My First Skydive Gone Wrong
Make sure to read the whole story to watch my personal skydive video from my Youtube channel!
I first skydived on my 18th birthday that landed on Thanksgiving back in 2019. The nervousness didn’t kick in until I signed all of the paperwork and was led to the small aircraft I would have to jump out of with an instructor. Surprisingly the instructions for jumping was less than 5 minutes long, an instructor demonstrated the movements my group of 6 needed to do once out of the plane. The group of 6 skydivers and 6 instructors took 2 golf carts to the small plane waiting for us. When I paid for my skydive months earlier, I made sure to include a video for an additional $100 USD, that would later be given to me on a USB.
The instructor filmed a short yet somehow awkward introduction for the video right outside the plane with the blazing sun in my eyes. There is only so much you can say with only one thing on your mind, Am I going to make it out alive? Will anything go wrong? It’s a universal feeling for all first time skydivers. My group boarded the plane keeping our heads low due to the low ceiling, we all took our seats on the 2 row of benches by the windows. Once seated the instructor strapped me to him with Carabiner clips and filmed a short update as the plane reached a higher and higher altitude…
We finally reached 10,000 feet above Miami with a beautiful bird’s eye view of the coastal city I grew up in. I was the third in the group to jump out, which I would say is better than the first skydiver who sat right by the upward sliding door for the duration of the flight. The instructor only counted to 2 before jumping out, luckily I didn’t spin, but I did scream at the top of my lungs for the first few seconds of the jump. However, during the freefall something strange happened…
My lips began to fly themselves, covering my nostrils preventing me from breathing. I quickly tried to gain control my lips by closing my mouth, which didn’t last very long until my lips began flailing around again. The freefall is supposed to last about 45 seconds, but the instructor noticed the issue right away pulling the parachute earlier than usual so I could breathe properly before I could possibly faint. Since being at a higher altitude for a slightly longer amount of time, it made me nauseous, so I took plenty of deep breathes to not throw up in the middle of the sky.
Once I was able to finally land my worried mother rushed over asking the instructor why I was so cold as if I didn’t just jump out of a plane. I immediately hugged my mom and boyfriend before going to hug my dad who looked offended I didn’t hug him first. I then greeted all of my friends that I invited to watch, along with my cousins. My friends and boyfriend were able to find a pancake house for all of us to eat in while I tried to calm down further in the car ride. Overall, I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. The jump gave me an insane amount of confidence for roller coaster rides, I definitely recommend it!
