You should probably jump out of a plane ...

Today is 1 year since my first ‘solo’ skydive. I put ‘solo’ within quotes because there were people around me supervising my madness. Yes ... I know it's not a very flattering photo of myself.

For those of you that didn't know, you can jump out of planes. It's totally legal and no one asks you too many questions. In fact, I am sure I get more questions when I order my coffee than I did when I jumped out of a plane for the first time.

Usually, the way people go about this is like this: you are a bit tipsy and you tell one of your friends that you want to try skydiving, a few months go by and your birthday is close and your friend has no clue what to get you. He remembers that one time when you pronounced ‘skydiving’, he gets you a voucher and then you do a tandem jump with an experienced instructor strapped to your back. After that experience, if you enjoy it, you register to do the AFF course.

This is not how I ended up doing it though. I got home from work, a bit bored of the monotony of my life as a respectable citizen with a job. I thought “I need to do something to raise my pulse a little bit. Jump out of a plane or something …” and that was it. I searched for a drop zone and booked my first jump.

If you are not familiar with the AFF course, it basically stands for Accelerated Free Fall and it is the shortest way from “I'd like to do that” to getting your skydiving licence. If you think it takes hours of theoretical preparation before you even put your gear on you couldn't be more wrong. You have to attend a ground school which takes about 10 hours to complete and that's about it. You are set for your first jump.

Next day I had my first jump. I remember I was in the hangar, putting on my gear and one of the instructors asked “have you checked your gear, all good ?” … how would I know? I guess … it's on me. What else do I need to check ? Of course they checked everything again and then again on the plane and then again a few moments before the jump.

You may wonder if I was scared. Not when I stepped on the plane and not on my way to 13000 feet, but I went from super calm to maximum panic when at 13000 feet someone opened the door and the first skydiver jumped out. All my senses were trying to stop me from doing the same thing. My brain was still trying to make sense why the door was open and directing all the blood away from my hands and feet to try to keep me alive, stay sharp and find a solution to save my life. Of course … at that point it's too late. In a few seconds I was in the door frame of the plane looking outside to certain death (not really but I didn't know any better). One of my instructors was to my left and the other was outside the plane, both holding tight to my jumpsuit. Deep breath, head outside the plane to “feel the air”, 1, 2 and at this point the instructor to your left forcefully pushes you out of the plane and the next thing you see is the underside of the plane, the one thing that can take you safely back down.

The first jump is all about demonstrating that you can stay calm and make decisions in critical situations. You have to do 3 practice pulls, check your altimeter, nod “no more work” a little before you plan to open your parachute and open the parachute.

The opening is quite violent, but in 3-5 seconds your canopy is above your head, you do some routine checks and you get the chance to admire your surroundings (if you're not afraid of heights). At this point you're on your own. You need to land it on your own. All I can say about this is that when you get close to the ground, the speed is much higher than you'd think. I wish I could say the landing was perfect, but it wasn't. No injuries, just a hurt ego.

Looking back on that day, starting skydiving was one of the best choices of my life. It's addictive.

Is there something to learn from my experience ? Yes.

1. You can't really appreciate life until you're so close to the end of it
2. Just because something scares you, it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Sometimes it is the lack of knowledge that scares you, not an actual danger.
3. Trust people. This was difficult for me, but with skydiving, especially when you're a student, someone packs your parachute, someone checks your gear, someone takes you to 13000 feet. Every jump requires many people to do their job right.
4. The “3 seconds” rule is actually working. It pays if someone pushes you as well.

Ohh.. you should probably jump out of a plane ...