that first step is a doozy

What is it like to skydive?

do you want the short version, or the long version?

Skydivers often get asked what it is like to jump from a plane. In the question it tends to be “a perfectly good” airplane. This sets up answers mentioning that the planes out at drop zones don’t tend to be very shiny. Another common go to answer is that all planes are “perfectly good” until they hit the ground, and skydivers get out before that happens.

Beyond the cliched jokes, most freefall addicts will wax lyrical about the deep feeling of freedom which goes along with the obvious adrenaline rush of stepping out of a plane into the open air. Perhaps they’ll mention the challenge of controlling your body as you maneuver with other people in freefall to build formations. Maybe the incredibly heightened senses they experience around the deployment of their canopy. It’s likely there will be some reference to the inner glow of accomplishment when feet once again come back in contact with the Earth after a successful jump.

All of those things are the intense gloss of the entire process. It is natural to focus on the emotions of such an incredible experience. Not many skydivers begin to explain what it is like to fall from a plane with the nitty details of checking over your gear; ensuring that your automatic activation device is on, that the closing loops for your main and reserve parachutes are in good condition and that the pins are securely through them. They don’t mention stepping into your harness, routing the chest strap and adjusting the leg straps, putting on and checking your altimeter. No explanation of what dirt diving with your fellow jumpers is like, let alone the number of times you practice an exit at the mock-up of the plane door. No details of discussions about who’s going to be coming down the hill or who is going to be the rear float. Not many answers include information about break off and decision altitudes.

Maybe some skydivers will talk about the anxious calm which fills the back of a jump plane as everyone dons their helmets for the first 1,500 feet of the journey up to jump run. But I doubt that many would explain the sense of relief, especially on a really hot day, when the door is opened back up as the plane continues on its way into the sky. Some might talk of the excitement which grows and grows the closer to exit altitude the plane climbs, goggles and helmets go on once again and everyone begins the secret ritual of hand slaps and fist bumps. The yellow light might get a passing reference. Maybe so does shuffling towards the door on legs which may be numb from being jammed into this “perfectly good airplane” like a sardine.

The things which get all the focus is everything from the green light announcing that the plane is on jump run and ready to disgorge its load of humans into the air, to the moment all those humans are back on the ground.

But after that, skydivers are going through the process of packing their canopies and debriefing with their fellow jumpers. Once again checking their gear and ensuring that the next jump will once more be safe.

So what is it like to skydive?

Well, its doing something which will absolutely result in your death. Skydivers just wrap that experience up in risk mitigation. We strap ourselves into equipment which will avoid landing back on Earth too hard. We go through training to ensure we know how to react in dangerous situations. We communicate with everyone involved to ensure that we all knows what is going on. Most importantly we remain alert and aware through out a process which is nerve wracking, adrenaline pumping, wonderfully liberating and incredibly challenging.

Which all end up being things which you should do in every aspect of your life. Because that is going to end in your death too.