We made an appointment for 8am and showed up to a foggy morning in Hollister. We had to wait for the fog to clear before we could jump. So after filling out all the waivers, we headed next door to Ding-a-Ling Cafe to kill some time.My instructor was Lorenzo and he took care of all the details. In the below picture, Lorenzo is getting me all belted up.
And, here we are all ready to go....
We walked out to the airplane at Hollister Airport.
Ready to go... My life is in Lorenzo's hands now.
When we took off, it was still pretty foggy, but we were cleared to go because the drop zone, which was 7 miles away, was clear. Below is a picture from the airplane showing the layer of fog.
Inside the plane were two long bench seats that we straddled. During the flight, each pair was clipped together. The plane held 5 pairs of tandem jumpers and two solo jumpers (that would be 12 jumpers for those who need help with the math). 
Lorenzo and I were at the back, so we got to watch everyone jump before we made the plunge. It was interesting to watch the other jumpers go out because there were at the door, then all of a sudden you hears a swoosh and they were gone. 
The initial jump out the plane wasn't too scary because I didn't look down. My instructions were to stand at the edge of the door, lean my head against my instructor (so not to get whip lash), grab my shoulder straps (so my arms don't hit anything on the way out), we counted to three, then jumped out. After we cleared the plane, Lorenzo tapped my shoulders to indicate I could open my arms out for free fall.
Lorenzo and I were at the back, so we got to watch everyone jump before we made the plunge. It was interesting to watch the other jumpers go out because there were at the door, then all of a sudden you hears a swoosh and they were gone. 
The initial jump out the plane wasn't too scary because I didn't look down. My instructions were to stand at the edge of the door, lean my head against my instructor (so not to get whip lash), grab my shoulder straps (so my arms don't hit anything on the way out), we counted to three, then jumped out. After we cleared the plane, Lorenzo tapped my shoulders to indicate I could open my arms out for free fall. We jumped from 15,000 feet, which allows for 60 seconds of free fall. It is windy falling at 120mph. At 5,500 feet, Lorenzo opened the parachute. I had my camera in my pocket (which had a zipper so it wouldn't fall out) and got some pictures during the parachute glide down. It was interesting to feel the temperature get colder when we got closer to the ground. Here is a picture of the ground from the parachute.
And here is Lorenzo and me under our blue parachute. It was a pretty cool ride down in the parachute with all the twists and turns that we did.
For the landing, I was told to keep my legs up so that Lorenzo could land, then he told me when I could put my feet down and I landed on my butt. This picture was taken by Chery's fiance who met us at the landing site to see us land.
Lorenzo does 5-9 jumps a day as an instructor. Now, that would be an interesting job to be jumping out of airplanes all day long. The only problem is if you have a bad day, you have a REALLY bad day.
Our whole group made it down safe and sound. It was amazing how accurate everyone was in their landing because we all landed right next to the bus that would take us back to the airport.After getting back to my car, I called Ed and the kids. Ryan's first question was "Mommy, did you get hurt." When I got home, the kids were excited to see the pictures, especially when they saw the airplane that I went in and the video taken from the sky. I wasn't able to upload the video here, but you can see it on my facebook page.
1 comment:
For the record, I didn't chicken out, I just didn't feel it was worth the $179 it would have cost me due to weight penalty.
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