The Trickle - Skydive

WooooooooooHoooooooooo!!!!

So, there I was, falling through the atmosphere at about 130 miles per hour. On Sunday, I had the enormous pleasure of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, again. After spending several hours hanging around the Skydive PA hangar in Grove City, the sky cleared and the wind died down. I got suited up. A handful of minutes later I was in the air. I don't remember looking down as much the first time I jumped, about four years ago. This time, I was essentially unsupported by the structure of the plane as Don, my tandem instructor, sat at the edge. I looked straight down at a little less than three miles of air. It was awesome. Then Don tapped me on the shoulder and out we went. I was still looking straight down. Being outside the plane looking down was amazing. Starting to fall, still looking down was incredible - a moment of complete breathlessness followed by several more moments of breathlessness and a full minute of total exhilaration. (During my first jump, I sat more sideways and Dan (my tandem instructor for that jump) took us for a sideways roll. Amazing, but not looking straight down.) I was freefalling thinking this is the craziest thing any human being could do in any semblance of safety. I had that thought a lot in my minute-long drop and it was incredible. Almost 24 hours later and 13,500 feet closer to the ground, I still, from time to time, feel the feeling I had during that first moment out of the plane. Intense.