I seem to be making a habit of turning Thursdays into my flying days. I had setup another wind tunnel lesson at 9:30 with Tyler at iFly Dallas. Every time I go in the tunnel, I feel a little more comfortable than before; and there is no doubt it is helping me on my jumps. I talked with Tyler about my goals for the day – mainly working on stability, and picking up where we left last time with changing height, docking, and turns. I had 10 minutes of tunnel time scheduled (you don’t do it all at once, but rather split it up into sessions of a few minutes at a time).

Working with Tyler again was great. It was fun this time; last time I was more focusing on the job to be done (practice, get a better arch), and being too serious. Once we got to playing the games, chasing him around the tube, it became fun and my flight in the tunnel flowed a lot better. We worked on docking at different levels, and did my first good leg turns in the wind tunnel, as well as practicing deployment wave and pulls. His help has made a big difference in my progression and help prepare me for what was to come later that day. After I was done, Tyler and 2 other instructors got in the tunnel and had some fun; it is really amazing watching what they can do in there, weaving in and out of each other upside down – wow.

The indoor fun was over, and it was time to head over to Skydive Spaceland Dallas to fall through the sky. I rolled in about 11:30, got my altimeter and got in the queue for a training jump. After a bit, Jocelyn ran me through my EPs (Emergency Procedures); I learn something every time I go through them. Everybody at the drop zone loves to skydive, that’s a given. Folks there like Daniel, Sara, Jocelyn, Bill, and Kris clearly love to share their love for the sport with others.

It took a while for enough plane loads to queue up for me to get my first jump in with Daniel (Level 5 jump). I’m getting better about keeping my chill on the ride up, but I still have some work to do to get in the right mental spot to get a clean exit. We moved up to the door, did a quick spot to make sure we didn’t have any air traffic or jumpers in our path. Then I swung outside the door, did my count, and we were off. I still felt the exit was a bit off, but a hard arch and we were oriented right and ready for moves. I had to do 360 degree upper body turns (using my arms). The first turn went pretty well, but my left 360 was loose because I didn’t keep my legs out. I tried to fly up to Daniel, but didn’t get there. He moved up to me, docked for my deployment. 6k feet came, then 5.5k and out goes the parachute.

My canopy ride down was great as always; I love my time under the canopy. Daniel said once I have my license I can do high pulls and get more canopy time as long as I clear it with the right folks. I got in a good pattern, and with some guidance over the radio, had my best landing yet. Less than 40 feet from the target, and a nice, soft, standing landing. I walked in with James (the other student on the jump); at least we weren’t walking across the drop zone/runway in 100+ degree heat!

Daniel walked through the jump with me; first thing he did was give me a high five over the good landing. We watched the video, went over what I did good and what needs improvement (legs!), and let me do the write up for the jump. While I called that a successful jump (I moved on to the next dive flow level), I wanted to try and get one more. So now, it was time to wait for a plane load to get scheduled and hopefully get another jump in. While waiting we had 2 more students come in.

Soon enough, tandems, students, and fun jumpers were loaded up on the Cessna Super Caravan for our trip up. Before long, we were at 13,500 feet and it was time to go. Fun jumpers and one student ahead of us went, then it was my turn. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Daniel told me this time I was going to be exiting on my own (he wasn’t going to be holding on to stabilize me). I asked “even though my last exit was a bit off?”, and his reply was “you gotta do it sooner or later”. Alrighty then. Again, 13.5k feet, and time to go. My turn came up quickly, and out the door I swung again. I did my exit count a little slower this time, and stepped off.

One second into it, I knew this felt right. I was watching the plane fly away from me and was not twisting out of the forward motion like I had in the past. This was my first ever clean exit I had experienced. Looking back at the video, there is plenty to critique and improve on. But It is a big improvement on my exits to that point; I’ll take it. Looking back at the video, I hear Daniel yell “_____ yeah” after my exit; that is my FAVORITE part of the jump, sharing a success with someone that has been helping me through this. I was also smiling during the free fall for the first time.

We then went into maneuvers. My first 360 degree lower body turn (leg turn) was a little loose, but still decent. My second 360 degree turn was cleaner. After that, I lost my leg posture and flew backwards away from Daniel without meaning to. I corrected, pushed my legs out a tad further, and then flew up to dock. A quick dock, my legs kicked back again, and I backed away. Daniel flew up beside me to watch my deployment and assist as necessary. He didn’t need to, it was a stable, clean deployment. I had just completed my first hands off free fall. I dare not say unassisted, because I wouldn’t have done it without my instructor at my side and the wind tunnel practice earlier.

After I had a good canopy above me, I did a quick celebratory yell, then got to work with my under canopy tasks. I needed to be doing riser turns. Risers are the heavy black straps from my shoulders up to my parachute lines. I needed to practice on pulling on them instead of my controls (toggles). This helps prepare me for the case where I need to steer with the risers in an emergency situation.

After all the work was done, I could do some fun turns. I love doing hard turns and swinging out from under the canopy, but it also causes me to lose altitude, so I get less air time when I do that. I lined up for my south approach, and realized that I hadn’t heard Daniel over the radio yet to guide me in. Radio silence all the way down, and while my landing wasn’t as good as the previous one of the day, it was still better than any of my other ones. I asked Daniel later about it, and he said the radio was working, he was just letting me land on my own.

Inside, first thing was a big high five from Daniel. He had the video queued up for me. I was actually smiling in this jump. All the other ones I had been so serious, but I was enjoying this one. Whether or not I enjoyed it was always up to me, but it has taken this long to get there. We talked over the jump, and yes there are still things to work on, but I think we were both stoked with how the jump had gone compared to previous ones. Several other instructors there were happy for me and enjoyed the progress along with me, high fives/hugs. Talking to Daniel, it looks like I can get a “big boy” helmet now (my own full face helmet of an approved brand/model); unfortunately they don’t have any $10 models for my $10 dollar head.

Jasmine said later watching the video and hearing Daniel, that she didn’t realize the instructors would enjoy/celebrate our progress so much. It is one of the many things that has made working past challenges enjoyable.

I know there are more challenges and more work to come; but getting this far has realized another one of my bucket list items – to skydive without being attached to another human being. I remember wanting to do this at least back as far as 2000, and I imagine longer; I bungee jumped in 1993 (what a disappointment). But my weight has always been in the way; 70 pounds of weight loss later, this has become reality.

The feeling of accomplishment is still there, but I already feel the “high” from that successful jump starting to fade. That doesn’t mean I am going to do “crazier” things, but it certainly means I’ll be back in the wind tunnel and drop zone to improve and continue my progression towards my skydiving license.

I had what it was like and what it would take to get to a hands off jump totally wrong in my head. Much like my trek to Everest was A LOT different that what my mind had built it up to be (different, but very much an experience of a lifetime). It is a weird feeling to get to 43 years old and thinking you’ve got things figured out pretty well; and then learning you really don’t know jack crap. If I did have stuff mostly figured out, life would be pretty sad and boring.

My final thought goes to the people that help along the way. For a lot of the things I’ve done in my life, I didn’t need a lot of help. I could research, work hard, and even will my way through it. That would never happen with this endeavour; however, it means that you get to share your triumphs with those that got you there, and they stay part of that moment forever.

Enough waxing philosophically: Videos!