Has anyone here ever had a bad experience skydiving?

pharacon · 5 months

I went Tandem, my instructor had a boner the whole way down...

ttruth1 · 5 months

Just remember this: if you've got a problem deploying your chute, don't panic, you've got the rest of your life to figure it out.

Ganglebot · 5 months

Went tandem, when the chute opened I blacked out from the whiplash.

Woke up to the guy - lets call him Kevin - strugleing with the lines.

I couldn't talk or breath because my back, arms, neck and legs were in so much pain.

He says, in a completly calm voice, "So Ganglebot, we're going to have to cut away from our main here and use our backup. Alright?"

I croak out, "Yeah man, you do what you gotta do." Trying to not let him know how much pain I'm in.

He cuts the chute, we fall straight down for ~500 meters.

Backup deploys just fine, we land in a farmer's field to chase down our main chute.

We get up, he kisses the backup chute like a crazy person.

"I've done like 2,200 jumps. And that was a first! You never know if these reserves are packed right too. Fuck me, this is a day to mark in my calendar."

Then I got drunk.

Creatrix · 5 months

I was an avid jumper for 9 years. Got my A, B and C licenses and Coach rating. One reason I quit is I went to a lot of funerals. As someone else here pointed out, the safest people are the students and tandem passengers. There are so many safety backups built into student gear. Almost all the fatalities of people I knew were due to overconfidence of experienced jumpers, taking unnecessary chances.

If you get into skydiving -- go for your license -- it's an amazing sport that will take over your life. You'll be expected to live, eat, breathe skydiving and you'll make the closest friendships of your life. But they do lie to you about how safe it is.

The only bad experiences I had were (1) I didn't arch when doing a 2-way off the step of the plane and my nose connected with it. Luckily I wasn't knocked out. And (2) my main wouldn't open and I had to go to the round reserve, which opened bang. Going from 120 mph to zero pulled all my groin muscles.

I witnessed a few accidents but not fatalities. The worst resulted in the guy having emergency surgery right in the airport hangar to stabilize him before transportation to the hospital. He recovered eventually and continued skydiving.

Nosty85 · 5 months

Currently working towards my license. It is awesome. A VAST majority of the problems you will ever hear stories about start with "So I was trying out this new rig/packing method/maneuver and it didn't open!" What I mean is that most of the gear malfunctions are a direct result of a 'pro' trying something new. Common "problems" such as line twists and a stuck slider are no big deal.

Also, the reserve takes several hours to pack, because it has to be PERFECT. So yeah, that one is going to open.

If you look at the breakdown, it is something like 90% of injuries are a result of professionals trying risky landing maneuvers. Straight up gear failure leading to serious injury or death is extremely rare.

betamaxv2 · 5 months

I recently took my first jump and I had a minor problem. When my tandem jump master deployed the chute I "sank waaay down in the harness" (his words). I was never in any danger of falling out but the way that the harness constricted my legs I could barely move them. When we touched down we had to do with weird sit down maneuver where we basically slide onto the ground. Think sliding feet first in baseball but a steeper angle and much faster. The heel on my left foot was bruised for about a week because of the hard landing.

That being said. Skydiving is the most exhilarating event of my life. Jumping out of an airplane at 2.5 miles above the earth did several things to me both mentally and physically. First off my body did a full purge of my adrenal gland. I am talking every last ounce of adrenaline my body had was instantly dumped into my system. It was the best high I have ever experienced. Better than drugs, better than alcohol.

The second affects were mental and didn't really hit me until I was back on Terra firma. When my brain finally was able to process the "OMGWTFBBQ did you just do to me?!?!", I was struck with a sense of awe, wonder, and perspective. Every trouble, task, and annoyance seemed minimized to me. I was more grateful for the good things in my life, but for at least a month solid nothing could really phase me. I would say that those 60 seconds of free fall are one of the most enlightening and spiritual events of my life.

tl;dr my harness had minor issues but everyone should go skydiving at least once.

edit: misspelling

PerryJ · 5 months

I had a moment where I had to face my own mortality. This happened straight after I got my A-cert, probably on my second jump after "graduation". I was doing a standard formation jump with 3 other people from 4000 meters. The regulations are to separate well above the 1000 meter mark and then pull the chute at 1000 meters. We all flew our separate ways at maybe 1500 meters, and then I just hung in the air for a while, chillin' in free fall. I kept a close watch on my altitude meter, but somehow I always seemed to have a few 100 meters to go every time I checked. Suddenly I noticed that the ground looked a lot bigger than it had done on any of my previous jumps, so I pulled the chute just to be safe. This was maybe 5 seconds after the separation. My chute took a bit longer than normal to deploy, but nothing to worry about. Then I looked down... I was real close to the ground, closer than I should be. I looked at my altitude meter which read about 650 meters. The meter had stopped working mid air, and now it had jumped back to normal. Adding to my problems, I was well outside the dropzone. I made a risky decision to try and fly back to the airfield instead of doing an emergency landing. It worked, but only just. Flying in I was just a few meters, maybe 5-10, from the treetops on the edge of the drop zone. I landed safely without any physical injures. But the realization that had I waited another split second and I wouldn't have made it back to the Landing Zone, 2-3 seconds more and I would have been in danger of setting of the safety, deploying my backup chute. That would have left my hanging in two chutes and a heap of trouble. 5-7 seconds more and I would have to hope that my backup worked, otherwise, I would have hit the ground, hard.

FlipprDolphin · 5 months

i went through a cloud and it made me feel kinda yucky afterwards.

I would avoid clouds

ImAmazing · 5 months

Yeah, some asshole threw me out of a plane.

DarrenEdwards · 5 months

I have a friend, Dennis, that used to jump nearly 200 times a year. He was at a week long festival. Another attendee had health and relationship issues and decided not to pull the cord. The chute didn't fail, this was intentional. Dennis heard the whistling noise of a body in free fall at 120 mph. The guy landed 40 feet from my friend. Dennis hasn't jumped since.

Thro-A-Weigh · 5 months

Yes, almost died first time. Got into a death spiral but recovered. Went again the next weekend to impress a chick. Survived and got the girl.

Dorama1427 · 5 months

Related question: Can anyone here describe what cyanide tastes like?

Auram · 5 months

Disclaimer: I've done several hundred jumps

I wouldn't call them "bad". Have done several jumps where we ended up going through a rain cloud / rain, it hurts a lot if you have an open face helmet, kind of like running into the heads of needles.

Had a new (to me) canopy, just checked out by the riggers. It was opening really hard for the first couple of jumps, so tried packing it a bit differently. Upon deployment, I didn't feel myself slowing down like I should have, then BAM, from 120 to 0 in an instant, hurt like you wouldn't believe. I also heard a loud bang, like a gunshot, and looked up to see a huge hole in the canopy (roughly 1/7th of the material missing from the canopy). It had exploded upon opening, but the trim around the edge kept it together and it was actually flying straight.

I quickly decided it wasn't something I was going to want to steer, so I cut it away, went to my reserve, and landed uneventfully. Worst part was I had just destroyed a semi-expensive canopy and took me 8 hours of searching with friends to get some of the gear attached to it back (skyhook). The repair costs for the thing were more than I had paid, so it now sits in a bin in my basement, maybe I'll hang it up some day

All that being said, I love the sport and hope to continue jumping :) Everyone should try it

tl;dr Had a canopy explode, ran my face into raindrops, skydiving is neat

jfb3 · 5 months

Not me, my cousin. He drifted past the landing field and his foot went through the windshield of a Buick. Two surgeries later and one leg is about an inch shorter than the other. He walked with a cane for about 18 months.

xbenzerox · 5 months

Yes. Wife ended up fucking the instructor. Does that count? Fucking bitch.

gabe_ · 5 months

I once had to wait around for four hours to jump... that sucked.

joephus420 · 5 months

I didn't enjoy skydiving as much as I thought I would. Maybe it's because when you're in the middle of the sky, the danger and risks don't seem as close to you as, let's say, in a cage in the ocean being bombarded by an angry shark. It was fun, but it wasn't the thrill I was expecting.

SomeRandomRedditor · 5 months

Related but not skydiving quite: I have a reoccurring dream where I fall and fall, without a para shoot and hit the ground, and don't immediately wake up, but remain immobile and in pain in my dream wishing for death but death won't come.

godlived · 5 months

I guess something like this?

[deleted] · 5 months

When I was about 12 years old my two next door neighbors and another guy from the neighborhood went. They were all about 18 years old. The plane crashed a couple seconds after takeoff and everyone died from the fire.

I know it's only skydiving related but please make sure you go to a reputable place with good equipment and planes. One of their dads pulled me aside at the funeral and told me the importance of life and that I should never forget that when I get ideas of doing extreme sports. Then he made me promise I would never go skydiving. I did and will keep that promise for the simple reason I think I would be jinxed if I broke it.

zhdapleeblue · 5 months

Yes, all my friends went and didn't tell me about it :(

treedick2011 · 5 months

My friend did once...... I miss him

GuiitarMan · 5 months

My whiteboard at work:
FOR SALE
PARACHUTE
- Used once
- Never opened
- Small stain

roastyg · 5 months

I went tandem jumping. The free fall was fun but the downwards journey once the parachute opened wasn't. It was a windy day and getting blown around made me feel sick (to the point of actually vomiting after we landed). I have always had some trouble with travel sickness though (and not the strongest stomach generally), so that may not be a problem for you.

I'm certainly glad I did it the once, but I don't imagine I ever will again.

EndlessOcean · 5 months

apart from freaking the fuck out? Nope.

I've done it twice from 15,000 ft. The scariest point is just before the leap. You're sat in a plane with a bench down the middle, when you hit the altitude the door opens into a vast nothingness. If you're at the back of the plane you see quite a bizarre sight of people jumping into the blue and then into oblivion. You can't see them from the windows. Everyone shuffles forward, you eventually get to the doorway. You swing your legs over the side and see the Earth below, so impossibly small. It looked like a movie, like I was looking at a giant TV screen.

I went tandem, the tandem master grabbed the handles on either side of the doorway and pulled them whilst counting 1...2...3!

Then you're gone.

I remember thinking "I'm gonna say something really cool when I leap!" but you don't... you scream like a girl and pull a stupid face.

Re: chutes not opening. I discussed this with the guy I was jumping with. There are 2 chutes, one main, one reserve. If anything happens to the instructor there is something in the chute pack linked to the altimeter that automatically deploys the parachute when you hit a given altitude (for us it was 4000 ft).

In the job I had I was friends with a lot of the guys who worked there (some with 40,000 + jumps). The worst I heard was a twin-prop plane that ascended to about 700ft and one of the engines blew out, the plane rolled and crashed. I think everyone died.

nordyjg · 5 months

I fractured my spine after my chute opened fine and then at 600ft hit some random burble and decided to collapse and tangle. It did mostly untangle by ground time, but i had a bit too much speed. Was an awesome adrenaline rush though.

maninthehighcastle · 5 months

My first jump was tandem. My friend's instructor was hilarious, joking. Mine was silent. Seemed nervous and unhappy. This made me nervous, but as soon as we left the plane and were plummeting to earth, no big deal. Chute opens, we're drifting along. This is in a big farm area. I see a huge orange streak on a nearby field.

"Hey instructor guy, what's that down there?"

"...that's my primary chute from the last jump. It didn't open."

"Oh."

Cue two minutes of awkward midair silence. Also, tandem isn't very comfortable.

Radskull · 5 months

http://i.imgur.com/TtORj.gif

thats_nucking_futs · 5 months

oh jeezuz here we go. this happened to one of my best friends. we'll call him bob.

it's bob's first time. he's going tandem with the instructor. after dropping for a while, bob reaches to deploy the chute. the instructor pulls his hand and stops him, yelling something. bob freaks out. his first thought is "im tan. the instructor must think im middle eastern so the racist bastard wants to kill me."

bob pisses himself, screams bloody murder, and starts slapping the instructor in no particular order. the instructor keeps yelling at bob but bob cant hear anything over his own crying and screaming. after what he describes as 2 minutes of absolute chaos, the instructor finally gave up and let bob deploy the chute.

when they finally landed, the instructor explained that bob wanted to deploy WAY to early and if he had left him pull it when he wanted, they'd have been floating for about half an hour until they hit the ground.

bob apologized for the freak out..and for pissing on the instructor. he's never gone sky diving again since TL;DR my friend thought his instructor was a racist who was trying to kill him

geosensation · 5 months

Peggy Hill should be the only person responding to this

BeeSilver9 · 5 months

I will be the odd woman out. It was fun, but not THE BEST EVER. The adrenaline rush is from actually jumping out of the plane. Once you are out, you are basically just falling for a minute. Then you kinda just hang in the air. I've done tandom sky diving and tandom hang-gliding. I preferred the hang-gliding and only an awesome hail storm prevented me from doing it again when I had the chance. Hang gliding, you actually feel like you are flying. And I had the guy do a dead stop. DEAD STOP. In mid-air. AWESOME! Much better than falling and hanging. Sky-diving is worth doing, but I don't think it's all it's made out to be.

Spartancfos · 5 months

Its Awesome. Terrifying but awesome!

Honestly the scariest thing I have had to do was the actual jump - mine was solo.

A negative I suppose is that it would take a lot to make me go again.

Remember that you have 2 parachutes, both professionally packed away when you are doing a jump (at least if you are jumping properly), and the emergency chute is designed to deploy even if you were unconscious the whole way down.

1wiseguy · 5 months

Lots of people, but they're not going to be on Reddit anymore.

Thirdarm420 · 5 months

I had kind of an eerie experience... My tandem jump went fine. We even jumped along with the owner of the skydiving company, and he was a really nice guy. One week later we heard that he died in a freak chute failure; fell from 50 feet and died. I'll never go again.

definitelyworking · 5 months

I have a question about sky diving, if someone would care to answer.

You know when you're on a roller-coaster, and you go down a big drop and you get that tickling feeling in your stomach? It's sort of pleasurable, and the bigger/faster the drop: the more intense the feeling.

Do you get that during Sky Diving? Because I'd love to do it, but the thing that puts me off is that I don't think I could manage that feeling for a whole minute. 5 seconds on a rollercoaster is enough.

Thanks.

Decommutate · 5 months

I did once and it was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, I had a massive 3 day long headache afterwards that wrecked me.

Was it worth it? Hell yeah, try it at least once. Be smart, read up on all of the risks, and take the proper precautions.

apator · 5 months

an ex girlfriend of mine hurt her knee pretty bad. She was diving solo and there was a miss communication between her and the instructor which resulted in her hitting the ground pretty hard. The knee will probably give her discomfort during physical activity for ever.

sweettuse · 5 months

this thread might suffer from a little survivorship bias...

barc0de · 5 months

My second static line solo jump, I exited the plane and just forgot everything, my position, the count, the chute checks. I was just falling through the air thinking calmly to myself "well, this isn't good..."

But the parachute opened normally and I landed safely. That was my last jump.

IMakeBadDecisions · 5 months

I didn't read all of this so if there is something similar I'm sorry. I honestly didn't get the thrill everyone else falls in love with. It was a pretty view. But nothing that awesome to me. I also didn't like that as parachute was up my legs were being strangled by the straps, so by the time we landed I was blacking out. I remember landing and on the cusp of fainting. I laid down and my vision came back. All in all. I'm just not that into it. I'm more of a road guy. I love riding my motorcycle and driving my car. Especially on a track.

pics-or-didnt-happen · 5 months

Yeah, I spent $200 and chickened out.

jordanspringer · 5 months

This guy has had a bad experience.

courage_the_dog · 5 months

I died while skydiving once.

JMTHawk · 5 months

My bad experience was not the actual jump, that was amazing and perfect, it was the video of the experience that ruined it. My best friend and I went to Key West to there was a jump company a few islands back run by a German and his wife. Nice couple. The husband did a tandem and the wife filmed (stills and video). I went first, and when we got on the ground the wife put together a video for me, but she set my montage to the music of Queen. I fucking hate Queen. However, I didn't know that I could choose different music, and just assumed that my buddy would have the same shitty music on his video. So, my buddy goes, and the wife does his video, but sets his music to Top Gun. FML...

notabigtruck · 5 months

I accidentally decapitated myself with the ripcord.

kmolleja · 5 months

I was going to, but the dropzone I went to was so unprofessional that I asked for a refund after seeing them jump in unsafe conditions.

Stay away from the DC Skydiving Center. Seriously I can't stress enough how dangerous and unprofessional they are.

dark_griever · 5 months

I went tandem and the instructor told me while we were falling that the chute wasn't deploying. I started to panic and nearly pissed myself, but then he got it to deploy.

Later it turned out it was all a prank orchestrated by my douchebag coworker Amir.

[deleted] · 5 months

I went once with three people who had also never been before and made a short movie about it for a college class. My sister jumped and she had never even been in a plane before. My jump was especially awkward. (I'm the only guy jumper.) http://vimeo.com/5203403

ValidusVoxPopuli · 5 months

Yeah. Assholes were shooting at me.

enslaved_robot_boy · 5 months

I got pushed out of the plane by the instructor.

RoryJ · 5 months

I have been puked on about three times. Those all sucked.

And I shattered my T9 vertebrae, but that was my fault under a tiny, high-performance canopy.

Kemah · 5 months

The people that you have spoken to about skydiving are correct. It IS an amazing experience, and something worth considering if you are a thrill seeker or want to do something a little crazy. However, risks are involved, and skydiving can be all sorts of scary. Mistakes can happen, and people die. Overall, I'd say that tandem students are the safest ones in the sky. You are with an experienced jumper, and he or she is trained to know what to do in any sort of situation.

I did five tandems before I went solo, and I agree with your friends: Skydiving is DEFINITELY a shitload of fun, and I go as often as I can. I'm playing the "time and money" game right now though, so I am not going as often as I would like, but I thoroughly enjoy my expensive hobby.

Here's me

having the time of my life!

reaperthesky · 5 months

I've got a "Not me but a friend..." story.

He skydived (skydove?) for his 20th birthday. He's a pretty tall guy, 6"2 I think. As him and the bloke attached to his back jump/slide out of the plane, they tumble around a bit before getting into the correct position. My friend didn't notice it at the time, but he was knocked in the face by the camera attached to the guys wrist (to video the jump for you).

As they land, my friends mouth hurts. He checks, and half of one of his front teeth is missing. The camera chipped half of his tooth, straight across.

TL;DR: Lions can skydive.

scigs6 · 5 months

I once jumped out of a plane and my chute came off and i reached up and grabbed it with one hand and basically dangled there for a while by one hand only. I eventually climbed back into the the harness and was able to deploy the chute in time to land in a crocodile infested pond!

jzzsxm · 5 months

Very first jump, tandem. TOTALLY AWESOME! I had no idea what was going on, I just arched my back when I was told to, jostled a bit, arched again, more jostling, and then we were parachuting.

Turns out that first jostling and the second arching were because our chute got tangled, we had to cut it loose, and then we deployed the reserve. I, of course, am completely oblivious to all of this and don't know that anything even went wrong until I look down and ask whose gnarled up red chute is spiraling towards the ground. "that's ours! Good thing we have a reserve! You're lucky, not very many people get to use the reserve, it's like twice the jump for your money!"

Wonderful.

Tl;dr my chute failed and had to be cut away on my first ever jump. My tandem instructor seemed to think this was cool.

menicknick · 5 months

I don't think they would be here to tell the story.

unholycurses · 5 months

Was one of the most awesome 4 minutes of my life.

DO IT.

kevinstonge · 5 months

I died when I tried it

[deleted] · 5 months

A tree got in the way once...

Dick_Dollars · 5 months

Yes, my ear popped from the pressure coming down. I couldn't hear for a month, all I heard was a constant beeeep. Eventually it healed.

Don't let that stop you from experiencing the biggest rush of your life.

dorkdork · 5 months

Of course, the damned chute didn't ope..................................

.

turlian · 5 months

I haven't personally, but my last boss lived across the street from a popular landing field. She saw a chute failure, leading to the person bouncing off the ground.

JimmerUK · 5 months

I've only been once, on a tandem jump, but it's one of the best experiences I've ever had and I would jump at the chance to do it again.

Here's a video of it. The first couple of minutes are of me getting there, so I Wadsworth'd it.

Niflhe · 5 months

My father was Airborne, there were two guys in his battalion that died from skydiving accidents. I don't think he ever had a bad experience, however.

Then again, army skydiving and recreational skydiving are slightly different.

bird_machine · 5 months

My first jump was pretty exciting. The tandem guide was super awesome! However, I wouldn't recommend leaving your mouth open screaming for too long. My throat got super dried out and my lips cracked and bled. Other than that, it was pretty bad ass and not scary at all.

miniii · 5 months

has a skydiver ever been hit by a passing plane?

bw2002 · 5 months

This isn't me but it's really funny.

These guys jump in a group to practice their demonstration. The cameraman reaches for the strap but accidentally pulls the guy in orange's cutaway. The cutaway disconnects the main chute so you can use your reserve. He basically just made it so when the guy pulls his main chute, it just flies away because it's not longer connected to the skydiver. His face when he realizes what happened is PRICELESS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yVUJU113gg

Waffles81 · 5 months

RELEVANT.

ChrisHasStinkCrotch · 5 months

My friend passed out for almost the whole way down. She wasnt very scared so I think it may have been from not breathing right? She was tandem with an instructor though. So at least she made it down safely!

asnark · 5 months

I've skydived twice, both experiences were awesome.

However I would say please don't skydive if you are overweight. Be fit. I'm 140lb and had a great time. But in a tandem jump the instructor will have a lot harder time controlling the landing if you are too big.

ass_munch_reborn · 5 months

If you get motion sickness easily (as I do), tell your tandem partner that to avoid the twirls.

Was nauseous for 2 hours afterward.

bitter_green_icing · 5 months

Took a tandem flight when I was in my 20's. The signal to pull the chute was apparently a hand wave in front of my eyes. I understood this during training, but during the jump, my goggles went all loose and I thought they were going to fly off my head. When the instructor waved his hand in front of my face, I thought it had something to do with the loose goggles.
TL;DR Tandem instructor pulled cord to save his own life.

Konrad4th · 5 months

Went skydiving with GF and her family. It was our first dive, so we were attached to professionals. The guy I'm strapped to is asks me if it's my first time. I say yes, and he says, "Weird, they usually give me the more experienced people since I'm the new guy."

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

We got out of the plane OK, and the falling part was pretty awesome. The speed made the air feel like water running over your body. Then he pulled the cord.

He had warned me that it would hurt at first, but apparently he fucked up my leg straps because the pain never stopped. I couldn't enjoy floating because it felt like my thighs were being sliced in half. I mention this to him, so he does the only reasonable thing and fucking twirls us around in a downward spiral, pushing me further into the straps causing more pain.

As awful as that was, my girlfriend's sister had a rougher landing - she fell and the guy strapped to her fell on top of her.

RedDeath · 5 months

A family friend of mine went skydiving once and, though she had a good experience during the jump, she was hopped up on adrenaline for the rest of the day and couldn't even hold down her food. That might be because she was in her 50s at the time, though.

I myself had an absolute ball my first (and thus far only) time skydiving. I hope to one day become licensed (if I ever save up enough money) and possibly become an instructor.

davisth8 · 5 months

well I did not but my friend who jumped with me did. We were both tandem. My friends chute didn't open. Her instructor calmly said I am going to cut loose and use the reserve. He pulls out a huge knife and cuts them free for and then pulls reserve chute rip chord. I was freaking out for her when I watched the chute fly away from the pair as they spiraled downward.

hammsandwich · 5 months

I didn't have that much fun when I went, though I had both a cold and a head full of benedryl. It was pretty cool feeling my nasal cavity depressurize on the way up though.

DHumefan · 5 months

Yeah, I didn't go high enough.

NightEmber79 · 5 months

Your mom.

knawlejj · 5 months

First time I went I had to help fix the plane. Good times.

fwambo42 · 5 months

I took an accelerated free-fall class and fractured my tibia in two places upon landing. Still worth it.

itjustisntright · 5 months

A friend of mine died a few years back from the plane crashing. He was an instructor though and the odds are very low. It was a huge joy in his life and said it was the best experience ever. Forget your fears and go for it!

Dookiestain_LaFlair · 5 months

That's kind of like asking if anyone has had a bad experience disarming a bomb.

MountainDewsRealGood · 5 months

i went skydiving for the first time in july and it was definitely one of the best experiences i've ever had.

HOWEVER, there was one scary moment. i jumped tandem with an instructor. the free-fall was amazing. but just as we pulled the chute, i hear my instructor say "oh shit." definitely not what you want to hear as you're falling 120mph towards the earth. i look up and there was a group of experienced solo divers RIGHT above us hovering near our chute. the only thing i could think was "holy shit, someone's going to get tangled up in our chute and we're going to die." luckily, my instructor thought quickly and did a really fast 90 degree turn and got us out of that area with those divers. the rest of the fall was cake.

tl;dr: pulled the chute dangerously close to other divers, could've died. didn't.

darktask · 5 months

So glad I didn't read a thread like this before my first jump

quincyheard · 5 months

Had a college acquaintance who was into skydiving. She organized a big skydiving trip for everyone. One month later, she landed on some power lines. The rumor was that her leg muscles exploded.

SecretBravado · 5 months

Pushed my instructor into the throttle when trying to turn towards the door and jump. Shut the engine off.

I know that it doesn't really matter, and planes are made to be able to start right back up, but the other guy that was jumping for the first time didn't. He was freaked out for a minute. My instructor bitched at me a little for freaking people out, but thought it was funny for the most part.

joephus420 · 5 months

I got my A License back in July and love every bit of the sport. If you have any inkling whatsoever you should definitely give at least a tandem jump a shot.

[deleted] · 5 months

I've enjoyed reading this bc I'm highly interested in going skydiving myself.

fill-in-name · 5 months

I've only had good times, but a friend of mine said he went drunk for his second time. He did not recommend it.

hephaestion2 · 5 months

On my first jump my lines were twisted. Not a major problem as they just untwist themselves but I was doing it solo (static line, you are attached to the plane so it pulls your ripcord for you) so it was kinda terrifying at the time. Everything I had learned just went out of my head for about 20 seconds. But it was only scary for that time, I still loved it and it certainly didn't stop me doing it again. I would definitely recommend it.

VenomousAlpaca · 5 months

My dad has, left side of the chute got tangled on deployment, he got out of it fine but family forced him to stop after that. Still says skydiving is pretty amazing, even after he had that experience.

BigOrangeBall · 5 months

Not me. I have always been lucky, but my wife got a pretty severe line twist on her first solo jump. Fortunately she kept her cool and managed to kick out of it before she got too low, and didn't have to cut to her reserve. Not only that, but she managed to not shit herself. My wife is badass.

mvitti · 5 months

Not my story but happened to a guy who jumped right after me(thank god not before me). FYI when your landing the guy you jump with(your tandum instructor) will tell you to lift your legs and just land on your ass. I soon found out how important that act was. So after i jumped I was waiting in the landing area for a few freinds who went up in a plane after our first group. We're watching everyone landing when all the sudden we hear a Tandum Instructor screaming "lift your legs, LIFT YOUR LEGS!!". We look up to see the guy who is strapped to the front just lying lifeless unresponsive strapped to the isntructors chest. So they're coming in pretty fast and first thing to hit the ground is the unconcious guys legs. Both Jumpers(passed out guy and tandum instructor) faceplant harder than I've ever seen anyone nose dive before. Everyone runs over to check on them. The instructor is ok, a few minor scraps and bruises. The guy was still unconcious and bleeding from several cuts all over his face. After a few minutes they get the guy consious again. Turns out he had severe Vertigo or something and has tendency to pass out on boats or planes or basically anything not that stable. What made him think he'd be good to jump out of a plane is beyond me but he made out of it ok. No major injuries and one kickass video of him faceplanting the landing. All in all I loved it! and I highly recommend going skydiving. I was scared shitliss until I was airborn but every moment after that was one of the best and most memorable of my life. Don't think about it too much just go do it!

DonaldMcRonald · 5 months

Not exactly a horror story, but I went last month on one of the coldest days we've had so far since the end of summer here in MA - it's actually abnormally warm at the moment, but that day was just freezing. The jump itself was exhilarating, but you can imagine what high altitude + freezing winds rushing at your face might feel like.

orangepotion · 5 months

Skydiving is awesome. Sadly my insurance doesn't like it, and my legs have a complaint or two.

Do learn how to land properly, both with main and reserve. My instructor kind of glossed over that part, and a surprise reserve landing after malfunction was tougher than expected: I walked out of that, but wore a cast for six weeks.

SO, learn ALL THE DETAILS. Also, invite all to beer after your first.

Damocles2010 · 5 months

If you count coming down through very high voltage power lines a bad experience...yes I have...

They are very hard to see from above and it is not until you are close that you realise "OH SHIT...THAT is what those pylons in a row are holding up...." Stiffen up straight, point your toes and pray you don't hang up.....

Macheato · 5 months

When I put on the harness for a tandem jump I left the thigh straps a little too loose so when the shoot deployed both straps yanked up my legs and pulled off all the thigh hair and gave me bruising in that area. Also don't think about how your breathing up there it makes things weird.

shortbusorf · 5 months

I went tandem in July. Best experience ever. So good in fact that next April or May(when ever the weather gets better in the general Philly area) I'm taking a week off of work to go through my AFF training. Can't wait.

KittyBoBitty · 5 months

The instructor was spinning us around while we were free falling, it was so loud I couldn't tell him it was making me motion sick. Once the parachute was released I began heaving, he handed me a barf bag and I puked into it the whole way down. It was very painful to be puking in a forced upright position, the strap across my front gave me a hickey style bruise on my neck since my body kept trying to force itself forward against it. I puked so much that I ended up puking up blood by the time I reached the ground. I would probably do it again though.

summerkc · 5 months

I'm guess if you had a really bad experience you would be on reddit anymore.

toffeeapple18 · 5 months

The instructor I jumped with didn't give me much indication that we were about to jump (apart from hanging out the side of a plane, obviously). But I didn't get a chance to take a deep breath so spent the freefall not really being able to breathe. Had a massive headache afterwards, it wasn't too pleasant. But I'd probably still do it again!

mistergreekster · 5 months

A friend of mine is a skydiver. Once he opened the emergency parachute instead of the normal one, I think by mistake, and cause a slight dislocation of his spine, so that it would keep pressure to one of his nerves and feel a slight pain.

This guy is very extreme and had tons of crashes with bikes and other stuff so one day after a crash the problem fixed itself and the pain left.

Then one day, in the most rediculous manner, while he was on a child's ride at a carnival (picture the least threatening shit ever) it happened again and the pain came back. He had to undergo surgery.

My brother on the other hand is a paraglider. When there is no wind, they do this thing called the slide, where they dont fly around but just fligh to the bottom. Once he had a rock on his parachute and couldn t fly straight so he slided down.

One of his friends has a video on youtube where he stupidly goes inside a cloud, starts spinning out of control for some reason, looses consiousness and miraculously survives. All captured on video, dont know why this is not viral.

His best friend got spinal injury from a bad landing.

hesdeadjim · 5 months

Went skydiving once in Texas -- first jump was amazing, so much fun. Time comes for the second jump, and at this point we had to get back into our gear, and I put on the gear they hand me. It immediately feels "off", not as comfortable as the gear from the first jump. I mention this and they say, no it's ok, so I hop into the plane and continue as normal.

Again, we jump out of the plane, it's awesome. Then comes time for my tandem partner to pull the chute. He pulls it, everything opens fine, and then immediately I feel my gear, well, crunching my gear if you know what I mean. Before I can say anything, the instructor tells me he's going to pull some G's for fun and he starts really turning us fast. At this point I start screaming for him to stop as I am breaking out in cold sweats from the intense, awful feeling emanating from my testicular region. We finally land and I collapse on the ground in agony.

Between that and getting hit in the sack with an ice hockey puck as a teenager (it shattered my cup and is by far the worst pain I have experienced, and I have broken my arms at least 6 times), I wonder if my junk actually works anymore.

[deleted] · 5 months

Paralyzed my whole left side... It's okay. I'm allright now

getoutofthepool · 5 months

My boss's boss jumped out and his chute didn't open. That's the reason he's my boss's boss. He's a millionaire now from that incident (and investing in buildings and properties, but it all started from the incident). And I couldn't even tell he had broken every bone in his body until my boss told me the story. Sooo....worst experience ever? Probably. Did it eventually make him a millionaire? Yes.

Sphinx111 · 5 months

My first ever jump was a static-line, where your parachute bag is attached to the aircraft to ensure it gets pulled at a safe distance from the aircraft.

Everything went fine until 500ft as I was turning towards my landing spot, I checked the toggles (steering) lightly and whilst I was looking up, noticed there was a blue strap or something stuck to my canopy. I looked again, and realised there was a small cut running along the border of the cells, wanted to go to reserve but I was far far too low, so kept it going straight, aimed back towards the hangars, but decided I would rather land slightly downwind than land steering on a ripped parachute.

Turns out I made the right choice as the landing was smooth enough (Had friends who regularly insisted I join them "freerunning") and the rip had enlarged slightly by the time I touched down.

I jumped three more times that week, it's a hell of an experience, and even when broken, the equipment works well enough.

unceunceunce · 5 months

She did

http://www.lvrj.com/news/skydivers-killed-in-mesquite-accident-identified-131458363.html

throwthis2 · 5 months

Grandma said only 2 things fall from the sky - 'bird shit and fools'.

Grandma was a riot!

halofreak7777 · 5 months

Everyone who can answer this question is dead, if you are alive it was probably awesome! xD

HonorAmongSteves · 5 months

Sample bias! People who had really bad experiences won't be alive to tell you about it on reddit.

lachoigin · 5 months

I mean, if they're here to comment, it could have gone a lot worse...

dimar123 · 5 months

I've got almost 600 jumps here - and only amazing experiences! Great friends and awesome times

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