Skydive
Pilots say there's no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I disagree.
Few acts push the edge of human existance more than hurling yourself out of an airplane thousands of feet above the ground, with just some cloth and string (i.e. your parachute) to arrest your fall and bring you to a safe stop on terra firma. Few acts are more thrilling, few will make you feel so alive.
Skydiving is inherently not a safe thing to do, but according to the United States Parachute Organization safety in skydiving usually depends on the good preparation and judgement of the individual. Equipment failures or bad luck rarely cause mishaps.
In order to skydive, you must be 18 years of age (minors 16 and up may be allowed under some circumstances) and be in good health. You should not be taking any medication that impairs your judgement. You should not jump if you have been SCUBA diving within the last 24-48 hours. This is because you build up excess nitrogen in your blood while SCUBAing, and the lower pressures at altitude can cause a case of the bends (you also should not take a commercial airplane or drive into mountains shortly after SCUBA activity). If you recently gave blood, you may also want to wait a day or two, because you will have less blood to transport oxygen through your body. Combined with the fact that there's less oxygen at altitude, this could impair your performance.
If you decide to take the plunge, sign up for a tandem jump at a reputable school. In a tandem jump, you and an instructor share a harness and parachute. Basically you ride down attached to the instructor's front side. For help in locating a school in the USA, use the USPA group member web page.
If you're not quite ready to jump out of a perfectly good airplane but still want to enjoy some of the experience of parachuting, you may want to consider a vertical wind tunnel such as the ones at Perris Valley Skydiving (Perris, CA) or SkyVenture (Orlando, FL). You will not get the rush of freefall - the initial acceleration as you first jump out of the plane - but you will experience the sensation of weightlessness as the pull of gravity is balanced by 100+mph wind pushing you upward.
Life is short. Live well.
Few acts push the edge of human existance more than hurling yourself out of an airplane thousands of feet above the ground, with just some cloth and string (i.e. your parachute) to arrest your fall and bring you to a safe stop on terra firma. Few acts are more thrilling, few will make you feel so alive.
Skydiving is inherently not a safe thing to do, but according to the United States Parachute Organization safety in skydiving usually depends on the good preparation and judgement of the individual. Equipment failures or bad luck rarely cause mishaps.
In order to skydive, you must be 18 years of age (minors 16 and up may be allowed under some circumstances) and be in good health. You should not be taking any medication that impairs your judgement. You should not jump if you have been SCUBA diving within the last 24-48 hours. This is because you build up excess nitrogen in your blood while SCUBAing, and the lower pressures at altitude can cause a case of the bends (you also should not take a commercial airplane or drive into mountains shortly after SCUBA activity). If you recently gave blood, you may also want to wait a day or two, because you will have less blood to transport oxygen through your body. Combined with the fact that there's less oxygen at altitude, this could impair your performance.
If you decide to take the plunge, sign up for a tandem jump at a reputable school. In a tandem jump, you and an instructor share a harness and parachute. Basically you ride down attached to the instructor's front side. For help in locating a school in the USA, use the USPA group member web page.
If you're not quite ready to jump out of a perfectly good airplane but still want to enjoy some of the experience of parachuting, you may want to consider a vertical wind tunnel such as the ones at Perris Valley Skydiving (Perris, CA) or SkyVenture (Orlando, FL). You will not get the rush of freefall - the initial acceleration as you first jump out of the plane - but you will experience the sensation of weightlessness as the pull of gravity is balanced by 100+mph wind pushing you upward.
Life is short. Live well.
posted at 11:25 PM
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