I look really goofy in this photo, but I think my facial expression quite accurately conveys the emotional sensation, “Oh my God, I’m falling backwards out of an airplane!”
The freefall portion of the jump lasted 5-10 seconds and was, as advertised, awesome. A few things surprised me. First, I’d expected it to seem like the ground was rushing up very quickly. That wasn’t the case at all. I guess humans are just very bad at judging altitude visually, or the distances involved are larger than we’re accustomed to dealing with. 11,000 feet looks pretty much the same as 9,000 feet, which looks pretty much the same as 5,000 feet. All the professional skydivers wore wrist-mounted altimeters, probably for exactly this reason.
Secondly, I didn’t feel very much like I was floating, or weightless. There’s so much air rushing past it felt more like being in a wind tunnel to me.
Thirdly, when the chute opens the sensation is of being pulled rapidly upwards. I suppose this one shouldn’t have surprised me, since I understand the physics involved, and it is an upwards acceleration (positive acceleration in the Z-axis?). It’s still an odd sensation, because you’re not actually going up, just going down slower.
Finally, I didn’t feel any kind of enormous relief about the chute opening. As soon as we were falling, I was kind of unconsciously taking it for granted that it would open.
We landed on the beach at sunset, startling some late afternoon beachgoers and fishermen. I was really surprised by how much control you have once the chute is open. My instructor let me play around with the cords to steer the chute, and you can actually turn tightly enough to put yourself into a spin that causes blood to rush towards your feet and makes you light-headed. I was told later that old-fashioned parachutes used to be round, but modern designs are shaped almost like a wing. In some ways, gliding in for the landing was even more fun than freefall, and it made me want to try hang gliding at some point.
Safely back on terra firma.
I’m glad you made it down alright! haha
Not going to lie, your face as you’re falling backwards out of the plane is, priceless. (: