Expert Advice Needed: sky diving

[Lugh]

ok I need some research info...

 

what happens when a person is sky diving... yanno the steps from in the plane to on the ground.

 

please?

 

thank you!

 

 

Lugh

[Lugh]

Come on guys.. anyone who has done this at this point is an expert as far as I'm concerned.

[GaryKelly]

Years ago I wrote a series of radio ads for a sky diving school. The plane was a single-engine Cessna with the passenger seats and door removed. I was tied in at the back with rope. The diver explained that the pilot would bank the aircraft at 6,000 ft, then circle so that I could see the dive through the open door. The moment the diver jumped, and I saw the spinning earth, I looked the other way out a side window and fixed my gaze on a cloud. On landing, I told the diver that I saw everything and that it was amazing. I LIED. But the ads worked despite my lack of courage.

 

Moral: If you want a copywriter to produce ads for your diving school, avoid those with vertigo.

[Lugh]

and this has what to do with the question at hand?

 

sighs I really need help.

[GaryKelly]

and this has what to do with the question at hand?

 

Absolutely nothing...but that happens to be my area of expertise.

[Andy]

What happens? they fall, and get faster as they approach the big crunch. (9.8m/s/s, reduced of course by drag, until they approach terminal velocity (terminal velocity =/= dieing, just the maximum speed that a human can fall due to air resistance))

 

Then at a pre-determined time/altitute they pull a cord and their parachute opens...

hopefully

 

(this whole time they've been spread eagle being completely scared s**tless, checking their alimeter to know when to yank the cord).

 

If their parachute has opened they drift carefully back to the ground hopefully performing a brilliantly controlled landing and staying in one piece.

 

If not.

 

They pull their reserve shoot, see above.

 

Tandem jumps are different, cause the newbie generally just hangs there in the baby-carrier harness while the boss-dude does the work.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_diving

 

Just wondering why the info is needed... and adding a disclaimer that I have never and will never sky-dive. I have an intense fear of falling, and an even intesner fear of the quick decelleration at the end.

Edited June 11, 2007 by Andy

[Lugh]

Just wondering why the info is needed... and adding a disclaimer that I have never and will never sky-dive. I have an intense fear of falling, and an even intesner fear of the quick decelleration at the end.

 

 

Research for a story.

 

Lugh

[Graeme]

I'm sorry -- it doesn't look like there are any skydivers here (which I find surprising). It's not perfect, but I'd suggest watching some old WWII movies that show troops jumping from planes. It's not perfect, but it'll give you some basics. Research on the internet or at a library are the only other suggestions I can make.

[MMandM]

Sorry I can

[sat8997]

Try here. Specifically this one, and this one, and maybe this one. They may be helpful.

 

And if they are not, I'd appreciate it if you didn't bite my head off. Thank you very much.

 

 

Sharon

[Lugh]

thank you Sharon...

 

the links were helpful!

[Unbeliever]

You put your gear on, get in the plane, when you're nearly at the designated height everyone checks their gear. You check your own gear/you get attached if you're doing a Tandem/etc. You wait for the pilot to signal you, the plane goes one side up, you take a deep breath and jump out. You feel like you're floating, not at all the way you might feel when wind is blowing in your face and you can't breathe.

 

You freefall for what feels like an eternity and nearly not enough at the same time. Then you lurch upwards when the parachute is opened and it might knock the breath out of you for a moment. The ground seems to be approaching way too rapidly, but then you slow down and hopefully land carefully. And sometimes the next day you wonder why your careful landing doesn't feel as though you were doing ballet.

 

Hope that helps. If you have some specific questions about what it feels like, let me know, hard to describe it in general form.