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By KEN MINGIS
Whether it's cold or hot, winter or spring, sport para
chuting (yes, jumping out of planes) does not stop, Every
weekend, parachutists gather at an airport near Louis
burg, jump out of planes thousands of feet up and float
to Earth under the protection of a parachute. I found out
for myself when I went in November, despite the fact
that I had never been in a plane, and did not like heights.
When I first heard about, I thought, "this might be
fun." It also occurred to me that I was probably a little
crazy. I called a friend to see if he would go too; I
thought he would chicken out. To make a long story
short, after much soul-searching, a friend and I decided
to jump the day after Halloween, 1981. (It cost $65 for
the first jump, which includes all-day training.)
The drive to the Franklin County Sport Parachute Cen
ter near Louisburg, took about an hour. That Sunday
morning, there were four of us; one guy was here for his
second or third jump. The rest were newcomers. The
weather was cold and drizzly, with low clouds, but the
forecast called for clearing later in the day. Actually, hav
ing gotten this far, I wanted the weather to turn nice; I
was getting an ulcer worrying, and I wasn't sure I could
muster up the courage to come back a second time.-
We arrived at the airport about 10 a.m. and had to wait
a few minutes for someone to show up to teach us the
basics of parachute jumping. (I say airport, but the run
way was just a dirt strip cut into the red Franklin County
mud.) Before the lessons began, though, everyone had to
sign a waiver form to protect the sport parachute center
from damages in case of injury or death. I knew all along
I was going to have to fill out a waiver, but actually doing
it was still scary. That, and the $65 check I handed over,
made me even more nervous.
The advertisement for the sport parachute center said
the price included several hours of intensive training with
jump equipment and in the art of getting to the ground
safely. It did.
We went, over the mechanics of jumping how to
jump, how to hold your body in the air, how to land, what
happens is your chute doesn't open and other such fun
topics. I now know what to do if my parachute "stream
lines" (opens up, but doesn't fill with air). This is known as
a "fast-fill" and if it happens, it's time to use the back-up
chute. (It's called a fast-fall because you are falling at 120
miles per hour by the time you hit the ground.)
After two hours of class, we went over to a hangar and
actually strapped on a dummy chute to learn how to fold
it up. There is a special technique used that cuts the
number of tangles in the chute when you roll it up after
the jump. We were also shown the proper way of getting
into the plane with our parachutes on. Yes, there is a right
way, and a wrong way. The wrong way is to get in the
plane without your rip-cord covered by your hand. It gets
kind of nasty when a chute pops open in the pilot's face
because your rip cord accidentally catches on some
thing. There is one part of the course that no one who goes
will forget: the series of yells you are supposed to cream
as soon as you jump out the plane.
ARCH, LOOK, REACH, PULL, THOUSAND ONE,
THOUSAND TWO, THOUSAND THREE, THOUSAND
FOUR, LOOK, REACH, PULL, PUNCH.
We practiced yelling and going
through the appropriate mo
tions at least an hour, and fre
quently during the rest of
the day.
ARCH is the position
you try to get into a
you let go of the
plane. .REACH,
LOOK, PULL is
when you look
down to where
the rip-cord
handle is,
and pull
it. The
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k HOW
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counting is done to give the chute time to open. After
you reach four thousand, the parachute should have
opened up. If it hasn't, heaven forbid, the count con
tinues, with LOOK, REACH, PULL, PUNCH the motions
for opening the reserve parachute. You look down, reach
for the reserve cord, pull it, and give the second para
chute a small punch to make sure it opens. (When your
life depends on knowing all this, in order, you pay close
attention.) .
I should explain' that for beginners all jumps are on a
static line we didn't actually open the parachute our
selves. A. line attached to the chute is hooked to the
plane, so that when you jump, it opens automatically. (If
you have ever seen a war movie where the soldiers in the
plane all clip their lines inside the plane before jumping,
you've got the general idea.)
We went outside to practice landing, and sure enough,
the drizzle had stopped and the sky was lightening up.
My stomach rolled a few times at these glad tidings.
don't remember praying, or cursing or
anything. Mentally I was numb. I do
remember having to turn back to the jump
master he had told us we had to smile
before he would let us go. I smiled. He
said go.
After putting on overalls and boots, we moved to a
platform about three or four feet off the ground. From
there we learned how to land, and roll right, roll left, roll
forward, roll backward and every other imaginable way
possible. If you like rolling around in the dirt, this part is
kind of fun. Judging from the mud I was wearing, I know
why they-gave us the white overalls. (Of course, you've
got to remember, this is so we wouldn't break a leg when
we landed. It must have helped, nobody was seriously
hurt that day.) '
; The final part of the training is when you are strapped
into a harness in the air, and actually practice what you
should do in an emergency. ARCH, LOOK, etc. all over
again, "this time with actions. The instructor calls out a
problem, and you have to make the appropriate re
sponse. While we were doing this the sun came out, the
jump was on.
It may seem that there is a lot of instruction, but be
fore you are OKed to jump, you know everything you
need to know to come down safely. (A picture of me,
tumbling out of the sky at 120 miles per hour kept flash
ing through my head all day long. I paid close attention
to what they said.) -
It takes about five minutes to strap on the full para
chute attire, reserve chute included, so it wasn't long
before I found myself beside a small single-engine plane.
It looked like it had flown many miles since World War II
(or maybe many miles in it), hardly something that calm
ed my nerves. Remember, I had never been in a plane of
any kind before.
We boarded the plane along with the pilot and our
jumpmaster, the person who would actually give us the
go-ahead to jump. There was no room for anyone else
the cabin of those planes is small not much more floor
space than the area single beds, take up in dorm rooms.
At least, it seemed that way. It was about 4 p.m. and the
November sun was behind some high clouds as we took
off. For the millionth time, I wondered what I was doing
here.
The flight up was, scary the pilot's goal was to get us
up to 3000 feet as quickly as possible. That means that he
Spotlight, January 28, 1982