Thoughts on leaving a moving airplane

Photo by Kamil Pietrzak on Unsplash

I probably wouldn’t have tried this on my own, but when a group of us decided that skydiving was something to do, we all agreed.

On a perfectly normal summer day, an assortment of perfectly normal colleagues and myself opted for an perfectly abnormal method of passing time. Someone in our group suggested that it would be fun to jump from a perfectly normal airplane and add an exciting twist to life. As a group, it was easy to say yes, and off we went.

Arriving at the jump school, we signed the appropriate consent forms (supposedly absolving the jump school of all responsibility in the event of some catastrophic occurrence, e.g. death and/or disability or dismemberment) and then off to “school”.

We were taught the physics of jumping and the details that went into the planning and execution of the jump. Our instructors seemed capable enough and we were all at ease.

What really got my attention was when the main instructor casually emitted the phrase:

“YOU THEN HAVE TEN SECONDS TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH THE
REST. OF. YOUR. LIFE.”

I was suddenly more attentive.

The main instructor was reminding us that, as static line jumpers (where the…