I had my fill of tandem jumps and decided it was time to make this new skydiving experience my new sport.  I signed up for a class to work on getting my skydiving license.  I arrived at the drop zone in the early morning on an incredibly hot Arizona day.  The class included me and another student, which was nice because we were able to get some personal attention from the instructors.

We did the ground school thing, which essentially came down to: arch, reach, pull and if necessary cut-away and pull the reserve.  The ground school instructor was also a fitness instructor, which somehow made me comfortable as I was familiar with their methodology of instruction.  The first jump of the day was a static line jump where you essentially climb out on the wing and a cord attached to the airplane pulls your parachute for you.  We had radio transmitters that communicated with an instructor on the ground who would talk you through the landing once the canopy is open.

I climbed out on the wing without much effort.  I needed to arch my body more and hold my head back.  I had good canopy control and had a “great stand-up landing” per the instructor.  An instructor in the airplane joked when we got to the ground that I was too relaxed from all of the tandem jumps.  I was now ready to do a practice rip cord pull, which is essentially going through the motions of arch, reach, pull while still doing a static line jump.

The other student performed the static line jump successfully as well.  We sat on the ground for a while deciding to do another jump later that day.  A few other skydivers had arrived at the drop zone so we got to watch them enjoy themselves on a few jumps.  A young, healthy, attractive skydiver that had arrived spent some time with the other student and I thought to myself that this young man was having one of the best days of his life.  He was glowing with youthful health and vigor.

It was late afternoon and it was time for our second jump.  I remember clearly while we were sitting on the ground having a question pop into my head almost like a whisper.  It was somewhat of a morbid scenario where two people in opposition to one another were cast out of an airplane along with a single parachute and only one would survive.  Given the scenario, the question was, “What do you do?”  From my competitive sports background and martial art training, the answer was quite simple: Kill the other person, get to the parachute and survive.  I did not think much of the thought, but it somehow helped in creating a determined mindset that was focused on what we were about to do.

The wind had picked up a bit by this time of day so the ride up was not as smooth as the first time.  I was jumping first again so when we got to altitude I went to climb out on the wing.  I went to step on the wheel as I had done before and the wheel was not secured disrupting my balance a bit causing me to become a bit unsteady on exit.  I wanted to do the arch, reach, pull before the shoot was pulled by the static line so I rushed my motions a little bit.

The canopy opened with a few line tangles so I bicycled out of them and started to fly down.  The instructor’s voice on the radio was a bit more serious than the first jump that day.  He exclaimed, “Left 180, NOW! Right 180, Left 180…” and this continued until I got to the ground.  I was out of the sky in the blink of an eye.  When I got to the ground, the ground school instructor ran over to me with a look of shock on her face and said that there had been an accident and that the other student did not make it.  My giant smile was instantly removed from my face.

The other student had made a mistake during the exit and pulled his reserve shoot just as the main shoot started to pull him back.  This caused his running shoes to get caught in the parachute and resulted in him falling to his death.  It was one of those split second timing accidents where a tenth of a second in timing in either direction or different shoes would have yielded a different result.

I was in shock.  I was feeling extremely high from the success of the second jump followed by an extreme low as a result of the tragedy.  The instructors reviewed the tape documenting the mistake that was made.  Approximately 35 people a year die in skydiving accidents, which is really a low number compared to all of the other things out there that kill people.

Although I did not know him until that day, I could tell that he understood why birds sing.  I felt the loss.  I felt terrible for his friends and family; however, I did not feel bad for him.  He was having the best day of his life.  You could just tell from the look on his face.  He loved skydiving and was having a fantastic time.  Out of all of the ways to die, I am confident that this is way he would have chosen for himself.  Someone who has never skydived before probably would not understand but he died doing something he loved and in that regard it was an honorable death.

My third experience skydiving was a few days after my second experience.  I decided to take my older sister for her birthday.  I picked her up in Phoenix, Arizona early in the morning and we drove south to get to the drop zone.  The sky was slightly overcast, which is rare in this part of Arizona but we were determined to make the best of it regardless.  She had been working out for a few months up to this point so her health was good enough to make the jump.  I could not wait to go again so off we went to fall from the sky.  I was the major sports participant in the family.  She had always been more of a sports fan than a sports participant but you only live once, as they say.

We arrived at the drop zone and were able to get on a plane in no time.  I am a bit of an independent and this was the third tandem jump I had done and I was really itching to do it on my own, however it was the most efficient solution for her birthday.  It is amazing to my how people are willing to do things that they are not normally willing to do with a few stories told with unfettered excitement.

I was absolutely charged yet calm and serene by the time we got to the appropriate altitude.  It was time to jump out the door and I was ready to go.  The cloud cover was just below our jumping altitude so we got to experience falling through a cloud.  It was not one of those super dense clouds that we could not see through but it was an added bonus to the day.

Again, I was in a state of serenity during freefall.  The canopy was open and I was in control of the reigns.  My sister and her instructor were not far behind so we were able to play a little due to our proximity in the sky.  The instructor quizzed me about the landing direction based on the wind direction.  It was more challenging to see the wind sock than I had expected.  Additionally, I was instructed on how to perform “S” turns on the approach and practiced the timing of the flare at the end.  We landed with less impact than stepping off of a curb.

When my sister got to the ground her face is all I needed to see if my gift of health and perspective was successful.  We chatted with the instructors for a few minutes and started to head back to Phoenix.  When we started to pull out of the facility a light rain began.  The joke was that we brought the rain down with us when we went through the cloud.  I have no idea as to the potential truth in this but it made for a good birthday story.  We were driving down the freeway with the windows down for probably 30 minutes before we even noticed all of the wind in the car.  Wind rushing past your body at 120 mph is much more intense than having the windows down at 75 mph.

I highly recommend taking friends and family skydiving regardless of their fitness.  It just seems to make everything better.  The mind becomes sharpened and less reactive and your body just feels better.  And everywhere you go there is a smile on your face.  It is a great bonding experience that will be remembered and appreciated for the rest of your lives.  Additionally, it serves as inspiration to keep up with physical training and exercise.

My sister was grateful for the experience and it seemed to give her a more healthy outlook on life, which was my secret objective for taking her with me.

The second time I went skydiving I decided to take my girlfriend who is the picture of health and fitness.  She was an athlete her whole life and had been in a wide number of sports activities.  The Arizona sky was absolutely perfect.  We arrived at the drop zone and were up in the air in about 15 minutes.  One of the instructors wanted to demonstrate the measures they would take in the event that someone freaks out in a bad way on the way down.  The basic idea was that they would simply hit you in the head and knock you out as their lives are at stake as well.  I smiled at the demonstration and did not have an issue with it.

The ride up seemed slow as we climbed to the right altitude to jump.  I just wanted to get to the top and jump out of the airplane.  In many ways it is curious on the ride up as the mind stops thinking about all of the trivial and mundane aspects of life and focuses on sort of a reconciliation of one’s life.  I find this to be one of the best activities for mental health.  I would almost go so far as to say that experiences skydiving are better at providing peace of mind and a sense of belonging to the planet than spending an entire year in church or meditation.  Skydiving is more personal and in the end it is a balance between you and the natural forces of the planet.

We finally arrived at the correct altitude so the instructor clipped onto the harness and in a matter of moments we were out of the door.  The first time I jumped with this instructor I had not realized it but I did not control my legs very well going outside the door and I had accidentally kicked him in the nuts.  He instructed me on the ground to essentially position myself into an iron cross as one would see when an Olympic gymnast would do the iron cross on the rings.  I was good with this position as I essentially became somewhat of an airplane platform.  Beside the amount of physical fitness required to do the iron cross on the rings is far more than doing it during free fall.

On the way down to earth I chose to try and adjust my hands to act as rudders to rotate us slightly on the way down.  The instructor had to counter the movement as he is really the one you want in charge of the flight.  As a result I stopped but I learned a little something from the experience.

When the canopy opened the instructor had me control the shoot for a while on the way down.  It is amazing how many g-forces one can generate by spiraling down in one direction or another.

We arrived at the ground and since I jumped first I got to watch my girlfriend come in and land.  She was absolutely speechless.  We all landed safely and got into the car to drive home.

My girlfriend seemed to be processing the event on the way back and did not know quite what to say.  She mentioned that during freefall it felt so good that she moaned.  I think that this was a surprise for her.  Additionally, she looked at me and started to say something and then stop.  I asked her to please continue and she said, “When we were falling I felt as though even if the parachute did not open that everything was going to be okay.”  I looked at her and smiled and said, “Exactly!”  She continued to say that she thinks that her life is in two phases; one, the life before skydiving and two, the life after skydiving.  The beneficial effects of skydiving on one’s physical and mental health and fitness cannot be understated.

The first time I went skydiving my little sister came into town and suggested that we go.  I was all about it.  She was not sure that she could do it unless I went first.  There is a certain level of comfort that she had since we were kids where she could follow me anywhere and get over whatever fears she may have.  It worked well for me.

We went to Marana, Arizona to do a tandem jump.  The facility had a number of ex-special forces individuals, who loved their job while taking their job seriously.  Again, they were all fit and appeared to be in top physical health.  You never know what you are to expect when venturing into uncharted territory so it was bound to be an interesting day.  We were good going up in the plane within seconds of exiting the aircraft I was instantly hooked.  This was to be my new sport.  It was the best feeling I had ever experienced in my life.

When we touched down and she stopped hugging the person she jumped with we just looked at one another in awe.  We both got the message and we were off to meet the rest of the family in order to discuss our adventure.  It was like we were recharged by the pull back to earth.  Afterward, people seemed to be drawn to us in ways I had never experienced.  We were free, happy, and healthy with our eyes wide open.

I did not sleep very much that night.  I laid out on some patio furniture in the back yard and just looked at the sky all night in absolute awe over the experience.  I just wanted to get back into the air.  I felt like a kid again, looking at the floor and pretending that the tile were sections of farmland right before the jump.  My Dad was so happy for me because I had finally found something that I absolutely loved to do.  He was a commercial airline pilot and had dropped off many skydivers back in the day and would race them to the ground with the airplane but had never jumped himself.  I have wanted to take him jumping ever since, however, his fitness level is not quite where it needs to be.  My Mom was scared for us after the fact, which is pretty typical behavior for her.  This is why we did not tell anyone what we were doing until we touched down.  She was happy for us but still had maternal concern.