Presenting a Zen Moment

[BraveHart]

"There I was Falling with no where to Go but Down!!"

How many of you out there in Evochron has felt the freedom of flight with no wings? he-he...I had Skydived for 17 years before my injuries and several operations ended my Joy of Sky-diving....injuries were due to military service as an Airborne Ranger.

One of my Favorite Jumps was out of a Hot air balloon...What a Hoot that was...it felt like I was going up in an Elevator and what a Rush it was to jump out of the basket and feel my self attain Terminal velocity...Whooohoo and the best part is: It only cost 1/2 price for the Ride...I found my own way down...LOL .

Post your stories Here! I will post more later myself....I have some doozy's.....hehe.

the license I had at the time was D4988 Expert, with the USPA (United States Parachute Association) I was also a certified jump master and had over 1000 jumps plus over 400 military jumps at the time of my retirement.

[Storm]

I only made about 200-300 jumps *total* (maybe more, that was a long time ago). I wish I still had my USPA logbook. What with PCS moves, going to places where I couldn't jump, I lost interest.

(as indicated in another thread that started this)...
Trained with a C10.
(for the benefit of readers - a C10 is basically a small modified cargo 'chute - modified for "steering" (HA!) (sort of). Basically moves like a truck that is low on gas. Forget about accuracy (landing where you WANT to land)).

Later, I got a Paracommander... at the time, one of the best "sports cars" of parachutes. I was frustrated with the "hot landings", though - minor injuries from it.

So then I got a Papillion, or a "Pap". Slower speed, VERY accurate.

Anyway, stories.

How about egg fights in freefall? (hehehe - there is a trick to it). Track UNDER your target, let the egg loose - there is a column of low pressure over you that leads UP to the other guy,if you do it right, and the egg slams right into him. Can't / shouldn't maintain that position long... the other guy will drop right on top of you.
-----
The place where I first started jumping, Clark AFB Philippines. We had a nice jump club. I've mentioned before that I used to work in Signals Intelligence (SIGINT). Anyway, our usual drop zone was *somewhat* near the FLR-9 antenna (not really that close, but close enough), that was the site where I worked. Here is a picture of a FLR-9 site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLR-9
(edit - TWO pictures - click on them to enlarge them, compare to everything else in the picture to see how big they are. Recently, I actually found the one in Augsburg Germany with one of those web-based satellite image things - like google earth or something.)

... anyway, the "spot was bad". Thats where the pilot flies over the DZ (Drop Zone), and someone drops a streamer - you see where it lands, and then based on winds you figure out where your exit from the plane will be so that you will blow down to the right place (the nice cushy grass on your DZ). BUT... winds can shift. One time we got a bad "spot", and 2 or 3 of us almost got blown in to / landed ON some of the antenna elements. Look at the picture in the link- click on it to enlarge it. Compare the size of the cars to that antenna.
-----
Variation of the same thing... my parents HATED that I was jumping (later my mother said the same about scuba - especially when I brought home pictures of Hawaiian Reef sharks - closeups). So anyway, home on leave once, not long after I got my Papillion... the spot was bad. Ended up drifting along the top of of a big field of mesquite trees ( = THORNY). So... decisions. Do I fight it, try to make it back to the DZ area? Or turn around and fly WITH the wind to overshoot the darned trees? I decided to overshoot, otherwise I would have been blown backwards into trees. BUT there was no way after I cleared the grove to turn around and face the wind again. Landed HARD and fast in a plowed, furrowed field, and to ME, it looked like a scene from the cockpit of a 747.

(I have a few more, like the "skydiving teddy bear" story, will save for later).

Just noticed - that WIKI page has a link (near the bottom) to a page that has an aerial photo of another site I worked at (my first one right out of school) - Ramasun Station, Thailand.


[Edited on 1-20-2009 by Storm]

[BraveHart]

LOL....Yes I remember doing those. Remember the Baton pass? well on day a friend of mine suggested we do a "Beer" pass since it was the last Jump of the day......FAA regulations do not allow open containers in an aircraft that is dropping Skydivers....no mention of having one in Free-Fall, he-he. There we were at 9,500ft and my buddy was spotting and carrying the Beer, I would of held it and opened it but my right hand was in a Cast...(No, not from Jumping...different story . ) when we were over the spot my buddy climbed out of the Cessna182 onto the strut, with one hand on the strut the other holding the beer....I shouted 3, 2, 1, GO!! and we were off....What a Hoot that was now I am sure most of you are familiar with shot gunning a beer....imagined the pressure in that can of beer at 9,500....Whooaaa what a shot gun that was....when my buddy opened the beer it shot out so fast it looked like a smoke grenade going off....I swooped over to him and he passed the beer to me...now the only way to drink this is to quickly push the container under your mouth and INHALE....hahaha, try doing a 120 miles an hour an suck beer the beer was coming out my nose , ears and eyes...LOL. man that was an awesome jump....we passed it back in forth knowing we only had 45 seconds to drink it...when my buddy pointed at my right hand and laughed....(he had a hold of my left arm at the time.) He then mercilessly shoved the beer in my face and the beer was everywhere....so I hooked my right arm around him and we tumbled all over the sky...beer going everywhere. I had a feeling we were getting closer so we broke off and tracked in different directions....I could not see for the beer in my eyes and I waved off and pulled the rip-cord and had a good canopy and when I finally could see made a dead center landing in the pea gravel....One Hot Skydive

[Storm]

The husbands/wives, boyfriends/girlfriends used to do the "kiss pass". It was one way of celebrating a partners advancement to long freefalls... usually the guy (or the husband) was a long time skydiver, while the gal was "somebody that was talked into skydiving". When the partner advanced to say, 20-30 sec freefalls and could handle them well consistantly, the couple would do the kiss pass.

Skydiving Teddy Bear.
This a bit corny - you just would have had to have been there.

There was an expo on Clark AFB - I forget the occasion... one of the skydivers (our chief rigger, and one of the main instructors) had this teddy bear, and a full fledged rig that he made for it. Ripcord, parachute and everything. On this particular dive, he released the teddy bear. The kids in the crowd below knew about this in advance, it was announced to "look out for the skydiving teddy bear".

Later, this guy would often take the bear up with new classes on their first jumps - kind of a way to "soften the anxiety". Did stoopid ventriloquist acts using the bear... like he would stick the bear in a students face and in a gruff voice the "bear" would say "WHERE'S the SPOT?!??"

(edeted for speeling errers)


[Edited on 1-21-2009 by Storm]

[BraveHart]

Perfectly Good Airplane

It was a Great day for a Skydive over Barber field airport South of Ft.Worth Texas, one of many places that I Skydived at in the USA....We were flying at a altitude of 9500ft and everything was going as planned....there were four of us and we were going to launch a 4 person star formation from the strut of a Cessna182 we were flying in. My friend John was taking a turn at spotting the load and gave the signal to the pilot to cut the engine speed, he then climbed out and hung on the end of the strut then he was followed by another jumper who was seated on the strut with his back to the propeller...I was next to climb out and then Steve who was behind me....just as I got my feet under me to begin my climb out I heard the engine cough and sputter....What?? the next thing that happened the plane engine died and the plane went into a violent spin to the right the centrifugal force was astounding as the pressure of it pushed me into the floor board of the plane....the pilot was screaming for the others to jump off the strut as he desperately tried to get control of the plane....my buddy sitting on the strut was frozen in fear as he was afraid to let go and be engulfed in the planes propeller.....with all the strength I could muster I flexed my leg muscles, which were straining against the pressure of the centrifugal force and leaped out the door of the cessna182 as I went out the door I grab my buddy who was sitting on the strut and pulled him away from the strut and while shouting at my other buddy to let go at the end of the strut....I noticed as I leaped out of the plane that I was actually sliding along on the bottom of the wing of the aircraft!! not good I thought as we were all thrown clear of the plane....my last thought were of my friends Steve and the Pilot "Red" praying for a miracle as we fell away at 120 miles per hour....the 3 of us who were able to get clear hooked up in a 3 way star formation and we were looking every where for the aircraft...we then broke formation and opened up under good canopies...we searched the skies for the fourth and fifth parachutes hoping our buddies had made it out of the spiraling plane....we saw none at the time and feared the worst had happen! as we were landing on the DZ we heard the sputtering of the plane and saw it coming in for a landing like a wounded duck...."Red" had miraculously regained control of the plane and was able to land safely....We then saw our other buddies canopy over the local city miles away....when he got back to the airport, thanks to the guy whose truck he landed in front of in the downtown area....Steve told us "Man I thought I was a goner!! you all left me in the plane and I had this brand new parachute and I could not move to get out the door....Red got the plane going again and leveled out and I Quickly scrambled to the door....I asked Red if everything was going to be Ok? Red was white as a Ghost and kept muttering its going to be okay when the engines sputtered again and all Red said was ..Oh my God not again...that was all I needed to hear as I jumped out of the plane not caring where I was!! it was then I realized that I had jumped out over the middle of town with all those buildings and wires and traffic...Ouch, I thought I was going to get run over as I landed in the enter section just in front of a truck...lucky for me the light had just changed" We saw red inspecting the plane trying to figure out what had happened when we noticed him climb to the top of the plane to check the fuel tanks...Boy was Red Really Mad when he found out: "The Plane had Run Out Of Gas".......

[Storm]

Geez, BH, no way I can top that one.

I only have one story that is even close.

Our chief pilot at Clark AFB (that was the best jump club I ever belonged to)... was a member of the on-base flying club, AND a jumper. Flying for the jump club was one way to log hours.

Eventually he talked his girlfriend into jumping... she took to it well, they even talked about having a wedding ceermony in freefall. That idea was scrapped, but they DID jump into their wedding later. They got permission from the base Commander to land near the chapel, along with a small wedding party (her bridemaid was the ONLY other female jumper in the club at the time). Anyway, this pilot's girlfriend and later wife advanced very quickly, was doing 60 sec freefalls in a relatively short time. I just want to set this up by indicating the type of relationship it was.

While still a new student, maybe her 10th jump or so... we would drop the "newer students" off first (first jump, 7th jump, first 5 second freefall (first time to pull own ripcord), etc). The pilot would often circle at least 1-3 times and the jumpmaster in the plane would eyeball the students as they descended to make sure they were OK, and that the ground crew was close enough to get to them if something happened.

Clark AFB was notorious for sudden windshifts and gusts.

Long story short: his girlfriend had a ROUGH landing, and wasn't getting up. Over the radio, the ground crew told the pilot that "he better get down there". This was confusing (and in retrospect a bit "keystone cops"); The pilot made like a bat out of hell towards the airport, the jumpmaster (also a close friend of the girl) insisted on getting to the ground faster (jumping while we were close to the DZ), he had us all jump out of the plane while it really had higher-than-normal velocity and it was NOT placed well for those of us still using C-10s.

The jumpmaster had a "flying wing", those things that look like mattresses... he made it to the DZ okay, the rest of us landed in a housing area.

About a 40 minute walk back to the DZ. We all stayed together (all of us ok) and walked back as a group. Quite an adventure for a scraggly group that on average maybe had only a dozen or two jumps under our belts.

She ended up in a body cast for a while, but went on jumping. The club officers were nervous about reporting this, but all in all no one was reprimanded, the USPA "investigation" simply meant soliciting all involved for statements (sent via US Mail)... nothing was ever heard about it.

[IckleChesh]

Not quite SkyDiving, but falling from a geat height... Bungee Jumping!

I am in to moterbikes and went to a big BMF show in Peterbourgh a few years ago. There was a very large bungee jumping platform inside a large roped off area. People were standing outside the cordon, watching these guys chuck themselfs off the top. Not having a head for heights then (however, now I love absailing have no problems with chucking myself off down a high tower!!) I thought "Not a chance..". So, anyway, there I was standing there in this group of people, slowing moving around the cordon, happily watching the jumpers, when I turned around to leave and found myself staring at the ticket booth!! The "crowd" I was in was infact the que!! I was asked if I did want to go, and becasue of shock, in amoment of insanity, I said "Yeah, go on then"

Next thing I know, I am standing at the top of the platform, strapped to a big rubber band! What a feeling, a mix of terror, freedom, and terror and such a rush. There were many foul words coming out of me when I jumped, well, just a few, but very loud and very long, repeatedly. When I got back to the ground, and after kissing it, I staggered off to get the kit off, and a woman standing nearby cought my eye. She did not look happy. I can only guess that the young child standing next to her had heard my screams and asked her "mummy, what does fuuuuuuuuuu@# mean?":P

[Storm]

Now thats one thing I can't quite bring myself to do. TOO chicken for bungee jumping,


... and its a testiment to your fortitude that you got into it or tried it spontaneously, "on a whim" (if I understood your post).

When I was younger, I used to jump out of perfectly good airplanes, like Cessnas (not PERFECTLY good, they were missing a door!).... when I got stationed in Hawaii I got scuba certified (PADI), worked up through divemaster / instructor, and swam with and photographed all kinds of critters...

But dangle from a rubber band? Fall down THEN fall UP?? Hehehe - I don't like roller coasters. The thought of bungee jumping actually imposes an odd sensation in my stomach.

-----

BraveHart .... I just thought of something a few moments ago.... I have a multifunction printer with a scanner.

I DO have pictures ... I think just two or three of me and skydiving (one or two early pics of me under a C-10, and I think one pic of me suited up on the airstrip waiting for the plane to prep - after I got my Papillion).

... and TON of scuba pictures (really got INTO underwater photography). A few pics of me, including me underwater, but mainly pics of underwater critters and shipwrecks that I dove. Hawaiian green sea turtles, moray eels lunging at my camera, some eagle rays, reef sharks; I remember a good one of a "crown of thorns" (a somewhat rare variety of starfish ... spined and poisonous)... etc

I could scan them, put them into my Flickr account, and post the link. Just gotta find them. I think I know where they are, a big cardboard box at the back of a closet.

Got Pics?

[Edited on 1-22-2009 by Storm]

[BraveHart]

Storm....

I have a few , but alas the majority of my best pictures were destroyed by a butter head doe of a ex-wife that inadvertently put the box out side during a rain storm ( methinks it was on purpose.) ....I will have to look to see if I can find any left over pics somewhere. . which reminds me of a Skydiving Story:

How I met my ex-wife Skydiving ......

I was jumpmastering students in Perris Valley, CA. one day and I met this one Blond hair lady that was very attractive waiting in line to be jumpmaster checked prior to boarding the aircraft....It was my turn to do the equipment check for that load....So when it came to check her equipment I noticed the ripcord on the B12 container was too long and the cable housing was not properly stitched down in place...if one were to inadvertently to let loose of the ripcord...it, the ripcord, would be floating behind the jumper, making it extremely hard to get it and pull it. I informed this to her and she replied in a Huff that she knew what she was doing ( he-he she was doing a 10 second delay from 3,500ft.) anyway since their was no way I could stop her other then a warning about the equipment flaw she boarded the aircraft.....

I turned my attention to the rest of the students....with in about 30-45 minutes or so I heard a lot of people starting to scream "Pull your Reserve!!" I looked up in the sky where I knew the the drop would be made and saw a Jumper tumbling through the air.....so low that the jumper was almost eye level when the Reserve was deployed and I counted the seconds the Jumper was under canopy....less then 3 seconds was the count. the Jumper impacted slow enough so as not to sustain injuries other then being shook up.....If you guessed it was her...you were right. She came back to me later and apologized for not listening to me....Apparently she counted only to 5 seconds and started to pull her ripcord and then realized she had 5 seconds left to go...so she let go and the ripcord floated up behind her out of her reach...she then started tumbling while trying to get it again. Needless to say it was almost her last Jump....what ever possessed me to date her 3 months later then marry 2 years later is beyond me...he-he ( Could be my other Girl friends had a hard time living with a Skydiver who enjoyed getting his knees in the breeze...at least this one was all ready jumping when I met her.)

[Storm]

That ALMOST happened to me a couple of times (getting involved with women skydiving or scuba diving).

I started dating them first... they tended to be *somewhat* adventureous (camping & hiking),

Basically: they wanted to know more about me, I told them about skydiving (or later scuba)... I DID NOT try to "talk them into it", but they wanted to try on their own. I suspect as a way of getting closer (which was probably the problem ... I'm no psychologist). IE they didn't want to try those things for *just themselves*. So, they might make it thru 3-7 jumps (or four or five dives after basic open water instruction)... and then they would say they had to quit, they were frightened, it was "freaking them out" too much.

It got VERY close to happening in Hawaii though. A girl was stationed there with me, I got her into scuba and she more-or-less stuck with it (not diving as often as me, she was more of a beach-person). She PCS'd, "distance killed it", we lost contact.

Now that I'm a retired fuddy-duddy (and somewhat particular and set in my ways) I like being single. No complications, I do what I want when I want, and I can make coffee the way ** I ** like it.

[BraveHart]

He-He....Yuppers being a bachelor does have it's advantages ...here is a shot of me and a few friends in FreeFall....I am the one on the left in the White jumpsuit with Red, Orange and Yellow stripes and wearing a black SST rig with a leather Frap Hat....What a Hoot of a Skydive!

[BraveHart]

Here is a picture of my current...but retired Parachute. I put a lot of jumps on this parachute and it has a lot of sentimental value. Never had a Malfunction with it....my pictures of my PC ( Para-Commander Parachute.) were destroyed. I do however have an old picture of my 1st parachute and I will post it next...

[BraveHart]

And Finally my Very 1st parachute....a 28ft 7TU round parachute that use to be an emergency chute for a pilot....he-he I got pretty good at accuracy because this chute let me down fast and the pea gravel was a whole lot softer to land on. This was back in the later barnstorming days

[IckleChesh]

Originally posted by Storm
Now thats one thing I can't quite bring myself to do. TOO chicken for bungee jumping,


... and its a testiment to your fortitude that you got into it or tried it spontaneously, "on a whim" (if I understood your post).

When I was younger, I used to jump out of perfectly good airplanes, like Cessnas (not PERFECTLY good, they were missing a door!).... when I got stationed in Hawaii I got scuba certified (PADI), worked up through divemaster / instructor, and swam with and photographed all kinds of critters...

But dangle from a rubber band? Fall down THEN fall UP?? Hehehe - I don't like roller coasters. The thought of bungee jumping actually imposes an odd sensation in my stomach.

If I had stopped to think about it, I would have run a mile screaming like a little girl!! But the falling was not the problem, your right, the rapid change in direction has a VERY strange effect on internal organs! I think I had about 5 rebounds. The 1st down is the worst, all you see is the ground getting very close, then, SNAP, an awful lot of spinning and sky, up over the top and do it all over again!

But you guys? Ping has a saying, and I agree, "why jump out a perfectly good airplane?" (He also says Golf is a waste of a good walk!! lol). In the forces, fair enough, you get paid to do it. But for fun? Thats just insane. :D:D

Brave, so you were young once:P:P, also, not very green, and rather tall!

[Edited on 1-22-2009 by IckleChesh]

[Storm]

I just cracked open my Big Box of Pictures, and STARTED sorting them. I have a lot to go through. Some good ones so far (Just found one skydiving pic)...

When I decide to upload, I will put them in my Flickr account and post the URL.

[BraveHart]

Originally posted by IckleChesh

But you guys? Ping has a saying, and I agree, "why jump out a perfectly good airplane?" (He also says Golf is a waste of a good walk!! lol). In the forces, fair enough, you get paid to do it. But for fun? Thats just insane. :D:D

Brave, so you were young once:P:P, also, not very green, and rather tall!

Ha-Ha-Ha .....I have made 5 jumps out of 5 different planes that were "Not so perfectly good airplanes".....I'll have to tell you about the other 4 later. I was known as a "Jumping Junkie" in my Youth...I just could not get enough of that adrenalin rush that Skydiving provided....my second time in a airplane was in Jump School at Ft.Benning Georgia when I made my 1st jump as a paratrooper....the 1st time in a plane was flying to Jump School .

Yup....Yoda was young once and tall, but all the years of skydiving turned Yoda into a short mean Green fighting machine

One of my favorite sayings in Skydiving was: "Falling never Hurt me....Only the last half inch before Impact Hurt the Most"

[Wasp89]

You guys might appreciate this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdUtQSTXwvo

[BraveHart]

Ha Ha Ha....yup, been there a few times....some pretty close calls, I remember one time a commercial passenger plane came across our drop zone as I passed by near the cockpit I waved at the pilot as I went by....The look on his face was priceless truly a Kodak moment....

[Storm]

Wasp89;
Thanks for that link. There are probably a lot of good skydiving videos on youtube; that one brought back memories, brought back the feeling of what it is like to be up there. Never collided with any planes though.

Sometimes a curious bird might do a flyby as you descend to lower altitudes.

By the way, I need to thank you... it was by searching through old forum posts, and reading dialogue between you and Verbosity that helped me learn to jump Black Holes in ER. Your method doesn't QUITE work for me, but I worked out a SLIGHT variation of the method that seems to work 100% of the time for me.

===== =====

OK, did some photo scanning and uploaded into my Flickr account. Uploaded 5 skydiving pics (the only ones I have), and 15 Scuba pics (I turned into quite an underwater photographer. Later became a PADI instructor). Some of the scans aren't the best - these are old photos (skydiving = mid to late 1970s, scuba = 1992 thru 1995, other pics that I may upload later might be older).

I have TONS more scuba pics, And photos of other wacky things I've done in my life, if anyone wants to see them:

More scuba pics. Cave diving, shipwreck diving, more underwater critters.... shipboard and underwater pics of the girl I dated for a while (who was hot), my instructor Ruby (who was also VERY hot, I have a picture of her in a bikini! I just say that to get everyone to say "yes upload more!... still though, they were hot!). Ruby is in the third "Deep Dive Class and Certification" picture that I uploaded today.

.... diving the Haleiwa Trench... If you ever say the movie Abyss? Where the guy was decending alongside an underwater cliff... the Trench is like that. Goes down to a depth of 130-140 feet or so. FULL of Tiger Sharks, which you DON'T mess with (known to be maneaters - reef sharks are OK though, they are puppydogs if they are in the right mood). And more scuba pics.

A picture of the first Hawaiian Spiny Lobsters that I caught. By Hawaiian law, if you are going to hunt lobster, you MUST do so by HAND! (Thick gloves are recommended!) The picture shows them proudly displayed next to a can of Pepsi, for scale. I was proud of the dinky things. Tasted good, though.

Some general pictures of Hawaii.

Fencing, and the Society for Creative Anachronism (BTW there is "real" or "technical fencing", and there is "theatrical fencing" used in the SCA. I did both). Some pictures of SCA types, SCA camping events in New Hampshire, and a picture of a Viking!

Other miscellaneous pics.

Let me know if anyone is interested, and I will upload more.

=====

Here is a short way and a long way to get to the photos:

SHORT way:
http://flickr.com/photos/34159828@N06/

LONG way:
http://flickr.com

Near the top right corner click SEARCH (leave the search box empty).

On the next page, you see three tabs: Photos, Groups, and People. Click People.

On the next page, "Name or email address" should already be selected. Enter:
jeffbrdx
in the search box and click Search.

On the next page (where it found me from the search), click the gray face-icon.

=====

All 20 pictures (so far that I have uploaded) are on that page, but they are unorganized and unsorted. You want to select one of the two Sets on the right, "Scuba" or Skydiving".

Click on any picture to enlarge it. All the pics have descriptions under them when you click them. Descriptions are also under the unsorted pictures on the main page.

To navigate, just use the BACK key, but whenever you see the gray block "face icon", you can click that to get back to my main page.

Let me know if anyone needs help navigating on the Flickr site, or if there are any questions about the pictures.

(edeted fer massihv speeling errorz)


[Edited on 1-23-2009 by Storm]

[BraveHart]

Cool pics storm....I recognize the old rigs of that era, hehe .....I really like your scuba photos also.

[Storm]

I have more scuba pics (LOTS more, about 50 more at least, but only maybe 20 more worth looking at).

(I'll say it again: My instructor, Ruby, was HOT! And I have one of her in a bikini!)

( hehehe )

[BraveHart]

Skydiving at Night

I so loved Skydiving at night! what a rush that was....I remember one jump where we had finished a RW competition during the day of which my team took 1st place ( RW: Relative Work...people freefalling and hooking up with each other doing different formations.) Night jumps were scheduled for some added fun and it was a Full moon night. My team decided it would be awesome to perform the maneuvers we did to win the competition at night. What a Hoot that was there we were at 12,500ft climbing out and hanging onto the door of a twin otter....the full moon was so bright. Awesome sight indeed! we all had strobe lights attached to our helmets and Frap hats and of course a lighted altimeter and then came the time to take the leap of faith into the Night Sky....What A Rush!! the skydive came off without a hitch and all of the maneuvers were performed as perfect as when we did them during the day....Fantastic Jump!!

[Edited on 1-23-2009 by BraveHart]

[warsign]

You are crazy Brave.
You know that?

[Storm]

BraveHart - I agree!

Clark AFB was an excellent place to dive. The volcano, Mount Pinatubo (which you might remember blew up, messed up the island of Luzon, and I think closed Clark AFB), was an excellent backdrop for diving. You could see the volcano from the ground ok, but from "up there" the terrain was fantastic to look at.

I did two night jumps at Clark, both when the moon was full or nearly full. It was indescribable, especially with the volcano "looming over one's shoulder". It was also like (to me) a bit like being in outer space. No sensation of gravity, and stars. A kind of "awesome" feeling during the freefall... like one is some kind of "SkyGod".

I checked... Pinatubo blew its top in 1991. There is a good picture of the eruption:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo
... I remember seeing footage on TV, in the middle of the day it was like night, with snowfall-like ash falling everywhere for a time.

Similar (sort of) experiences... jumping through dense clouds, yes? (I know we weren't SUPPOSED to do it) I mean there is NO logical reason that one should "feel an impact", nevertheless you have the sensation that you "hit something". And if the cloud was dense enough and thick enough, one got a definite sensation of moisture. Kinda like a cold sauna. Just no visibility and "grey/white" everywhere, like a thick fogbank, for a moment or two.

Also had one water jump. Fun but a little scary.

I wasn't that good at R/W, a little clumsy, I never took the time to practice other than a few attempts. Skydiving for me was a sort of more personal experience.

I got more pics uploaded... unfortunately I don't have any more skydiving pics (other than the five)... I just wasn't very much into photography back then.

[BraveHart]

Originally posted by warsign
You are crazy Brave.
You know that?

Yuppers...."Card Carrying and Looney Tunes Certified" LOL


Edit: Edited for the laugh it was meant for

[Edited on 1-23-2009 by BraveHart]