Tandem Skydiving; Your First Parachute Jump - Part Four

A Four Part Series: *1 Arrival & Sign-up *2 Preparation *3 The Plane *4 Freefall & Landing Part Four: Tandem Skydive Freefall and Parachute Landing At this time you will see skydivers exit the plane and you and your instructor will be moving towards the door. Once you get to the door, if you can remember this try to clear your ears again. Sometimes the pressure gives you a headache once you're on the ground, this will stop that. So try to remember it. When you leave the airplane for your tandem skydive you will not feel like you do on a roller coaster. You probably will not feel anything in your stomach. Remember when you leave the plane you are going as fast as the plane. So now you are in the air, you are skydiving, you did it. You actually jumped from a perfectly good airplane and you are flying towards the earth at about 120 miles an hour. You are having the time of your life. Do not forget while you are flying to check out the world - it is beautiful. Look all around not just down. If you have a cameraperson do not forget to geek him or her. During your tandem skydive, you will freefall to about 5000 feet before your instructor opens the parachute. For a split-second when he or she opens the parachute you will feel a little bit in your stomach. This is called the elevator affect. After the parachute is open your instructor will check everything out to make sure everything is okay. At this time you can talk to your instructor and ask him or her if you can fly the parachute. Most likely the instructor will say yes. Flying the parachute is a lot of fun so do not be afraid to fly. Once you get to about 1000 feet, your instructor will be getting set up to land. You will need to listen to what your tandem instructor has to say. When landing the parachute it is critical to keep your feet raised above your instructor's. You do not want your feet to touch the ground before your instructor's. This can be bad. Your instructor will tell you all this as you approach the ground. Do not let the speed of the canopy bother you on landing. Just listen to your tandem instructor. Do what he or she tells you to do and everything will be fine. If you bought video, your videographer will probably be filming you while you land. The more you can relax the better the skydive will go. And what is the number one most important thing to remember? "Have Fun"!! This is what it is all about, having fun. I have been jumping for 30 years. I started back in 1974 when skydiving was crazy and unsafe. The one thing I always remembered is to "Have Fun". I hope this information will help you on your first tandem skydive. Blue Skies