Aviation Blog Post #1

When one prepares for jumping out of an airplane mid-flight, feelings of vertigo can be very overwhelming and are usually accompanied by sweating palms, nervousness, and mild tremors or shakes of the body. I know this because I experienced this exact feeling in the summer of 2012. For my 20th birthday, I was given the opportunity to go skydiving at Skydive Greene County located in Xenia. Upon receiving this gift, I was immediately ecstatic at the thought of doing something that many people have on their bucket list and that most never actually experience. The nerves had yet to kick in and I was simply elated.

When the day of the skydive arrived I felt my mental state slowly begin to deteriorate into anxiety. I was still completely stoked to be jumping out of an airplane, but reality was sinking in, and, truth be told, I wasn't sure if I would be able to go through with it. We arrived at Skydive Greene County around 11am. As soon as I saw the place my nerves started acting up a little more. The runway for the plane was a grass field. The plane itself seated no more than 12 comfortably, and the business was located in what looked like a ranch style farmhouse. Not exactly the most professional looking place, but at this point I told myself that there was no looking back. We had to wait for around an hour and a half for a spot to open up to skydive. Meanwhile we stood outside watching jumper after jumper deploy their parachute and land safely back on the ground in the field outside. Seeing everyone land safely was definitely reassuring.

The time finally came to jump. As a first time skydiver, it is required that the jump is done as a tandem with an experienced professional. When I saw who I was going to be strapped on to and who my life basically depended on at that point my heart went into a mini-panic attack. A guy who looked to be no older than 18 and who much smaller than me was my partner. The friend I was with was partnered with a tall burly man of around 50, about 6'5" in height. My mind was racing at this point with different possibilities of how the jump would go, but I told myself to remain calm and everything would be fine.

The takeoff and the ride up were terrifying to say the least. Taking off from an open grass field is much less smooth than runways at airports. Not to mention it felt like the plane was one bump away from literally splitting in half. My jump partner and the videographer sat behind me and were cracking jokes the entire time as we ascended to elevation of about 11,000 feet. Then, the hatch to the plane was opened by a jumper seated in front. It was insane. I was literally sitting in a plane flying 11,000 feet above the earth and I could see everything. The jumpers seated in front of us made their way to the opened door and jumped one by one. At this point it was all or nothing for me. My partner and I were strapped together as we approached the exit. We stood in the opening before we jumped waiting for the pilot to give us the all-clear signal. We rocked back and forth three times and on the third time we fell, plummeting to earth with our arms and legs stretched out like flying squirrels. I was skydiving. And it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life and one that I will never forget.