I'd rather be flying...

[denny]

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci

(yoinked from J's quotes list on Facebook)

Comments

[mr_magicfingers]

Yeah, wait till you've been up there :D. Every sunny day where the sky is blue you'll hear it calling to you, calling you back, wanting you to come play in the air up there. One of the things I love most is the moment the door is opened at altitude to spot the jump, there's a wonderful smell of cold, clean air mixed with a hint of hot jet fuel.

I used to have a T-shirt that read 'I love the smell of jet fuel in the morning'. Any airport I go to, the smell takes me back up there and I get shivers remember what it feels like to simply drop into the air, knowing it's a long, wonderful ride down, playing in the wind, flying your body around other people, being so completely three dimensional, unrestricted by gravity and free to fully play in all 3 dimensions.

I'm going to have to start saving fast, get my rig repacked and ready for spring. I can't wait to go play in the sky with all my new jump buddies. It could be a really expensive summer!

Hugs.

x

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Sadly I don't think I'll be doing the Real Thing™ - the risk to my knee would seem too high (although I may double-check that with the appropriate professionals on each side).

[mr_magicfingers]

A lot depends on how well you land the canopy. With modern ram-air canopies you can land so lightly there's no impact at all, but there's always the chance of damage, that's certainly true. At spaceland I watched a friend break both his femurs in a bad landing. I was first on scene and it wasn't pretty. Had to air ambulance him out of there, but he did something stupid and paid for it. Skydiving isn't very tolerant of stupidity.

That said, thousands upon thousands of jumps are done without issues, so althought it's a risk, it's a slight one, but for you though it's weighed against just how damaging a mistake would be.

Be interesting to see what's said by the various experts.

x