Anybody tried skydiving?

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I suddenly have the notion that I want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. If you'd have asked me a year ago I would have said whatever, but ask me now and I'd say I'm just waiting for warmer weather to go jump.
Anybody here done it? Do it? (Get your mind out of the gutter...) I've been reading up on how safe it is ect. and I'm not overly afraid of heights, but it seems to me that when it comes to actually step out from a solid plane and into the free fall, there's got to be that moment of hesitation. How do you get over that moment and do it? Any pointers? (From people who actually done it.)
Gonna go AAF style for those interested. Something I could see myself working to get my A License. But unsure of the cost. $275 every month for a few months is steep on my pocket book. (I know it gets cheaper, but still.....)
 
Skydiving? That's for pansies. This is what you really want to try... :cool:
I'll work my way up to that. You go first. Or be the guy holding the blue and red blue balloons half way through.
 
My wife has done it and it is in the plans for this summer.. One day jumping off a building or bridge sounds like a good idea to me... I don't know about the stepping off thing, I have never had an issue with doing stupid things :)

Nick.. you did hear that Corliss crashed recently.. broke both legs +
 
My wife has done it and it is in the plans for this summer.. One day jumping off a building or bridge sounds like a good idea to me... I don't know about the stepping off thing, I have never had an issue with doing stupid things :)

Nick.. you did hear that Corliss crashed recently.. broke both legs +
I somehow manage to do stupid stuff myself. Not so sure about BASE jumping. Let's just see how skydiving goes first.
Broke his legs? I'll bet he man enough to get up and walk away. ;)
I'm an adventurer. (Or at least I think I am.) Totally psyched about doing this. I'm just imagining that all will go well until I'm staring out the open door looking way down. And then taking that final step. Hopefully I'll do fine on the mental end, time will tell.
If I can, I'm totally posting pictures here.
 
Nick.. you did hear that Corliss crashed recently.. broke both legs +

No way! What happened? Kind of amazing that he only broke legs, whatever it was.

We were following some guys down to the Big Sandy trailhead in The Winds last year with gigantic packs on. We were kind of chuckling about it, thinking they were total noobs. But when we got to the trailhead they were parked right next to us. We did our ritual post-hike beer and chatted them up. Turned out they were up there base jumping off of peaks in squirrel suits just like this video! They were really nice and we exchanged some info but I've yet to see any videos. They said the legality of base jumping up there was a bit of a grey area and were reluctant to post anything on the interwebz. Still pretty cool though.
 
No way! What happened? Kind of amazing that he only broke legs, whatever it was.

We were following some guys down to the Big Sandy trailhead in The Winds last year with gigantic packs on. We were kind of chuckling about it, thinking they were total noobs. But when we got to the trailhead they were parked right next to us. We did our ritual post-hike beer and chatted them up. Turned out they were up there base jumping off of peaks in squirrel suits just like this video! They were really nice and we exchanged some info but I've yet to see any videos. They said the legality of base jumping up there was a bit of a grey area and were reluctant to post anything on the interwebz. Still pretty cool though.

The wilderness sign says No hang gliding... So squirrel fly is A-OK!!!! LOL! I always thought, if they lug a hang glider up there, they certainly deserve to jump off a cliff with it!!!

I'd love to see them flying off of those cliffs!!!
 
The wilderness sign says No hang gliding... So squirrel fly is A-OK!!!! LOL! I always thought, if they lug a hang glider up there, they certainly deserve to jump off a cliff with it!!!

I'd love to see them flying off of those cliffs!!!
I like the way you think. I more of a believer that if they can only hurt themselves, then let them go. If they make it they're happy, if they don't then it's only effects them.
(I know some will point to the SARS crew that has to go rescue the stupid. Touche.)
 
No way! What happened? Kind of amazing that he only broke legs, whatever it was.

We were following some guys down to the Big Sandy trailhead in The Winds last year with gigantic packs on. We were kind of chuckling about it, thinking they were total noobs. But when we got to the trailhead they were parked right next to us. We did our ritual post-hike beer and chatted them up. Turned out they were up there base jumping off of peaks in squirrel suits just like this video! They were really nice and we exchanged some info but I've yet to see any videos. They said the legality of base jumping up there was a bit of a grey area and were reluctant to post anything on the interwebz. Still pretty cool though.

I love watching the base jumpers, making it illegal is just annoying to me, they don't hurt anything (other than themselves), and it is cool to watch. :)
 
This should put this thread back on track. ;)
One of things I really want answered before I jump is how do people mentally handle the step out of the plane. When they are actually stepping out. Their brain has got to be saying, oh hell no. How do they mentally push past and do it anyway. I suppose I may not find a magic answer, but I'm interested in as many answers to this question as I can find. To that end I found this page on the net and found it an interesting read. I'm sharing it for those interested.
 
My wife says she didn't think about it, she was connected to the guy (buddy jump) and he counted to 3 and they went.. She also wanted out of the plane as it was making her sick :)
 
Yeah, kind of seems like one of those moments where you just turn off all logic and just do it. The more you think about it, the worse it would be. I'd probably practice by doing some cliff jumping and/or bungee if it wasn't prohibitively expensive.
 
I've always wanted to go skydiving and I have been looking at different companies for the last couple years. i just haven't had the money.
There is a company in Moab called Sky Dive Moab that I've looked at as well. I can't think of a cooler place to sky dive than around Moab and redrock country! That would be sick!
 
I've always wanted to go skydiving and I have been looking at different companies for the last couple years. i just haven't had the money.
There is a company in Moab called Sky Dive Moab that I've looked at as well. I can't think of a cooler place to sky dive than around Moab and redrock country! That would be sick!
Gotta agree with you on the scenery bit. Of course I'm in the midwest so for better or worse that's were I'll be starting.
 
I love watching the base jumpers, making it illegal is just annoying to me, they don't hurt anything (other than themselves), and it is cool to watch. :)

Whoa. Where's the GoPro footage from that incident!? I agree, I don't think it should be illegal. Looking up to see a guy flying quietly through the air wouldn't disrupt my wilderness experience one bit.
 
I like the way you think. I more of a believer that if they can only hurt themselves, then let them go. If they make it they're happy, if they don't then it's only effects them.
(I know some will point to the SARS crew that has to go rescue the stupid. Touche.)

This is the wrong attitude! There are very good reasons why base jumping is a grey area as they say and that is another way of saying it is not legal. I believe in obeying the rules that are set in place for the preserving of our beloved outdoors!
 
This is the wrong attitude! There are very good reasons why base jumping is a grey area as they say and that is another way of saying it is not legal. I believe in obeying the rules that are set in place for the preserving of our beloved outdoors!

To each their own as to beliefs. I tend to lean more towards just because it's "illegal" doesn't mean it should be.
I don't see how someone BASE jumping, kayaking, backpacking in the great outdoors necessarily damages our great outdoors. I would challenge you to consider what it is about BASE jumping that you believe goes against preserving our great outdoors. (The opposite of preserve in my mind is to do damage.)
I do agree with you because it's illegal people shouldn't do it. (Feel free to get the law changed, but not simply ignore the law.) I just don't agree with you that it should be illegal in the first place. Should it be illegal because it's dangerous? What about white water rafting? Or solo backpacking? These are dangerous as well, but I don't think they should be illegal either.
Not really trying to start an argument, but I'm intrigued with the your idea that this activity would go against "preserving" the great outdoors.
 
Went out the airstrip in Franklin IN. To Jerry's Skydiving Circus. (It was their opening day.)
Looked around talked with some of the guys. They all seemed pretty cool. I even took a ride up in a plane and watched a few of them jump out.
Took a few pictures. Here's one of me showing how tight of a squeeze it was. I sat with pilot on one side and the door on the other.
In a month or two I plan on going back and jumping.
P1050769_70_71_tonemappedSmall.jpg
 
Went out the airstrip in Franklin IN. To Jerry's Skydiving Circus. (It was their opening day.)
Looked around talked with some of the guys. They all seemed pretty cool. I even took a ride up in a plane and watched a few of them jump out.
Took a few pictures. Here's one of me showing how tight of a squeeze it was. I sat with pilot on one side and the door on the other.
In a month or two I plan on going back and jumping.

Nice. Even if you don't jump out of it, it's always a treat to get up in a small plane.
 
I jumped when I was 18, (a VERY long time ago) because I thought it would get me over my fear of heights. SILLY! Anyway, this was before the buddy jump system. I remember holding onto the strut while standing on the plane tire with my right leg floating in the air, thinking I would just forfeit the $100.00 I had just paid for my short morning of training and climb back into the plane. The pilot told me I had to jump because he didn't have the gas to stay up there, so I just let go. I had a one way radio strapped to me with someone giving me instructions on what to do. (One way radio because they didn't want to hear me screaming!)

My dad was a paratrooper in Airborne and he thought I was nuts!
 

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