Skydive!

[tinman]

After flying the jump plane for almost two years, I finally made the dive. All 12,000 feet of it. I thought with all my time in the jump plane, I could actually prepare myself for coming down without the plane. Not even close.
Now for all you who think this is the dumbest thing you can do, I wasn't to far away from your way of thinking for the last two years. I was 50/50 on the people who do this all the time. Seeing all these people and their videos, I kinda thought it was a waste of money. Not many people at our airport are sold on the idea of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane either. The only problem now is, I'm hooked. It's not cheap, but at least I can work off the jumps! I can now say don't knock it until you've tried it. It truly is an awesome experience, and I am going on to the solo.

 

[WrightAvia]

Congratulations! I got started jumping as a jump pilot myself.

Be careful out there! It's a great sport and a safe sport, just don't let it wreck your attitude as a jump pilot...because it will!

Good luck and welcome to the sport!

 

[avbug]

Blue Skies, Black Death!

It's about time.

 

[another cfii]

Way to waste all those hard earned bucks from flying for those crazy lunatics, huh?

Have you seen that video tape that showed the guy who opened his chute about 1000 feet and fully deployed right when he landed in a backyard? That was awesome!!

P.S.: One time i brought my jump pilot backup chute into office, my next student was pretty reluctant to fly with me that day

 

[Iceman21]

I wouldn't mind doing both, the flying of jumpers and the jumping.

Don't have the cash to jump and don't know where to look to fly jumpers. The two places here in the Chicago area fly turboprops.

 

[another cfii]

i don't think in mid-west or NE they'll jump in october cuz it's pretty cold up there. You may have to migrate down to TX or the west coast for some occasional jump pilot jobs.

 

[avbug]

Not true. Some of my best jump memories have been in mountain states in the dead of winter.

Often when it gets really cold, jumpers switch to hop n' pops. Our folks always did Paraski in the winter; jumps for accuracy to a 3 cm disc, and then a slalom ski event.

It doesn't matter how many layers you have on...18,000' out the door to terminal is cold in the winter.

I did it last spring in a tee shirt and got burns on my arms from the ice crystals. Setting aside the wisdom of jumping at that time of year in a tee shirt (it wasn't that cold on the ground, honest), it was refreshing.

 

[jumppilot03]

Being a jump pilot you always hear how people dont want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but you know as well as I that if they saw the squawk sheets on the planes they would be more than willing to take a flying leap.

 

[Flyingtoohigh]

I remember reading more than one NTSB report where the jump pilot had some sort of problem -- engine failure, etc. -- and the very first thing that happened was all the jumpers departed the airplane. What a great way to get your passengers to safety in a time of distress!

 

[sky37d]

Did you do this when you were skydiving?
skydiving

 

[avbug]

A DZ where I used to jump had several 400 series Cessna's, several 182's, a twin beech, and a doug. One day a load of students were in a 182, with a single jumpmaster for a static line jump. On departure, the engine quit. The jumpmaster popped the door and rolled out faster than the students could blink...which they didn't. The pilot was left with the door wide open, three students with eyes wide open, and a nice long dirt road that extended out from the runway across the desert, to land on.

Which he did.

The jumpmaster was fired before he could walk back to the parking lot.

As far as sex and skydiving, or nude skydiving in general...it's done. But...have you ever seen what happens when you leave a seatbelt outside the airplane, in flight? Need I say more?

 

[PA-44Typed]

I caught the same disease from flying jumpers, and now I am one of them!
As far as the expense goes, make a deal with the drop zone. It has worked for me as I haven’t paid for a single jump yet.
Blue Skies,
PA-44typed

-To the left is me on my first jump.

 

[EatSleepFly]

I'd like to get a part time job flying jumpers just so I don't have to pay for jumps. I had to sell my gear a few months ago to cover some bills- hopefully I can get recurrent in the spring. It is truely an amazing sport.

 

[tinman]

Our deal here, as a bonus, for every 100 jumpers the owner gives me a free jump, which I just used. Also for every person that shows up saying I sent them, is $25 towards a jump. I asked him after the jump about continuing(sp?) on he told me no problem we'll work out something. So hopefully no money out of pocket! I should be going again in the next couple of weeks. As for the weather, here in the southwest we go all year long. (No snow,Yeah buddy!!)

 

[machtuck]

keep jumping... I refuse to stop for over 11 years. I was told when I started : only bird $hit and dumb $hit fall from the sky??

 

[WrightAvia]

Yea...skydiving is great.

I had to make a solo jump today, as there was not enough people available at the time the plane was going up, to make a 3 or 4 way. The solo jump was still a blast...even though a bigger, more complicated jump would have been fun also. You can always find some fun or interesting things to do, while skydiving.