Thank God for good weather!

This is the third weekend we've driven out to this airport to attempt a jump. This time the weather was beautiful. Not a cloud in sight. Before we could get started we had to redo the paperwork... yes I am jumping out of a airplane, yes I understand this is not normal, yes I am committing suicide, yes I know this parachute could possibly save me, but it could not also, yes I know this is a conscious decision, no I will no sue anyone, no my family will not sue anyone, and even if they try they will have to pay all their own winnings. Nearly twenty initials and four signatures later the paperwork was done for the third time.

Here we go again. This time we take off all metal and everything out of our pockets. They give us these marune looking one piece suits. It fits just fine. We are then adjusted in the harness and helmet. The funny looking helmet is more for the sake of the guy jumping with us so it doesn't hurt so bad when we bang heads.

Schumann and I were on the second ride up. Once we were on the plane it started to set in what I had relly got myself into. Within a couple of minutes we were at altitude and the door came open. We scuffled to the door on our knees and on a count of three we fell out. Up at fifteen thousand feet you can see the curvature of the earth. Tumbling several times we saw earth then plane to earth again and back up at the plane. You know that falling feeling you get on roller coasters and stuff, there was none of that. You just go faster until you reach terminal velocity. Which you manage to keep under 140(safe parachute opening speed) by the traditional skydiving position, belly to earth. After a minute or so of free fall we had gone nearly ten thousand feet and my ears felt like they were about to explode. Changing altitude that fast can have negative affects on your hearing. For the rest of the day everything was muffled. The only real falling feeling is when the chute opens. We opened at roughly five thousand feet and floated around for ten minutes or so. Next time we go I'll do the AFF(accelerated free fall) which includes a six hour class and allows us to jump with our own parachute. The took a video of it, I'll have that this next weekend to post.

Connell who is pictured up top had never been on an airplane before and he was completely terrified of the whole thing. Having airborne in his contract he wanted to get some of the fear out of the way in a more relaxed environment. When he got down he loved the free fall and the plane ride but hated the parachute. He kept asking if there was ways to open lower or do away with it all together. They reminded him that you don't need a parachute to jump once, you need it to jump twice.