Just Completed my first ever parachute jump!!!

[Paratrooper01]

At about 1000hrs this morning i exited an airoplane at Headcorn Airodrome in Kent, and minutes later i had completed my first EVER parachute jump at the age of just 16

My jump was a static line at 3500feet, and my instructor was an ex-Para and Falklands veteran, who was a right lad, and came into our final brief this morning with blue patches in his hair from the previous nights drinking session


The training was really good and the drills we were taught were hammered into us until we could do them in our sleep

For anyone thinking of doing the military parachuting course at Brize, or just doing parachuting for fun, dont hezitate, get on that phone NOW!!! You will not regret it, and for anyone who has not parachuted before, it is the biggest rush ever.

Sitting in the door of the plane, wind blowing in your face and your legs is a bit nervy, but as soon as the instructor shouts, "GO!" you are out and away. After the safety count (One thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, check canopy) and your canopy is good, it is just pure excitement and adrenaline pumping fun when you spend the next few minutes floating down to earth steering your way towards the DZ, and the final aproach and landing. I remembered D-day and the Paras when i had a moment to think on the float down, and it brought me that much closer to what those lads would have felt like when parachuting into battle (minus the enemy bullets rattling past you), and a really exciting moment which i will never forget.

Afterwards i was so pumped and excited, but at the same time quite emotional because of the feeling of parachuting and that i could not go and have another go straight away because the wind had got up, and is still up so we called it a day


If and when i get into the military i will be trying to get myself on the Brize course asap ...


Cheers

James

[Gary_amsterdam]

Sounds like good fun mate, can feel the rush of it just by reading your story

[chrisfow]

lol you're a show off mate! How much did it cost, and which company was it?

[goreD.]

I DUNGED myself !!
Tried to stand up on exiting the aircraft. Boy did I look stupid.....

Gore.

[chrisfow]

I'll definatly go for wings when I join up, but after talking to a few subbies it seems that it will be very much down to whether I'm lucky enough to have the time.

Apparently, though, they are desperate for officers with wings because...erm...they are first to get killed on a jump! Sh*t reason, but if it gives me a chance it gives me a chance

Chris

[Peds]

Sounds great, love to give it a try! Glad you had a good time.

[Paratrooper01]

Cheers everyone.

I loved every minute of it

Getting a video of my exit (which was good, apart from i bent my legs at the knee), and getting a photo of the exit aswell. Dad got the flight and landing on camera Might be able to post the pics up on here?


cheers

James

p.s. the ex-para who took me for my training advised me to join the RM

[Maroon]

Well done for enjoying your first Civy jump, military parachuting isn't quite the same.....Not so enjoyable!

But if you get the chance do as much civvy stuff as you can, it's the only way to enjoy it!!!

[Gary_amsterdam]

Lol one can only imagine jumping out a nice aircraft with 100 pounds of equipment strapt to you.

[dannyd]

I did an adventure training parachute course at RAF Weston-on-the-Green in 2002 with the cadets. It ranks as probably the best thing I have ever done. After doing a static line jump from 3,500ft I did a tandem skydive which was also good. I'd have to say that the static line jump was better because I was up there on my own rather than strapped to someone else.

When I join up I'm going to to try & get my wings asap! Although I doubt it will be that simple.

[Maroon]

Military parachuting (depending on what unit you are with) is slightly different in the respect that you have approx 100lb strapped (45kg) to you and you tend to jump at night from between 400-800ft with around 600-2000 other bodies (Batt/Bdg) After flying 2hrs low level, in the back of a very cramped, hot, smelly and dark Hercules C130.....



By the time you have stood up (bloody difficult with a fully laden container) and hooked up, checked equipment you are screaming to get out the door, red light comes on and the blokes start scream blue murder, PGI's must love it, 80/90 Para's screaming to get out the door, green light comes on and all hell breaks loose, the old airborne shuffle goes out the window and other than the No1 it's get out as quick as bloody possible!!

[Tab]

I have jumped so low that we were in the air for just six seconds. It gave you just enough time to release your weapons pack and brace your self for landing.

[voodoo sprout]

I did a tandem parachute jump a couple of years ago with an RAF club (see, air cadets can be useful!), and bloody loved it . Though I have to admit it was a little bit unnerving at times, even before take off.
I'm used to the likes of gliders and light aircraft whereby you sit in a complicated seat, bolt yourself down and have a dirty great lump of glass pulled over you, but on this ocassion I was sat on a tiny bench clipped to the Bloke On my Back (BoB) (seatbelts? Pah, they be for pansies commandeth my instructor!) a couple of feet from the opening. Re-enforced door with multiple catches and all mod cons? Nope, the other blokes certainly noticed my surprise when another instructor slid the door closed, which turned out to be little more than a sheet of plywood (I am really clipped onto the parachute aren't I?). Then a quick veer off to the side and we're rumbling across the field, and up into the wrathful heavens I go.

But the jumping is fantastic, I found it rather unnerving just before releasing, dangling over the side with just those four invisible clips holding me back from certain death (and this time we're absolutely certain the instructor put them on? ), though with a bit of faith in the equipment and reliable old BoB it's not too bad. My highlight has to be the feeling immediately on being released though, as you silently feel yourself being suddenly dragged downwards, in my case added to the fact that due to the freefall, I couldn't feel BoB (he IS still there isn't he?). The speed keeps picking up getting noisier and the rush of air stronger, until after a while a series of light jerks (I'd expected on big yank) and we've ground to a halt in the air, for a rather more tame glide downwards.
All in all, TWO THUMBS TRESH!

[got1]

My sister inlaw returned from New Zealand a few months go, she had been on holiday there.
She hade done a tandem jump while she was there and had a video of the whole event, training, emplaning, flight and jump, and all on video even all the way down.
She said she loved it, "oh" she will be sixty next birthday.

[Cobalt]

Couldn't keep the grin off me face for days after me first jump!
If you thought that was amazing just wait until your first freefall.

I'm working towards BASE jumping now. :evilbat: