How jumping out of a perfectly good airplane can be a great idea
By Chris Bell cbell@kansan.com
the drone of the engine reverberates through the small plane as you prepare yourself for what's to come. Your coach double and triple checks the harness holding the two of you together. The attention to detail calms your frayed nerves a little bit, considering he's the one wearing the parachute.
Before you know it, the door opens and you're sitting on the edge of the plane, about 10,000 feet above the ground. You can feel the buzz as adrenaline pumps into your blood.The wind whips around you
at more than 90 mph, and the roaring engine fills your ears. Your coach is behind you braced against the door frame. He calls out, "Ready, set, GO!" and pushes off from the plane.
The next 35 seconds seem to go on forever. Your adrenaline spikes from the rush of the free fall as you try to take in your surroundings. It's exciting and terrifying all at the same time.The ground rushes up at you at 120 mph, but it doesn't really seem to be getting any closer.The coach signals for you to pull the chute. You grasp the handle and give it a yank, expecting a sharp jerk upwards as the canopy opens above you. Surprisingly,you only feel a gradual deceleration as the parachute slows your descent.
For the next few minutes, your coach guides you through the landing process. Once on the ground, he releases you from the harness and shakes your hand. "Congratulations," he says with a smile. "You just completed your first skydive."
The earliest use of a parachute dates back to China in the 1100s, according to the United States Parachute Association (USPA) Web site. Skydiving first emerged as a sport after World War II, when former soldiers began using surplus parachutes to
jump as a hobby. The popularity of the sport has increased since then, with more than 2.1 million jumps reported by the USPA in 2007.
For KU students, skydiving is very accessible. Students interested can join the KU Skydiving Club or just schedule a jump with Skydive Kansas, a drop zone located only an hour away in Osage City.
When you arrive at the drop zone, you're immediately required to sign a waiver before you can jump."It feels like you're signing your life away" says Emily Reimer, Wichita senior and president of the KU Skydiving Club. After that, you watch a 30-minute training video and work with an instructor to practice the form and function of the actual jump.
The first jump
Jen Sharp, an instructor for Skydive Kansas, says it's like learning to drive a car. Sharp has been a skydiving instructor for 16 years, and she has logged more than 2,000 skydives. Reimer, who had her first jump in 2006, has more than 200 jumps logged. Sharp says that the adrenaline rush does fade a little
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August 28,2008