Jasmine said when we bought the next jump for us that I didn’t have to wait on her since I wanted to get on with working towards my skydiving license (after your second tandem jump, you can start the training program at Skydive Spaceland Dallas with a class followed by solo jumps under supervision). Well, let’s just say I took her up on it and did my second jump the next day.

I was hoping to get in when they opened up at 7:30, but ended delaying a bit to see how the clouds were going to pan out. I was still gun shy because of the first day we tried to jump and walked away with rain checks thanks to the weather. I ended up getting there about 8:15 and got in the queue for jumps. We were actually having the opposite problem of the previous day; not enough people. They put the jump on a 20 minute hold because there were not enough jumpers for the next load yet. Then some clouds came through that put us on hold.

I met Sara, my instructor for my second jump. She was awesome to work with. Since we were on the delays, she came over and introduced herself and started walking me through all the things we were going to do on the second jump. We spend a lot of time talking about the procedure and flow of the jump trying and retrying the form of moves as needed. I was going to:

• Do the count for jumping out of the plane
• Control a 360 degree turn to the right during free fall
• Control a 360 degree turn to the left during free fall
• Track (tuck my arms in at my side and straighten my legs for speed) for 5 seconds
• All while staying aware of altitude and pulling the ripcord at 6,000 feet.

The first time we jumped, the instructor had us sit on the floor of the plane at the door and basically rolled us out. This time we were standing at the door. The instructor mirrored my movements as I swung my body out the door to be standing hanging out of the plane. Then you do a 3 count while holding on with your right arm. Left arm out, left arm in, left arm back out, release and step/fall away.

We loaded up, and took off – I got my ride on the Twin Otter this time! On the way up, we were on with another tandem pair, a few solos, but the rest was a team or organized group. I managed to turn on my fitness logger to try and record my track down. Most of the way up people were quiet, reflecting on their jump flows that they were going to execute. As jumping altitude neared, things lightened up and high-fives and fist bumps were going on all over the plane. One of the jumpers was giving me friendly advice on being sure to look up and focus on the plane’s wing as I jumped. The friendly atmosphere really reminded me of the mountaineers I was lucky enough to hang around with on the way to Everest Base Camp.

It was definitely different jumping this time with a “job to do”. Last time I was pretty much along for the ride other than pulling the rip cord. It seemed like a lot to do in the 60 to 120 seconds I was free falling. Before I knew it, the free fall portion was over and we were floating down. Sara walked me through turns with the canopy. We even edged through a cloud that got in our way ;).

After we landed, we went over how to pick up the chute and get it back into the building without tearing it up, and how to lay it down for re-packing. Then she went over the jump, calling out the things I could have done a little better as well as what I got right. Sara didn’t beat me up (saying most first timers do the things i did), but she also was straight up about the technical aspects, asking how I thought I did at various portions. Again, I was fortunate to have such a great instructor for this jump; I walked away knowing this is something I want to pursue.

Next, I’m taking a 6 hour class and will be ready for my first solo (the instructor is holding on to you in free fall to keep you stable).

P.S. Sorry no pictures, I didn’t have photographer Aaron with me this time, and the photo/video packages were out of my budget range; you’ll just have to deal with my Info-graphics 🙂