Standing in the doorway of the plane I still felt grounded. The equipment weighed heavily on my back, the floor pressed against my feet, and the straps pulled on my legs and shoulders. Looking down the only thing I saw was the world in a collage of colored dots as I made sure I spotted my target for landing. My phobia of heights and flying suddenly hit me like a railroad train. I could feel my heart beat from all parts of my body. Gradually, my fears turned into excitement as I longed for the freedom of flight, I leapt. Touching nothing but air I felt the exhilarating rush of adrenaline as I soared through the sky at 120 miles per hour. I was in control. My every nerve tingled with excitement. That smooth collage of color miles below may be where I lived but this was where I was most alive! For sixty seconds of eternity I was completely free of all worldly concerns; it was just me and the sky.
Skydiving is an activity and sport in which people jump out of an aircraft, alone or in groups, and land by using a parachute. Because of the sensation of leaping into the air and free-falling some distance before opening their parachutes, skydivers usually experience a rush of adrenaline and then a peaceful sense of well-being. This feeling of calm lasts long after they land on the ground. Before feeling that calm however, my mind was like many people’s out there, and I could not understand why I had convinced myself to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I assumed that only reckless stuntmen skydive, and that it was the most dangerous thing a person could experience. Now that I have actually jumped out of a plane, I can easily disagree with the doubts of non-skydivers. Although skydiving may be seen as dangerous or even careless, it is actually one of the safest extreme sports, even researched to be safer than driving a car.
Why do people see skydiving as particularly dangerous? First of all, be honest: It’s not bowling. A skydiver, after all is jumping out of an airplane and hurtling 12,000 feet towards the ground at 120 miles per hour. The most common reason why people see skydiving as so dangerous is because it is a popular phobia among people. Acrophobia, or the fear of heights, is one of the top phobias in the world.
suspense of skydiving as you are hoisted 153 feet in the air then pull a ripcord that plunges you into a 50-feet free fall at 60 m.p.h. The atmosphere of Carowinds is very live
Surprisingly, our parents had beaten us to the top and we all stopped in awe, mesmerized by the great waterfall in front of us. My mouth felt like the Sahara desert. I vividly remember reaching for the chilling water bottle that hid underneath the tons of clothes stuffed in my father’s black backpack to quench my thirst. I took off my beaten down shoes and stinky socks covered in dirt from the trail and blood from the blisters on my feet and dove into the refreshing lake. After swimming through the lake for a few seconds, I abruptly jumped out of the freezing water. My toes turned into a blue that reminded me of the blueberry muffins from breakfast that morning. My body shivered as I exited the lake and threw on a warm towel over my shoulders. Gradually my body heat increased, escaping the risk of hypothermia. At that point, I just wanted to go home. My family and I gathered all our belongings and I dragged my energyless body into the large, gray shuttle. The shuttle smelled of sweat from previous passengers. It drove us down a rough, bumpy trail, causing my tall father to constantly slam his head on the roof of the car. After we finally got back to our hotel, we all let off a sigh of
I flew with American Airlines. As I boarded the 737 Boeing aircraft, I took a quick peek inside the cockpit. I was drawn in by the hundreds of microscopic buttons and switches. I glanced at the pilots, both males in their mid-fifties and their hair was starting to gray. A deep feeling of fascination and curiosity arose in me. They were occupied and were getting ready to start the plane, and were pressing all sorts of buttons and were speaking in aviation terms that were incomprehensible. I envied them. They were able to power such a massive and beautiful piece of machinery, and I was jealous. I suddenly had the urge to go inside. As I walked inside the cock pit, the pilots turned around to see me, a tiny girl with a ridiculous big toothy grin on her face. I said with glee how, “One day I want to be a pilot just like you guys.” The pilots were welcoming, and allowed me to sit in the pilot’s seat. As they were explaining to me what the buttons would do, I was hardly listening because I couldn’t believe I was actually sitting in the cock pit. I kept my hands in my lap, as I was afraid to press any buttons that might make the plane self-destruct. After learning a few things about the cockpit, I eventually
It was a murky overcast summer's eve; crisp morsels of rain splashed on the ground vigorously. Sounds of jet engines buzzed in the back of my ear lobes through the torrential downpour. The common sight of the departure time of our flight being delayed yet again caught my eye as we turned the corner towards the gate. Almost an hour later we began to finally line up at the gate to get on the what then seemed massive jet plane. I remember looking out the gigantic floor to ceiling windows at providence airport at the bright blue, red and orange of the jet, so excited to be going on it. Our family carefully chose seats right near the wing emergency exits. I rushed to the window seat, plopped down and buckled my seat belt. I was ready to go to Florida. I barely took up half of the seat, I was 8 or 9, and as a curious kid I was touching nearly anything I could put my hands on. I remember soon after we sat down in the back row on the left of the aircraft the same side as us, I heard a great commotion. A woman at the back was on the phone telling her friend she had drugs and she just took them. Not soon after three men boarded the plane. One had
I am adventurous. No I don't sky dive, wrestle crocodiles, or swim with sharks, but when asked by a group of friends to go cliff diving last summer, my best response was, “Sounds like fun!” I had never been afraid of heights yet have never experienced the thrill of cliff diving. All I could ask myself was, “What could go wrong?”
First, people are given a false sense of security. In a radio interview with Robert Siegel and Nick Heil, Heil says, “If you talk to professional or expert climbers, I think they’re quick to sort of dismiss the fact that they might be influenced by the safety net of a helicopter being available for them.”
Skydiving is an adrenaline-based sport with a fairly simple concept -- jump from a high place (usually out of a plane) from several thousand feet above sea level and hope and pray for a safe landing. This safe landing is often times achieved through the use of a device called a parachute, which enables the skydiver to reduce his speed to such a point that colliding with the earth will not be fatal.
People go to the mountains without any idea of the risk of death or near death. The amount of deaths from people climbing mountains or hiking and the number of successes that have also happened have a high rate. People die from climbing vertical on mountains , and also tripping that leads to falling. Most people survive because they come prepared for what might happen while they are climbing. People do not have the right to rescue services when they put themselves at risk because they are also putting more people at risk and the cost to save someone's life is a high amount. The cost for a helicopter rescue can cost over 200-4000 dollars even if it is only for about one hour.
When we consider all the different fun activities that there are to do in the world, you think about the crazy, wild, outrageous things like jumping out of a plane, or hanging from a wire going as fast as 40 mph, enjoying the beautiful view that’s what zip lining is for, all though zip lining is not all about the beautiful view or having an adventure, it has a true meaning behind it, and although it sounds fun, terrible things can happen.
In an airplane it is different. The Sky is below you, for you are then floating in a sea of soft, moody waves of rose, white and gold, and every shape in Earth or Heaven is played before your eyes like some unearthly ballet set to music by the angels. Here ...
“Brace for impact” The pilot's trembling voice gave me no reassurance, I had already decided in my mind that this was my last hour. I am sitting just as the air hostess had told me, my head in between my legs. I was trying to distract myself from the failing engine, I tried to think of my mother, the person I was flying out to see, I haven’t seen her in a year. She loves me more than anything, she worked three jobs to give this life, to help me pursue my dream as an artist. I hated to think, the death of her only child, my death, would give her so much pain. The plane dropped. My heart skipped a beat, my palm became a pool of sweat, and the decrease in altitude was giving me a headache. I close my eyes. Thud, Creech, Unf. The next thing I knew
The instructors brought us to the airplane which was a KingAir plane. That airplane didn't have and independent seats like the civil aircrafts. We all had to sat very close to each other one by one. After fastening me tightly with him, Daniel give a pair of goggles. "you have to put it firmly on your face, otherwise it will be blow away by the super high speed caused by freefall.", He said. While the plane started to climb, I could feel that my heart was beating out. Daniel asked me some questions, and let me smile to the GoPro on his arm. That was for the video which they record the whole process. The only words I could say at that time were "yes, no". I was focusing on the people who jumped before me. They looked like they had been disappeared from this world. Finally, it was my turn to jump. Daniel pushed me to the opened door. The only thing I could see at that moment was the clouds looked like a big cozy bed. When I opened my eyes again, I had been out of the cabin door. After a few seconds of weightlessness, I had finally experienced the feeling of fly. I felt the unprecedented freedom, it seems that the entire sky belongs to me. The only thing in my view was the white, the blue, and the GoPro. Daniel released the parachute after we came under the clouds. A huge colorful parachute opened. I was able to see the green land and cars. Everything was so beautiful. He made us spin around in the air like playing in
My internal organs thumped against my chest as I dragged my bag along the carpet floor and into the corridor. As I walked into the long hall, I glanced up and noticed the sign telling me I could get on. My entire body could barely hold itself together with the anticipation of the monumental, dream-come-true event about to take place. I said to myself, "I'll soon be in the air." I slowed my pace to further enjoy what was happening. Swarms of people walked around me as I treasured knowing that one of my lifetime goals was now inevitably going to occur. The excitement and adrenaline running through my veins could have killed a horse.
The first ride on one of these fantastic beasts gave me an instant rush of adrenaline. As the death-defying ride started, a lump in my throat pulsed like a dislodged heart ready to walk the plank. As the ride gained speed, the resistance to gravity built up against my body until I was unable to move. An almost imperceptible pause as the wheel reached the top of its climb allowed my body to relax in a brief state of normalcy. Then there was an assault of stomach-turning weightlessness as the machine continued its rotation and I descended back toward the earth. A cymbal-like crash vibrated through the air as the wheel reached bottom, and much to my surprise I began to rise again.
Skydiving has been around since ancient Chinese times as a form of aerial stunts. Leonardo da Vinci and the Chinese are both credited for creating the parachute, but it was really in the 18th century when France both created it and used it by basically throwing themselves out of planes. Little did anyone know that skydiving would be one of the craziest sports today. Jumping out of a plane two and a half miles up into the sky would not be someone’s idea of a normal day. As bad as two and a half miles up in the sky is, try doing it traveling at a rate of one-hundred and sixty miles per hour with just a parachute to save you. To many people this would be a nightmare; but to some of us, it is the biggest thrill of our lives.