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Skydiving – we both did it and lived to write about it too!
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And we're off...
Russell Dandridge also contributed to this story
It’s on just about everyone’s bucket list even if you’re scared to death to do it. For folks in Dallas however, there are no more excuses why you can’t go skydiving since Skydive Dallas is nearby and just waiting to take you up.
The most important words you’ll learn will be 1, 2, arch and then away you’ll go. All this within only about a four hour period from when you arrived and you and your instructor will be jumping out of a plane anywhere from 10,000 to 13,000 feet.
Recent first-time skydiver Russell Dandridge says, “Skydiving is about what happens during the middle and that’s an amazing thing. The other stages; getting there, the beginning; doing it, that’s the middle I’m talking about and then feeling the rush for days after you have had the experience and that’s the end, at least for most people who can say they finally did it.”
For first-time skydivers you will do what is called a tandem jump, which means you will jump with an instructor after a short instruction, which includes learning how to jump out of the plane and learning how to land either on your butt or on your feet depending on what the instructor tells you during the descent.
With recent statistics showing that there were about 2.5 million jumps alone in 2007, Skydive Dallas is also part of a bigger organization in the United States called the U.S. Parachute Association, with hundreds of facilities around the country.
“It’s funny because everyone says how dangerous it is, but I kept thinking it is not anymore dangerous than driving a car or some of the other unbelievable extreme sports folks do,” Dandridge says. “Plus I felt safe since it is part of the USPA and they have strong regulations.”
Many people skydive because they’re afraid of heights, but Dandridge adds that had nothing to do with it for him, but even so, he says there is no sudden drop feeling at such a high rate of speed
“The air acts almost like a cushion, supporting your body as you fly through the air.”
He does note that some folks feel as if they are losing their breath, but they’re really not, it’s just the rush of air and adrenaline so if you relax and breathe normally through your nose or mouth you’re fine.
“Skydiving really has a profound affect on people that jump for the first time… it’s a feeling that’s hard to put into words – pretty powerful stuff,” says USPA spokesperson Robert Arends.
At Skydive Dallas, the company uses a fast turbine powered TWIN engine aircraft, which takes around 20 minutes to get to the altitude for jumping. As you’re in the air you are harnessed to your tandem instructor and when you jump, well, as Dandridge enthuses, “It’s 60 of the best seconds of your life.”
The parachute is deployed after about one minute of 100 mile per hour freefalling or 1,000 feet every six seconds, which is followed by a three to four minute slow descent starting at around 5,000 feet and carrying you to a soft landing .
One of the reason for the softer landing these days is that round parachutes are not used anymore, instead these have been replaced with rectangular "ram-air" canopies that have better directional control. The parachute fabrics are also made out of a more durable zero-porosity nylon fabric.
“I just put on my jumpsuit, helmet and goggles, which came in handy when freefalling at 150 miles per hour, and the instructor took care of the rest,” Dandridge explains.
Maybe it’s time for you to mark skydiving off your bucket list, but wondering if you're physically fit and ready for your first jump? Arends explains, “All participants in skydiving must meet the USPA's Basic Safety Requirements for medical fitness. A person should be in good health and physical condition to skydive and should not be on medication which could affect judgment or performance. Some medical conditions can be properly managed if the instructor knows about them.”
It is also important to add that at all USPA jump facilities, including Skydive Dallas, do incorporate USPA policies and, as Ed Scott, Executive director of USPA, says, that goes for every skydiver in the nation, as well as coaches, instructors, safety and training advisors, drop zone owners, riggers, pilots, manufacturers and gear distributors.
“My instructor wrote ‘Great smooth exit! Great freefall! Perfect Landing! Great jump’ in my logbook,” concludes Dandridge. “Even if he was just being nice it felt like a good, smooth jump to me. Good enough, in fact that I plan to do it again very soon.”
Skydive Dallas
1039 PR 438
Whitewright, Dallas 75491
1-800-Skydive (Dallas only)
1-903-364-5103
www.skydivedallas.com
USPA – United States Parachute Association
www.uspa.org
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