Rubber Ducky Derby!

[Kiwibird]

I love it! Skydiving looks like it would be a blast. Jumping with pool toys seems like it would be ridiculously fun too!

My husband and I wanted to try it on vacation once, but as first timers (who would need to be "attached" to an instructor) it was going to be $400 each Needless to say, we have yet to try:54:

 

[RavensGryf]

seen macho idiots on the ground literally lose bowel and bladder control at altitude, when the door opens. I've alsoseenmild mannered people turn into full on beast mode... I've seen people faint in free fall. Well, actually I saw the video. The whole drop zone did.. Poor guy.

You don't know what to expect or how you will respond the first time.
Half the fun is finding out.

Ugh.. I'm a fairly adventurous person, but I'd have to draw the line here... I can do fine without knowing whether I'd poop my pants or not !! LOL

 

[Weezerj]

Hell no...not if you killed the engines and the pilot jumped first!

So, you would prefer to die in the plane crash then...?

I'm thinking...yes

 

[Birdman666]

Hell no...not if you killed the engines and the pilot jumped first!

So, you would prefer to die in the plane crash then...?

I'm thinking...yes

Well I have a somewhat different perspective on this, because jumping IS life to begin with... but in that case, it would literally BE life and death. Your fear would cause the very thing you are afraid of to happen... which is probably the ultimate irony.

Fortunately, unless you're going up in very old, and poorly maintained private planes all the time, you're unlikely to ever face that choice...

This was never meant to be a sport for everybody... and at least half the people out there (probably more) feel the exact same way you do.

Some of us are Idiots, and we become manic idiots when that door opens at 15,000 feet...

I miss doing this stuff. I miss my crazy friends...

 

[Weezerj]

I would love the thrill, but fear of heights and falling would be difficult to impossible to overcome for me.

 

[Birdman666]

I would love the thrill, but fear of heights and falling would be difficult to impossible to overcome for me.

The only way you overcome a fear is to face it...

It's pretty much take one step, and you have just "pushed past" the fear.

Once you're in freefall, it's so amazing that... well, for me at least, "DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN!" Sign me up for classes... I'll just have my paychecks direct deposited to the DZ...

But I've always loved flying. And this is the purest form of flying I've found.

 

[Scott]

Great post, Mark! Love the pics, but virtually experiencing free-flight is about as far as I'd ever go. I'm terrified of heights except inside an aircraft, and the fear of a chute malfunction or aircraft incident is secondary.

There is a skydiving operation less than a mile from my house, and I very seriously considered an attempt. At the end of the day, overcoming this fear is not sufficiently important to take the plunge, but I admire those who enjoy the jumps!

(it would be fun to fly that Shorts Skyvan!)

 

[Birdman666]

Skyvans are not fun at all to fly in the slightest amount of gusty wind conditions...

They are tricky buggers because they are pretty slow to begin with, and the wind catches that boxy frame, and blows them into a stall. Weight and balance issues are critical on those things. It's like flying a shoe box!!!

I've actually been on one in not all that strong of a winds, get blown up by a gust and start to enter a stall. Pilot had to go from a climb to a dive, then back to a climb. And, when there's 30 of you standing up in the back of the thing (no seats on a jump plane)... it gets your attention!

They are really, really fun to jump out of because they have that huge door, and there's no tail to worry about hitting... so you can take all kinds of stuff, and all kinds of formations out of them...

A skyvan shows up on the DZ, and it's like, what other possible stupid thing can we do next.

The people in front of us on the boat load did an 8- way wheel out the door...
Can't do that on a Cessna load!

The local DZ has an old twin engine DH-Otter. 22 jumpers to 13,500 feet in 15 minutes. 3-4 loads an hour.

Most of the DZs I jumped in California were using PACs or Caravans, or King Air 90s.

The smallest thing I've ever jumped out of was a Cessna 182. Half way to altitude the joke was "Okay, everyone we need you to get out and push." It was kinda fun hanging by my feet from the wing strut, and launching vertical, though... that part was fun.

 

[Birdman666]

There is a skydiving operation less than a mile from my house, and I very seriously considered an attempt.

Where are you? Cuz I did a lot of jumping in Cali...

Oddly enough I am afraid of heights, when I don't have a harness on. I climbed half dome in Yosemite with some friends when I was younger. I was fine climbing up. I was fine repelling down. But when we got up there, and I stood near the edge?! I WAS BEAR HUGGING A ROCK...

Many years ago, I did a Bungee jump - 500 foot drop out of a hot air balloon over Napa. "The big boing!" (Followed by an all day wine tasting.) You ride up on the OUTSIDE of the balloon, on a little step, wearing this heavy 50 lb. harness...

When you're way up in the air, it's easier to jump because the ground is just little squares, and the trees are dots.

I was low enough to where the trees were still trees. And no parachute. Just a rubber band around my waist. At about 350 feet a seagull flew by, and hovered at eye level... looked at me like, "You really don't belong up here, idiot!" I had a tough time letting go... so that one really freaked me out.

But I did it.

That was one of those bucket list things. I did it once, and it was an interesting experience, but I had no desire to ever do it again.

 

[Scott]

There is a skydiving operation less than a mile from my house, and I very seriously considered an attempt.

Where are you? Cuz I did a lot of jumping in Cali...

Oddly enough I am afraid of heights, when I don't have a harness on. I climbed half dome in Yosemite with some friends when I was younger. I was fine climbing up. I was fine repelling down. But when we got up there, and I stood near the edge?! I WAS BEAR HUGGING A ROCK...

Many years ago, I did a Bungee jump - 500 foot drop out of a hot air balloon over Napa. "The big boing!" (Followed by an all day wine tasting.) You ride up on the OUTSIDE of the balloon, on a little step, wearing this heavy 50 lb. harness...

When you're way up in the air, it's easier to jump because the ground is just little squares, and the trees are dots.

I was low enough to where the trees were still trees. And no parachute. Just a rubber band around my waist. At about 350 feet a seagull flew by, and hovered at eye level... looked at me like, "You really don't belong up here, idiot!" I had a tough time letting go... so that one really freaked me out.

But I did it.

That was one of those bucket list things. I did it once, and it was an interesting experience, but I had no desire to ever do it again.

I'm next to Oceanside Municipal Airport (KOKB) Oceanside CA, a small paved-runway public GA airport just north of Hwy 76 about 3 miles inland. Bigger picture.... northern San Diego just east of I-5 and immediately south of Camp Pendleton. Tsunami Skydivers started up around 2 years ago and flies a single PAC. On occasion a Twin Otter visits for larger events.

I have no qualms about the turbine-powered aircraft, and know the odds of successful chute operation are superb. And I'm not that frightened about getting injured during a hard landing, but every other aspect is terrifying. Maybe one day, but I enjoy the experience through your pics!!

 

[Scott]

Skyvans are not fun at all to fly in the slightest amount of gusty wind conditions...

They are tricky buggers because they are pretty slow to begin with, and the wind catches that boxy frame, and blows them into a stall. Weight and balance issues are critical on those things. It's like flying a shoe box!!!

I've actually been on one in not all that strong of a winds, get blown up by a gust and start to enter a stall. Pilot had to go from a climb to a dive, then back to a climb. And, when there's 30 of you standing up in the back of the thing (no seats on a jump plane)... it gets your attention!

They are really, really fun to jump out of because they have that huge door, and there's no tail to worry about hitting... so you can take all kinds of stuff, and all kinds of formations out of them...

A skyvan shows up on the DZ, and it's like, what other possible stupid thing can we do next.

The people in front of us on the boat load did an 8- way wheel out the door...
Can't do that on a Cessna load!

The local DZ has an old twin engine DH-Otter. 22 jumpers to 13,500 feet in 15 minutes. 3-4 loads an hour.

Most of the DZs I jumped in California were using PACs or Caravans, or King Air 90s.

The smallest thing I've ever jumped out of was a Cessna 182. Half way to altitude the joke was "Okay, everyone we need you to get out and push." It was kinda fun hanging by my feet from the wing strut, and launching vertical, though... that part was fun.

Didn't realize the Skyvan had such nasty characteristics. Shorts did a few stretches and tweaks to create the popular 330 and 360 regional airliners, but their day has come and gone. (unpressurized, good only for sea-level regions without high terrain) Hard to beat a Twin Otter, though the PAC is probably very efficient with a single turbine and simple rugged construction.

 

[Birdman666]

Okay, they are new then... that wasn't there when I was in California.

Used to be, in SoCal, the place to be was either Skydive Perris or Elsinore...

Elsinore is a really nice DZ.

I actually really like jumping out of the PAC myself, lots of hand holds, and believe it or not you can actually wing walk those things... (Don't tell the FAA, but I've done it! TWICE!) There are people who quibble about the exit door not being wide enough, but we've launched 6 and 8 ways out of it with no real problem at all.

And frankly, you almost never launch anything bigger than an 8 way.

 

[Birdman666]

Didn't realize the Skyvan had such nasty characteristics. Shorts did a few stretches and tweaks to create the popular 330 and 360 regional airliners, but their day has come and gone. (unpressurized, good only for sea-level regions without high terrain)

They're heavy, they're slow, and they're boxy. And they tend to be fully loaded during skydiving operations. With the weight of the cargo (US) shifting in flight.

Even in skydiving operations there are red lines in the cargo holds for weight and balance reasons. Stay in front of this red line during climb out. If you have more than four people across the line in a full aircraft, everyone else shifts back towards the pilot. Too much weight shift to the rear can stall you...

And in turbulance?! When the wind gusts come up in the "flying shoebox" things can get exciting real fast. I've been in them in near stall conditions, and it definitely gets your attention. I think there were only like 10-15 knot gusts that day, and it was enough to ground the shoebox... didn't affect the PAC or the Otter at all, just "a little bumpy."