Though many people go skydiving for the first time while on vacation, you don't have to travel the world to experience the ultimate thrill of skydiving. In fact, if you live in Southern Ontario, you don't even have to leave the Niagara Region. While there are multiple accredited skydiving facilities in Ontario, you can't beat the view of Lake Erie in the summer from 14,000 feet when jumping at Skydive Burnaby.
Pre-jump Basics for Beginners
There are multiple beginner programs throughout the area, however at Burnaby, where I did my first jump, they take a novel hands-on approach when teaching you to skydive. For your first jump, there is no six-hour course teaching you the proper way to exit an aircraft or how tight to make the straps on your parachute. Instead, after signing the waivers saying you are sober and in good condition to jump, they show you a quick video on what to expect and then a licensed skydiving instructor fits you up with a jump suit, goggles and harness and walks you through the basics. They show you how to exit the plane properly and get you to practice the exit and what to do next multiple times. Of course, since the first jump and the next two after that are tandem jumps, the instructor will be there to guide you through the process making sure that your jump is as safe as it possibly can be.
The Jump
So you made it through the pre-jump instruction and the excited faces of people who have jumped successfully convince you to go through with the jump despite the jitters in your stomach. What comes next? Your tandem skydive instructor and yourself get scheduled for a jump and you wait a few minutes until a plane lands and it is your turn to board. Once on board the plane, you take a seat with your instructor and you go through the basics one more time. The plane takes off and your instructor clips your harness to his securely and checks all the straps for tightness. Before long you are airborne. Upon reaching 14,000 feet, people begin jumping out in an orderly fashion and in intervals to avoid any mishaps. When it is your turn, you shuffle up to the open door of the plane and on a count of three you exit the plane. The feeling of free fall is like no other. It's an intense rush of wind past your face and a beautiful unobstructed view of the world below you. The free fall lasts about a minute and then when the altimeter on the instructor's wrist reaches 5,000 feet, he pulls the cord on the parachute. At first, the chute feels like it is pulling you back up into the sky, but in reality it is slowing you down from terminal velocity to enable you land safely.
The Landing
Once the parachute has been deployed, the instructor looks up to make sure it isn't tangled and grabs the control lines which enable him to steer the parachute to a safe landing spot. The descent is fairly slow compared to free fall velocity however it is still fast enough to get you to the ground within minutes. As you approach the ground, the instructor will tell you to hold your feet up so his touch first and then he pulls down on the control handles bringing you to almost a complete stop a foot above the ground. You touch down and your 14,000 foot jump is over in a matter of minutes.
Safety
While accidents do happen when skydiving, it is a relatively safe sport when you look at statistics. Dropzone.com reports on average there are 35 skydiving fatalities in the US per year, while hundreds of thousands of jumps are made each year. Compare that with the 40,000 vehicle fatalities reported per year in the US and skydiving may look a little more safe. The highly trained professionals at Ontario's accredited skydiving facilities will be there to guide you through your first jump and many more after that!
Sources
Dropzone.com, Be Aware of The Risks And Requirements, 2004
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Statistics
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