Skydiving
Sunday, August 17th, 2008“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
No source of information is 100% trustworthy. It was already 8:40 a.m., and I was still searching for Skydive Moncton, in a residential area! Apparently, MapQuest has given me the wrong direction. I still can’t figure out why.
Now listen, drive along Elmwood Drive, go pass the Trans Canada Highway overpass, Irving gas station, Tim Horton’s, till you see a big sign on your right that says “Skydive Moncton.” I was lucky to be given directions from a guy in the neighbourhood, who was scraping off paints from his fence at that moment.
“Skydive Moncton, here I come!”
I felt a sense of relief to find out that the class has not started when I arrived. A piece of advice: “always check for method of payment, don’t just assume that they accept credit card.” I had to drive into town during lunch hour to get cash, certainly not a good idea if I’d have known better.
I attended a 5-hour course before my IAD (Instructor Assisted Deployment) jump. The first half of the course, we learned about the different steps, from when we were getting dressed up in a diving suit, boarding the plane, getting off the plane and hanging onto the wing, leaving the plane, making sure that the canopy is deployed properly, and finally, how to do the landing at a designated spot. Everything sounded great up to this point.
The second half of the course, we learned about “what if something goes wrong?” That sounds horrible, doesn’t it? As a matter of fact, we had to face the reality that things might not turn out as well as what we expected them to be.
“The few seconds after leaving the plane, the canopy should deploy itself, with the assistance of the instructor. If this doesn’t happen after six seconds, we should cut away the main canopy and pull out the reserve canopy instead. Assuming everything goes well, we want to check if we could stall, since we’ll need it for landing. We grab on the toggles with both hands and pull them all the way down. We should experience a moment of free fall if it works right. Next, we want to steer to make sure that we’re in control of the direction we’re moving into. We hold on to the toggles; pulling the right toggle allows us to turn right, and vice versa. Subsequently, we want to recognize the landing spot and the wind direction. Landing into the wind is what we aim for. Last but not least, when we’re about 12 to 15 ft above the ground, we want to pull the toggles from the top to bottom to completely stall the canopy, with our knees bend and put together, and get ready to roll if we need to.”
At the end of the course, we had to write a test to make sure that we understood what we learned in class, and hopefully, we’d apply them during the jump. It was raining cats and dogs around 3 p.m. No jump was allowed, especially if it was overcast, because we couldn’t tell where we were supposed to land! Oh no… please stop the rain, I’m gonna have to come back another day, which means renting a car and driving for 2 hours to get here…It was 4 p.m. There was nothing much we could do, but to wait for the sky to clear up. I took the opportunity to wander around town, went to the Champlain Place and had a meal at the Arby’s (knew it from the TV commercial but never get around to trying it). Here comes my meal…
Meanwhile, I was praying hard for nice weather before dark. Finally, the sun was out around 7 p.m. I waited for another 20 minutes before checking with Skydive Moncton if they’re planning on jumps. Whoo…whoo…they were sending experienced skydivers to check it out! It was 8 p.m. when I got there. Since we had limited daylight hours, I was in a hurry to get dressed up and be ready for the jump. My heart was pumping hard. Johnny, the instructor who went with us, was taking video of me on the ground. That helped to ease my tension a bit.
The final practice on the ground before the actual jump.
At 8:30 p.m., six of us (an instructor, a pilot, and four students) were on our way to 3,000 ft above sea level. I was the first one to jump. The moment the door popped open, I felt the rush of wind through the plane. I first extended my right foot onto the step, but could hardly positioned it due to the strong wind. You’ll be amazed how strong the wind could be at a high elevation even though it was calm on the ground. Next, my right arm reached out for the wing, followed by my left arm. Subsequently, I had both feet on the step, and slowly moved my way out, towards the tip of the wing. Soon enough, I was hanging onto the wing with just both arms. Once I received the signal from Johnny to let go, I experienced a few seconds of free fall before the canopy was fully deployed. My mind went blank at the very instant. However, keeping in mind that I had to practice what I’ve learned from class, I did the procedure checking my canopy at the sixth second. I saw a gorgeous canopy above me, wow… I was actually floating… in the sky!
I was pumped and nervous at the same time, as the plane took off.
Here we were, 3,000 ft above sea level for NO REASON!! The rush of wind and the bird’s-eye view of the city left me speechless…
Urgghh… I couldn’t position my foot well because of the strong wind.
“Leave the plane when it’s time to leave, to ensure a safe landing,” said Jim, our classroom instructor. Here I was, waiting for the signal to let go both arms, with my feet dangling in the air. I was literally living on the edge!
I was pretty certain that I screamed for one to two seconds, before performing the procedures checking my canopy. “Arch one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, check canopy (while turning right and looking to the top).”
The serenity in the sky was beyond descriptions. It reminded me of the tranquility I experienced in the underwater world when I scuba dived. I was overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the Mother Nature. God’s creations are simply fantastic!
One of the best part of skydiving was to flare in the sky, just to make sure that stalling would work during landing. The few seconds of free fall was marvelous… The 5-minute landing seemed to pass very quickly. I was kind of worried that I would end up landing on top of the roof! Hehe… thanks to the instructions I received from the ground, I was able to land smoothly on the field beside the runway, while looking out at the horizon! I didn’t even have to roll over :P Well done!
Take your pick, for a limited time offer. Hmm… wouldn’t it be nice to try them all? Oh well, only if I’ve a second stomach!
