Our pilot slowed down the airspeed of the small 4-place airplane, immediately the door opened and air rushed into the cockpit, I wasn’t anticipating that. I hear the command “Legs out” from the Jumpmaster so I turn and sit perched in the door with legs dangling out freely. Then I hear “All the way out”, almost instinctively I place my left foot on the wheel of the Cessna 182, reach out with my right hand to get a firm grip on the strut of the plane’s wing, pull myself up and out to extend my right leg into the air stream and prepare to arch my back. WOW, I was instantly mesmerized at the beautiful view of the forests and lakes below as I was distracted from the moment enjoying the prop blast in my face like a pup sticking his head out of a car door. In a matter of seconds I’m startled out of my serenity when I feel a slap on my thigh and hear “Go!” It’s said that you never forget your first jump and that’s the case for me even from as far back as this first one in Michigan at Austin Lake Airport in 1969. Several thousand jumps later I’m still like that pup sniffing the air.
Welcome to SkydiveNittyGritty, a place for the sharing of first jump stories and the lowdown concerning all aspects of the sports of parachuting and skydiving, with a goal of enlightening everyone who is curious about them and the exhiliration that they can bring. I’ve met countless people who have always wanted to jump however hesitated because they had lots of questions, many unknowns that kept them from making that first leap. Well here’s the place to ask those questions from jumpers who have been there and have come back for more. I encourage everyone to share in the conversation with your experiences, questions, and answers; knowledge equals confidence and courage. If you have pictures and links to contribute they’re appreciated as well; however please self-monitor, nothing explicit or verging on the illegal.
Wishing you blue skies, gentle winds, and soft landings! – Larry D-6730
P.S. – I’m creating this blog as part of a Social Networking course, it’s a work in progress, so it may take me some time to bring all features online, I hope you will follow and contribute something during the process. Aloha
Brings back good memories of that July morning nearly two years ago… I’m ready to go again!
what a great idea. my first jump story is hilarious, so i’m looking forward to reading other’s.
warm, blue skies w/ tippy toe landings,
blanche
Nice blog Larry. how hard was it to put together?
Thanks Gail. I’m a bit challenged with programming however surprisingly the basics weren’t that difficult to grasp, just time consuming. I’m hoping to refine the page and add some features as I learn more. Blue skies!
Love it Wiss! Made me remember Jan putting me out on my first jump….thanks for posting it!
Blog looks great Larry!
Austin Lake…never got to jump there but I jumped a lot with the old crowd so I heard the stories. Made me feel like I had been there. I did make a “past” sunset hop and pop with my ParaCommander into Neuman’s field once with J. Plummer, Smitty and Brink. Vic Bunce at the controls. Of course they all had squares. lol But it cemented my “the new guy is all right” status. Case of beer!
Great post, Larry. I made my first jump in 1976, and compared to today’s methods, my experience was pretty much “Mayberry.” I landed in a tree, never even saw the dropzone. But hey, I was back the next week, ready for more.
Made my first jump over 10 years ago. Skydiving introduced me to some of my best friends, allowed me to travel across the country, and brought me together with the love of my life.
My first skydive led to meeting the love of my life and some of my best friends. 10 years of jumping and hundreds of adventures later- I am really glad I chose to be a skydiver. Great blog:)
Got to agree with Noelle, my first skydive led me to meeting the love of my life: premium beer. That stuff is good. Who’s the hippie standing in front of the Cessna? Aww, the good old days.
As far as that cocktail goes, reread the first sentence.
Aloha!!
Brings back some memories. Glad those days are over.
Great site, Wiss. Fun to read the stories. I look forward to more and may share the story of my first jump MANY years ago.
Oops, that’s Dwyer, of course!
Ron Partington, aka HBO
lets see, 1st jump was at Wisconsin Skydive in Oct 1996, 2 static line jumps. 2nd was a must cause someone told me the 2nd was scarier than the 1st. LIES!!
then my friend Patra Lattman who learned to skydive at the same DZ says oh shit the scary 1 is ur 1st off of the static line. 1st u must complete 5 static line jumps before u are cleared to do u’r 1st real ripcord deployment. that means if u don’t pull the bloody thing u’r main parachute will not deploy, WTF. that 1 went pretty good, that is until i reacted too fast reaching for the ripcord (did i mention i was pretty scared), oh yea this is after working over 20 yrs as an ironworker, yea high steel, those beams don’t look so big when u’r walking them 20-30-or 60 or more stories above the ground. anyway back to that ripcord that i missed, i don’t even remember that as i experienced brainoverload for the 1st time. so i must have a brain. so there i was on my back in freefall 3500ft thinking that this is a real good time to do something, anything, so i felt around where this ripcord thing is suppose to be and pulled, still on my back but i pulled anyway. not the best position to be in when u’r parachute deploys. my jumpmaster was’nt to happy with me either. i got hooked, 16 yrs and over 3000 jumps i’m still jumping out of perfectly good planes. now i take total strangers on there 1st skydive. really enjoy sharing there 1st skydive w/them…… oh my 1st jump i was 45 yrs old when i started learning this skydive thing, have met many great people in this sport, some will remain great friends forever. . did i mention jump #26 shit lets save that for another time…. remember don’t forget to pull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!