First Jump by Dennis Lutz

I felt the plane banking.  It would be my turn soon.  I sat on my rump, no longer looking out the window, trying to calm down.  A blast of cold air bit into my hands and face as the passenger door opened once again.  I was shivering, and the cold only made things worse.  The engine vibration dulled and I knew it was time.

I wanted to just go back with the plane.   Pride and embarrassment overcame terror as I made my way forward, skidding on my rump.  The jump master was grinning as he checked me out.  I must have had that look that he had seen many times before.  He shouted words of encouragement, but I barely heard.

When told I sat in the door, and for a moment my fear passed.  Outside the entire state of Ohio was unfolding before my eyes.  Postage stamp fields, forests with boundaries, I had only been in a plane once before in my life.  I had never seen this sight or flown this high, nor sat in an open door with my feet dangling at 3000 feet. If it hadn’t been for the wind and the fear, I might have found it peaceful.

The jump master yelled and I bolted out onto the wing strut, almost going over it.  My massive 2 hours of instruction had briefly mentioned to me to go out strong to overcome any wind resistance.  Definitely did that.  The wind was now pushing my whole body and all thoughts of going back with the plane were gone.  From here there was only one way back.

I collected myself and looked at the jump master, who was signaling me to jump, so I just let go of the strut. No real jump, no big arch for this jumper, no pulling the fake rip cord, actually, no form at all, just falling.  No deep thoughts, just terror.  I knew I was falling, and a part of my brain was telling me to do something, but the rest of my body was not responding. 

Four seconds later with a lurch and a snap the canopy popped open.  One second pure terror, the next pure relief!!  No real wind, no engine noise, just me and the view and the parachute.  All things became right with the universe.  Like a god I descended toward the ground.

My god-like feelings did not last that long.  Things got bigger and the forests lost their definitions.  It occurred to me that I was going to have to once again put that 2 hours of intensive training to work and land.  Nervousness began creeping back, but at this stage, there were no thoughts of turning back. There were no choices.  I looked to the ground and saw that I was already traveling past the drop zone target.  Now I began to actually attempt to steer the chute.  What had been my serene, godlike descent was turning into a rush to meet up with destiny.  At the last minute I turned into the wind and executed a parachute landing fall.  Not text book, but effective.  Nothing broken, and I only missed the target by a quarter mile.  Easy walk back.  Time for a celebration.

Copyright © 2019, Dennis E. Lutz.  Material may be reprinted or distributed only with author permission.