<p>So, I made my first jump today! It was absolutely incredible! I was really lucky too! I was on the third plane (each holds 12 jumpers). The last three couldn’t jump because the winds gusted to 16 knots (max allowed is 15) so they had to return down with the plane. I was the 5th off the 3rd plane. </p>
<p>What a rush! Worst part is standing in the door with your entire body outside. But, once the jump master says go, training kicks in and I was a robot. Out I went, 10 seconds later I pulled the chute and hung out for 3000’! Most amazing feeling I have ever had. No stomach flipping, no hard time breathing, just floating. 2011, look forward and work hard to get this, its well worth it!</p>
<p>Now, next jump day is Monday, hope the weather is good, need 4 more jumps!</p>
<p>Just amazing, I’ll post pictures of the jump when I get them onto the CC facebook group. :)</p>
<p>Sweetness. Don't some people get close to fainting they're so scared on their first jump?</p>
<p>Lucky!
I got space :( Although, I might be catching a hop to Spain...it's still in the air. (no pun intended)</p>
<p>LOL if they fainted lets hope they never went up there again. Jumping is easy. Its the landing that can be hard. LOL</p>
<p>Jumping isn't so easy. We have 30 hours of training for it! It's actual kinda difficult to stabilize yourself in flight. The landing was the easiest! Although we're required to do a proper fall on our first jump, all of us would have been able to either stand or walk out of the landing! I thought that was the easiest part.</p>
<p>If I'm not mistaken, I believe NDNRanger is/was Army Airborne, so maybe it was just easy for him. What do you guys jump out of, hornetguy?</p>
<p>We jump out of Dehaviland UV-18B Twin Otters. </p>
<p>Are you airborne NDN?</p>
<p>You shootin for WOB hornet?</p>
<p>First he would have to make the WOG (yeah, the cool frog symbol people!)...;)</p>
<p>Thank you yes I was. They are called Parachute landing falls (PLFs) in the Army. I had a similar experience to yours on my first jump. The trainers were very careful about training conditions. The wind was pretty much non-existant and I floated slowly and softly to the ground. I had to make myself do a PLF just to avoid a chewing out by the sergeant airbornes (black hats). The importance of doing a PLF properly was imprinted upon me forever on a later jump. I thought it was going to be just as easy a landing as that first jump. I wasnt able to judge my rate of decent or my horizontal drift. </p>
<p>I touched the ground with my left foot ever so slightly before the right foot touched.</p>
<p>And I immediately felt a lightning bolt travel all the way up my left leg through my left side through my jaw into my skull! LOL. Feet and knees together! Always! </p>
<p>There used to be a photo hanging in the rigging shed at Army Airborne School. It showed a unlucky soul immediately after successfully reaching for the ground with one foot first. It was very apparent to any viewer that the soldiers lower leg area had immediately bent to aproximately a 90 degree angle in the center of the shin area, where no joint was present. LOL Whew.</p>
<p>yikes! Yup, we call em PLFs as well. I figured everyone here would scratch their head at that! </p>
<p>When you jumped, was is a run out the door, or did you stand in it first?</p>
<p>Well it depends. If you jumped out of a propellor driven plane, then you had to jump up and out to make sure you cleared the fusilage. If it was a jet then all you had to do was step out of the opening and it sucked you away faster than you could blink. LOL</p>
<p>Similar report from Benjo6 on the jumping experience: one he will never forget! He also told me that one guy completely froze and didn't pull his chute. Interestingly, the chute automatically releases at a certain altitude. Good thing for that guy that it did. Needless to say he's out of the jump program.</p>
<p>Ya, we saw some interesting videos and reactions to jumps. As of now, Benjo6 and I have our jump wings! Lovin' life. </p>
<p>And I got to meet usafaskydiver from these forums as well. Small world!</p>
<p>hornetguy-
did you jump out of a propeller driven plane or jet?</p>
<p>De Havilland UV-18B Twin Otter...propeller driven.</p>
<p>I'd like to add, that half-way up the previous page I also stated what the aircraft was. A little situational awareness mslicon....</p>
<p>...and G4C. <em>cough cough</em>. Oh wait...that's me. :-P</p>
<p>Just want to send out the congrats to hornetguy and anyone else who has just received their wings. Its a great accomplishment and now that you have them you can always have those wings on your uniform. Plus now that you have jumped out of a perfectly good airplane (haha, that saying never gets old) there really isnt anything else that you cant overcome. </p>
<p>Oh and by the way, did you get the blood wings?</p>
<p>Congratulations Hornet guy and Ben! You will never be a "Leg" again!</p>