Skydiving In Arizona

Skydiving In Arizona

by Guy Morgan

Publication Date: November 1996

Lately skydiving has been getting a bad reputation by the Deaths that recently happened in Eloy. The majority of the public only relates skydiving to death because there is never anything positive said about it. Statistically Skydiving has fewer fatalities per year than scuba diving and motorcycle racing. Yet those sports are considered safer. Since I am such an avid skydiver, I wrote a short story about a jump that I did recently and posted it on our email Bulletin Board at Intuit. Several people told me they enjoyed the story and felt they were right there with me. Without anything further, here is my story.

Ever since I was little I dreamed of being able to reach out and touch the clouds. During a recent weekend, I was able to make that dream come true.

After having already made two jumps at Skydive Arizona in Eloy, AZ, I finished packing my parachute and was ready to go home. But being addicted to the sport as I am, I reached deep in my pocket for another $15 for just one more jump from 13,000 feet.

I purchased my ticket and went to the manifest to get on a load. The next two loads were full, so they started a new load with only my name on the list. Things didn't look too promising since they need at least 10 on the load before it'll fly. Just then, one person on the first load cancelled. (YESSSS!!!)...12 minutes before takeoff.

Geared up, I boarded the plane, buckled up and away we went. I took my usual ten minute nap during the flight to kill time. When I awoke, we were at 11,500 feet. I put my helmet and goggles on, turned to the window and saw nothing but white beneath us.

We reached 13,000 feet and the green light turned on (JUMP RUN!). The door opened and the first group (seven man) climbed out of the plane and away they went. Then a four-man group. I was next. I looked out the door at the two groups that just jumped away and watched the thick billowy cloud swallow them up. Reminding me of a nightmare I once had, my heart was really racing now. I finished my count to ten to give plenty of space between me and the four-man group.

I dove out head first into a flip, turned over on my back, looked up at the plane and waved at Amy, who was just climbing out the door. As the cloud engulfed me, I watched the plane fade away.

I then tilted my head back, spread my legs apart to give my lower body more drag, and went into a head-down dive. In a normal "belly to earth" position, terminal velocity is approximately 120 mph. In a head-down position, you really get cookin'. This was the first time I actually had a point of reference to see exactly how fast I was traveling.

I then flipped over into a sitting position and looked down towards my feet. Suddenly visibility increased dramatically. Yet, I still could only see white. I was falling through the middle of a huge pocket in the cloud, which looked like a huge cavern. I screamed out YEEEHAWW hoping that it would echo off the cavern walls, however, my scream was taken away by the wind.

I then descended through the bottom of the cavern and visibility then diminished. Suddenly the ground came into view. I looked at my altimeter and saw 5,500 feet. OK, I had about eighteen more seconds to play.

After a few more flips and spins, I went belly-to-earth to slow down, and then deployed my main parachute. Yes, it opened just fine. As I landed, a sky surfer asked me how was it. I replied, "Great, I couldn't see a thing."