars and boats. Indescribable!! Gracefully floating down over the ocean, the beach, the farm fields near the jump site. Landing softly as "Snowflakes Falling on Feathers". Ahhhhhhhhhhh.
If ever you get the chance, with a qualified tandom jumper, do it! And buy the video of your jump!
Getting strapped into the tandem parachute harness
Floating through the sky
On the ground
What a rush!