jumpgod 0 #26 May 6, 2003 i'm a daredevil to begin with but as a kid, i used to sit up on my swingset and watch the local parachute club (round canopies at the time) fly down from above. sometimes they would land off and my family and i would give them a ride back to the DZ. so after watching all those years, i turned 18 and when up and did AFF. after college, bought my rigg and here i am....i wouldn't be me without skydiving. jg Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jlkilpatrick 0 #27 May 6, 2003 My older brother had talked about jumping for years, but never followed through with it. I decided to buy him a tandem as a present, and went with him and did a tandem myself to make sure he did it. I had never seriously considered jumping until a week before we went. About three seconds or so into freefall, I knew that I had blown all my near-term plans and budgetary considerations :) Turns out that just less than two years later, I'm working on getting a C license, and my brother is working on his B. Go figure! Blue Skies! Luke Don't just eat a hamburger, eat the HELL out of it! -Ivan Stang Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mirage62 0 #28 May 7, 2003 I had been racing moto-x for twenty plus years, my grandmother was getting ready to beat me so on a dinner room dare I agreed to AFF I. I had a brand new 97 CR that almost never got rode after that jump. I still miss the people racing but the great thing about jumping is that age isn't as big part of winning, you can alway s get better jumping!Kevin Keenan is my hero, a double FUP, he does so much with so little Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JJohnson 0 #29 May 7, 2003 Special forces??? That's kinda like special education or special olympics for Army ain't it? BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!! oh I kill myself. Semper Fi brother.JJ "Call me Darth Balls" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #30 May 7, 2003 I was in the Air Force and was severely underpaid. Jump pay was an extra $55 a month and since in my carreer field we had to teach aircrew how to use their parachutes and survival equipment they allowed me to go play with the Army for 3 weeks and get my jump wings. They would not let me jump enough at the base even though I volunteered to do the demo jumps for some of the other instructors so I went to the local drop zone where I managed to spend far more than my extra jump pay paying to jump out of civilian planes. Amazon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
calphoto 0 #31 May 8, 2003 A jumper cruised by my cubicle one day, saw my pictures of planes I flew/fly, and dropped a card on my desk from a local DZ. A year later, needing a weekend job, I stopped up and talked to the DZO. He tried to scare me away with tales of jumping gone astray, including the time a jumper took the tail off a plane he was flying. I ended up flying a T-Bone for him for a couple of years. I even made a bunch of jumps when I finally could train up another jump pilot. Then I made it a full time thing for a couple of years more. Now I drive a desk, and fly the company planes on weekends, but hope to make it out to a SoCal DZ soon to see if they need an extra driver. Jumpers are the best people in the world. My first DZ will be my home forever, and the DZO a very good friend. Someday I will dump jumpers full time again. Till then, if you are going to be a DZO, count your pennnies, cherish your friends, worship your customers, treat your pilots and instructors well, maintain your planes, be honest with yourself, and always tell it straight. You will be a better person than most of the DZO's around. Skydiving operations are non-profit operations, whether they like it or not. But you don't have to lie or cheat people to have a great operation. Good luck. Give me a buzz if you need a driver.Hartwood Paracenter - The closest DZ to DC! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blahr 0 #32 June 1, 2003 Watching Cliff, Woody, and Norm do it on Cheers! I figured if Cliff Clavan can do it so can I!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
icemaker 0 #33 June 1, 2003 I had wanted to do this since I was very young and went to an air show and watched them jump in. Almost two years ago a gentleman that worked in the same office complex that I know came down to sell me a ticket for a drawing. The fourth prize was a tandem jump. I said this is what I want to win. He said really, Would you like to make a jump? I said yes! He left and came back in about 15 and handed me a card and said here are the directions to the DZ be there on Saturday at 9:00 for training. I ask him so what are you an instructor? He said yes as a matter of fact I am. I will take you up on your tandem. Well in about two weeks it will be two years since my first jump. I am about to reach 400 in total jumps and have yet to get the smile off my face. I love this stuff! Icemaker Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sducoach 0 #34 June 2, 2003 I became a flight instructor in 1973. After getting all the instructor ratings I could I started teaching aerobatics. Had a student become disoriented doing a snap roll and watched from the back seat as the stick bounced around from stop to stop thinking "he'll get it pretty soon". When he recovered it was back to the airport. I asked him "Randy, were you a little disoriented being upside down and in a spiral? It looked like you were trying to recover but did not see that we were on our back." His response....... Hell no! I was trying to get the seatbelt off! I was gonna jump out!! My first thought was, well I'd better try one of these parachutes we wear BEFORE I need it. Thanks to Jim Garrison (flying in Heaven now) I quit teaching, lost a wife (thank you Jim) and here we are. Thanks for the reminder. Blues, J.E.James 4:8 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JCoonce 0 #35 August 14, 2003 In high school, I used to pretend I was skydiving while swimming - cause that's what my best friend (now husband) told me it was like after his 18th birthday tandem jump. I was only 16 and could only dream of flying. When I turned 18, my parents made a valid point that if I can afford a jump, then I can afford to live without any financial assistance from them.... So... as soon as I finished graduate school, we got married, and we both had jobs - Daniel and I decided to scratch "make a skydive" off of our list of 101 things to do (Aug. 17, 2002). Little did we know that our one AFF jump would turn into 3 AFF jumps in that same weekend - followed by the completion of AFF the next weekend! We threw away the list of things to do (a picnic ontop of Stone Mountain just didn't sounds as exciting anymore) - and we have been at the dropzone every weekend since. Now, I truly appreciate how lucky we are to have fallen in love with skydiving together. Janet Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deefly 0 #36 August 14, 2003 A friend and I were partying with jumpers at my old DZ, there first year they were open. The owner came over and asked us to pack for them. After one summer packing they let us jump! The rest is history! Deefly Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brains 2 #37 August 14, 2003 A girl i was dating wanted to go so i took her for her b-day. After landing i paid for all of my aff right then and there. I was hooked. She never jumped again and we aren't together anymore either On a side note, JCoonce, i have watched the sun rise from the top of stone mountain many, many times. It IS something you should do.( I used to live in Duluth and i worked in Lawrenceville right next to the Publix dist. warehouse.) Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kramer 0 #38 August 14, 2003 Ever since I was a little kid, I've told myself "On my 21st Birthday, I'm skydiving". Well, I couldn't wait that long, went a few weeks ago at the age of 19. -Kramer The FAKE KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lazyfrog 0 #39 August 14, 2003 always wanted to do it... went to florida last year and wanted to do a tandem for my B day... did 3 the same day, and continued next day with ground school and 2 jumps...---------- Fumer tue, péter pue ------------- ourson #10, Mosquito Uno, CBT 579 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FrogNog 1 #40 August 14, 2003 On Slashdot, I read about the guys at Skydive Arizona who work over old cars and drop them out of airplanes in the desert. Later it was presented as some sort of "green protest" when they got 'hold of an SUV or two. The second time in a couple months I saw the topic on Slashdot, I bought the DVD figuring "20 bucks for an entertaining vid? Sure." The DVD I bought was "Good Stuff", and as many of you know it had very little to do with dropping cars in the desert. What it had was just too cool. Combine that with some other reasons for me to be trying new stuff, and I got started on my S/L course. (I'm 17 jumps in, working on turns now. [Yeah, I know.]) I think most of the credit, then, goes to the Flyboyz. :) -=-=-=-=- Pull. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freakous 0 #41 August 14, 2003 Cause the door was open! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vt1977 0 #42 August 14, 2003 My first jump was my 16th birthday present from my father! He did about 120 jumps in the 1960s and had always told me that when I was 16 it would be my turn. I don't think he ever expected me to do more than one jump (if that) but he loves the fact that I'm still jumping although I've yet to persude him to get his knees back in the breeze! Vicki Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phonics1981 0 #43 August 14, 2003 Ive wanted to do it as long as I can remember but never wanted to get a 'Quick Fix' by doing a tandem so I saved until I could afford to pay for an AFF course in full and this year aged 21 i started and finished my AFF in May. ------------------------------------------------------ "Ive given up on sigs cos I make a mess of them!" ------------------------------------------------------ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jkcarr 0 #44 August 14, 2003 It was a long time in the making....Anything with flight fascinated me as a child - planes, parachutes, birds, etc. I would jump from the tops of tornado slides, doing front flips out of tall trees, (some landings were worse than others) anything to be airborne for mere seconds. What finally happened was I pooled a bunch of supposed crazy people at work to come along and skydive. Of course everyone in the talk stages was in for it. When I came back after doing some research I again took a poll. About half of the initial bunch agreed. O.K., about a week later I posted a sign up sheet and asked for the deposit money. Slightly less than what I had hoped for. Still, by the day before, a dozen people had signed up and handed me over their deposit money (I had long since sent the check covering ten people to the DZ). Well, THE day arrived, and how many show??? Four... Yes, Four. We went, we jumped, and the DZ was nice enough to not keep the nonrefundable deposit. We went out to celebrate and treated ourselves to some great food, good wine, and embelished the story for anyone who would listen. This all done on my non-skydiving friends deposit. (They wouldn't know we had it refunded, right) Do think think that being that is was the middle of November and obscenely cold had anything to do with the low turn out? there are dreams...and there is destiny Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bkdice 0 #45 August 14, 2003 I always wanted to know what it was like to fly. In 1999, my boyfriend at the time took me to "get it out of my system". HA! Well, I fell in love with the sport the following summer when I did AFF. Fell out of love with the boyfriend that fall. Took me a year to get in 30 jumps and get rid of the boyfriend. Since then, I've fallen in love with a skydiver and my jump numbers are now steadily climbing every weekend. Life is good. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
selbbub78 0 #46 August 14, 2003 I've been caving for a long time, last year in June, i was on a cave trip in New York State with some people, when another caver just happened to mention that he started skydiving. I told him how awesome that was, and how i have always wanted to do it, and how it was on my list of things to do before I die."Women fake orgasms - men fake whole relationships" – Sharon Stone "The world is my dropzone" (wise crewdog quote) "The light dims, until full darkness pierces into the world."-KDM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kris12 0 #47 August 14, 2003 A few years ago a friend asked if I wanted to go. I couldn't at the time as I had no money, but they weren't able to go either (they got winded out). Then last April, he asked again. I finally was able to afford it. A week or two before the jump, the Golden Knights did a demo in Veteran Stadium and that just made me want to jump even more. I had a great tandem and have not stopped since. 2 weeks after my first tandem, I had my father (who apparently has always wanted to go skydiving [must be where I get it from]) and sister (who has kept jumping with me) out for their first tandems. My father just did his first AFF jump (was a gift from my sister and I) - but, he unfortunately will not be keeping it up at this point. So, someone else got me into skydiving and I returned the favor by getting another person into it. Has this happened to anyone else? kristen swooo #3 MB #3587 P.M.S. #66 "so let go, jump in...what're you waiting for? it's all right 'cause there's beauty in the breakdown" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aero04 0 #48 August 14, 2003 I never thought about it until I was around 15. Coming through Beaumont, Texas one day I saw some parachutes in the air and thought that might be fun. Made plans when I was 18 to make that first jump. 4 days after my 18th birthday I made that jump. Lack of money kept me away for 4 years and summer of 2001 I started up again. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiverRick 0 #49 August 14, 2003 I was living close to a dz when I was young. I got the bug when I was 5 or 6 years of age. Didn't jump until I was 23 (1981). As soon as I landed I wanted to kick myself for wasting 5 years. I could have jumped when I was 18. never pull low......unless you are Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
racer42 0 #50 August 14, 2003 Started my mid life crisis early at the age of thirty. Never thought about skydiving. Did my first tandem at 40 and ever since then... it's up and then down.. and then up....... and then down.... and back up and then back down.......L.A.S.T. #24 Co-Founder Biscuit Brothers Freefly Team Electric Toaster #3 Co-Founder Team Non Sequitor Co-Founder Team Happy Sock Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
