Oh my god, I’m going to die - Jump 1: AFF Level 1

I find it almost impossible to accurately describe how I felt in the lead up to the first jump. I could say excited, terrified, nervous, hyper or a hundred other adjectives, but non of them would really do it justice. The nerves and the excitement started a few days before, right around the time that I hung up the phone with the sky diving center and told Bryce it was all booked. That was when the reality set in, that in less than a weeks time I was going to voluntarily throw myself out of an airplane with little other than a piece of fabric to save me.

With hindsight, I would probably recommend to people that are thinking of doing their first jump that they get someone else to drive them to the drop zone. With the adrenaline, caffeine and nicotine going through my system, I think I did the whole drive at nearly 120mph, it would have been faster but the cars governor kept kicking in. I was partially in a daze as I drove us both to the sky dive center, although, it was early morning, and as numerous friends, acquaintances and employers will testify, I am not a morning person.

The approach to the Perris Valley airport was a strange one, I don’t know what I expected, but this place was not it. We turned off from the nice regular paved road onto what was effectively one big dirt track leading to what seems to be fields and nothing more. My initial thought was “Holy crap, I’m going to die, I’m trusting my life to a sky dive center that’s probably a tin hut and a jump master called Bubba”. It turned out my initial impression of the place was inaccurate, as out of sight from the road their was a whole nice area with a few sky dive centers, a bar, restaurant, shop, swimming pool and children’s play area, but still, it took a while for my initial thoughts to subside to the voice of reason.

Training:
The AFF Level One instruction was pretty simple, there wasn’t a large amount of ground to cover and most of the focus was simply on covering what limited material there was, again, and again, and again, and again, and again until it became so firmly rooted in our minds that it almost became second instinct. For a little bit more information about what was covered in the AFF Level One training, then I recommend you head over to the Jim Wallace AFF1 Guide here, but in short, the focus was how to pull and how to cut away, or to put it another way, how to not die and what to do if that part goes wrong.

In the class room environment I was fine, I remembered the processes, how to perform the various checks, the sequence of maneuvers when leaving the craft, in short, everything I needed to be able to take my first jump. Unfortunately all of that left my head when I sat down with the exam paper in front of me. But, never less, I passed and was officially allowed to make an attempted suicide attempt, oops, skydiving jump. It was now time to get fitted and kitted ready for big moment, and this is when the nerves started kicking in. Now it was time to kill a little bit of time until our flight ticket was called.

The Jump:
We were fitted into some snazzy jumpsuits, furnished with chest and wrist altimeters, handed some goggles that immediately started steaming up (I was told that was due to how much I was sweating), given a helmet that looked like it would be as much use as a paper pirates hat if something went wrong, and finally strapped into a big heavy parachute. (As a little foot note, for people looking to get into the sport of Skydiving, parachute refers to the entire thing, the harness and rigging, the main canopy and the reserve canopy, what most people call a parachute is actually called a canopy).

At this point I was in a daze, the nerves had fully kicked in and I was fairly oblivious to most things going on around me. We were led to the dummy aircraft to perform a final practice of our exit and dive positions, which we had to do a few times to show we had it locked in, and then it was onto the plane. At this point I am honestly surprised I didn’t soil myself, even writing this I can feel again how terrified I was, I had sweat rushing out of every pore, I was shaking a small amount, I wanted my mummy.

As the plane started rising, I was aware enough to look around and take in how full it was, it was a lot bigger than I expected, accommodating about 30 people in very intimate proximity, certainly no place to be shy and need your own personal space. At 2500ft I was expected to turn to my main jump master and report the altitude and the significance of this altitude (2500ft, the final time to ensure you have a safe, land able, controllable canopy, and if not to cut away), I then had to wait and report in at 5000ft with the altitude and significance (5000ft, the point at which you have finished free fall and perform your pull), lastly my main jump master had me run through my jump procedures and checks (crouch in the door way, perform my hotel checks, exit the aircraft, get the correct body position, count to five, breathe, check and report altitude, perform three practice touches to the pull ‘dongle’, report altitude, smile, keep reporting altitude and breathing until 6000ft, signal no more manouvers, lock onto the altimeter, at 5000ft wave off and pull).

I was starting to calm down a little at this point, but then around 5500ft, they opened the aircraft door for some low altitude jumpers (which I later discovered was called a hop-n-pop), this was an unnerving experience for me, being on an aircraft with an open door, being able to look out of it and see land, not something which my brain was fully prepared to deal with. Anyway, the hop-n-poppers left, the door was closed and once more the aircraft started gaining altitude. Once we reached 13,000ft the remaining skydivers took their positions and exited the aircraft. Showtime!

I’ve already said quite a few times how scared I was during the training and in the run up to jumping, but for all the times I’ve tried to describe how scared or nervous I was, none of that compared for how I felt when I had to stand up and start walking down the aircraft to the open door. I’m actually surprised my legs moved, I felt sure I was frozen in place and wouldn’t be able to get out of the seat, I wanted to hold onto anything I could, but the jump masters wouldn’t allow that. I will say though, at no time on the first jump did I consider not doing it, I think that because I was jumping first with Bryce following after (something decided by a few games of darts the day before), I knew I had to do it.

Once I was in position in the door, the actual process of leaving the aircraft was a lot less stressful than I expected. I bent down with my elbows resting on my nears, turned to my main jump master and shouted “Check in!” (hence why it’s called the hotel procedure), I then lent out of the aircraft, rocked back in and then out again and I was gone. Unfortunately it all went down hill from here, my body position was terrible, I tucked my knees up into my chest, had terrible back arch, everything was wrong. As my instructors wrote in my log book “Body position: Knees up butt down. Notes: Body position needs work, lots of signals + some improvement. 6000 no more, pull a bit high”. Once I pulled the cord and the canopy inflated, the sense of relief was amazing, it took me a few moments to remember that I had to run through my checks. The rest of the jump I went through in a daze, I had trouble locating the holding area before landing, and the landing itself was guided through completely on radio. The only part I really remember clearly is when my feet met the earth and I fell forwards flat on my face, I actually stayed in that position for a few minutes, thankful to have completed it without hurting myself.

I have to say, I was shocked when I discovered I had passed, I wasn’t complaining but I knew my body position was terrible. It turns out the most important things they’re looking for on your first jump is that your are aware of your surroundings and requirements, you maintain awareness of your altitude and that you successfully pull, the body position can be worked on in later jumps.

Now it was time to prepare for jump two.