One summer Sunday afternoon, Carol and I were taking a leisurely drive with my daughter and her husband in the countryside of Zephyrhills, Florida. All of a sudden the blue sky overhead was filled with dozens of colorful parachutes gently floating down to the ground very close to where we were
driving - it was quite a beautiful sight. We drove over to the small airfield where the parachutists were landing to investigate, and before you knew it, we were signing up for a tandem parachute jump.
The "FreeFlight Skydiving School" at the airfield offered a beginners tandem skydive and parachute jump which included the necessary ground training course. The parachute jump was from an altitude of 13,500 feet with a freefall down to 8,500 feet. We went for it.
The ground course consisted of learning how to get strapped up to your jump instructor (who wears the only parachute); how to exit the aircraft with him; how to position yourself during the freefall; and how to land. The training took about an hour. They even have a mock-up of the plane fuselage and jump door for ground practice of exiting the plane. That's Carol in the picture on the left with her foot in the doorway.
Here we all are, with our instructors, all strapped up and ready to board the two-engine aircaft with about two dozen other jumpers (all going solo). After sitting on the floor of the plane for some time, we finally reach the drop zone at 13,500 feet, and it's time to hook up to our individual instructor. The instructor is now on your back, literally, and you have to remain in a squat position (for what seemed forever), while the soloists are making their jumps. As they exit the plane, we duck-waddle closer and closer to the jump door. By the time it's your turn, you're so cramped and uncomfortable, you're actually happy to jump out of the plane, without hesitation!