American Skydiving

When I was 18, my dad was finishing up his hours to get his private pilots license. At the time, being 18 and feeling like nothing could ever

happen to me, I felt I would have a lot of fun if I took up the sport of skydiving, a real adrenaline rush.

Back then the thought of jumping out of a plane at

anywhere from 10, 000-18, 000 feet , and flying through the air at 120-180 mph, seemed like a perfectly reasonable activity. Keep in mind, I was only 18, and I have

no doubt that my parents had no intention of allowing me to do that, they just had not told me no yet.

My dad died of a heart attack, not related to flying, the

next year and I just never got around to taking up skydiving after that. But I still, after all these years, feel a thrill when I watch someone jump out of a plane. After

watching George Bush (senior) go skydiving on his 80th birthday, I feel there may still be time for me.

Going to skydiving classes has been on my mind

recently, once again. I no longer have little kids, my youngest is now 22, so I don't have to worry about him. Now I think it may be my time. A little adrenaline rush

may be just what I need. And I can't think of a better way to get it.

You jump out of that plane, pull your pilot chute and hope it deploys your main canopy,

and if it doesn't, you just pull the cutaway handle and open your reserve chute. No problem. Then as your gliding across the landscape at around 50 mph, looking

for the dropzone, you drop down right on target. Talk about an adrenaline rush. I can just imagine how it would feel.

Going to class is the first step.

Depending on the type of skydiving you want to do - Tandem, Static Line, AFF (accelerated free fall) - you may spend anywhere from an hour to eight hours listening

and watching. There is a lot of complex gear and you need to know how to use it safely.

Learning basic physics about how the body and parachute work

together in the air at high speeds, learning how to track, how to work a drogue and how to use an altimeter are all things you need to know, in addition to the AAD

(automatic activation device).

There are other freeflying techniques, beyond the basics, that you will want to explore to get the most out of this high flying

sport called skydiving. Modern skydiving is a little more complicated then back in the day when I first became interested in jumping out of planes. Canopy

manipulation is more like paragliding today, as opposed to the old round chute, come down, land and roll back in the day.

Getting more advanced skills

means that you will need to learn about the possibility of turbulence, canopy collapse, mid-air collisions and other potential hazards. Even if the risks of skydiving are

relatively low, you need to learn as much as you possibly can to make it as safe as you can.

If you want to have the experience of a lifetime, we may meet up

in the air, jumping out of a plane, enjoying an exhilarating experience together.