Above: Jessica, smiling seconds before flight.
This is Jessica. She jumps out of airplanes & like Buzz Lightyear arrives earthbound whilst "Falling with style!"
AVANT - First of all. Why are you so crazy? When did this happen? The Jessica Rivington I knew when you were still in high school would have never jumped out of airplanes! Or would she?
Jessie - Haha, I'm not crazy at all! Crazy is *not* wanting to jump out of airplanes. I started jumping about a year and a half ago when I made my first tandem skydive (where an instructor is harnessed to you and does all the work) in California. I immediately fell in love with the thrill. On my layover back to the east coast after my trip in CA I looked up everything it takes to become a licensed jumper and even booked a date to do my first "real" jump. The Jessica Rivington in high school would have definitely jumped out of airplanes! I've always liked the thought of it-- despite how shy or quite I can be.
AVANT - Why sky-diving?
Jessie - Why not skydiving? I live in a very flat and hot Florida. There are no mountains to climb or very interesting trails to hike. It doesn't snow so I can't ski or snowboard. I do scuba, but I'm not all that cut out for the water. Never liked surfing. Florida is perfect for skydiving. We can jump year round! I honestly didn't go on my first tandem jump thinking I was going to become a licensed jumper and jump so often. I thought it was going to just be a fun day out with the fam. I had no idea I was going to fall in love with the thrill. After that I learned that it's not just falling out of an airplane--you actually have to learn how to fly your body similar to the physics of an airplane. I learned skydiving was a true sport and fell in love with the drop zone environment.
AVANT - When did you start?
Jessie - I started jumping about a year and a half ago.
AVANT - You have your license right? You're like a Licensed Sky Diver or something? How long does that take?
Jessie - Yep! Something like that, anyway. I currently have my A license with the USPA. How little or long it takes is usually dictated by finances. It is *not* cheap to start. It took me about three months. There are a couple different ways to go about getting your license-- AFF, Static Line, or Tandem Progression. My drop zone offered AFF, or Accelerated Freefall Progression, so that's what I did.
AFF is a series of eight jumps with one or more instructors. On your first jump you'll have an instructor holding onto either side of you for the entirety of your freefall where you'll then deploy your own canopy and land by yourself. Each jump you'll learn a new task so at the end of your eight jumps you can successfully exit the plane, deploy your canopy, maintain altitude awareness, adjust your fall rate, do a front loop, a back loop, a barrel roll, move backwards and forwards, and track (more or less means to move very quickly).
There might be a few other things I'm not remembering at the moment. After those eight jumps you're allowed to jump by yourself without an instructor! But you're not yet allowed to jump with other people. You're given an "A-card" which is a piece of paper that has a long list of objectives and tasks you need to complete before you're given your license to jump with other people and do formations and fun stuff. After you've done everything on the card and it's signed off by an instructor and you have 25 jumps, you're free to fall with everyone else.
Above: Fearless amidst the darkened heavens.
AVANT - The first time you jumped. What was that like?
Jessie - The first time I jumped was absolutely incredible. My mind and body were on sensory overload so I actually forgot most of what happened right before and during my jump. I remember being rushed to the plane. Rule of Thumb: Never ever, ever keep the plane waiting because time is money and airplanes and fuel are not cheap! I was sitting in a tiny space with four sport jumpers and a camera man; feeling quiet, but excited. It was the first non-commercial plane I had been in and the view was awesome. At 13,500 feet up they opened the door and I felt a huge fast rush of cold air to my ankles. The other jumpers approached the door and seemed to just... fall... for a lack of better words. And then they were gone and you couldn't see them anymore. At this point in time, I lost my sense of relativity and any fear I had. I was so high up in the air and so far away from everything I was familiar with up to that point that I really had nothing to compare what I was doing to. I didn't know how high or low I was because I had no sense of altitude. I couldn't see the ground because the clouds were blocking my view. For a moment it was a little surreal. Except for the cold air hitting my ankles. As soon as we left the plane I was smiling and laughing. You instantly feel as if you're suspended or floating. There is no stomach in your throat feeling that you get from a roller coaster or riding super fast over a hill. It feels as if you're floating in nothingness for a quick second. So I was smiling and laughing and completely elated and falling to earth at 120mph. Before I knew it, my instructor deployed our canopy and we had a four minute ride to the landing area. I took in the scenery and the mountains and the new smells. I loved that I could kick my feet around without anything in the way. My instructor and I practiced turning the canopy left and then right and slowly came in for our landing. I landed with a huge smile on my face that lasted for the rest of the day. There is no better high, drug, rush, thrill, escape, or adventure than skydiving. I really mean that. Everything else seems blasé to me now. Nothing can top the adrenaline and sense of freedom that I get from skydiving.
Da Vinci said it best: "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
AVANT - How many jumps have you had now?
Jessie - I haven't been keeping up with my log book lately, but I have over 100.
AVANT - Have you ever sky-surfed like with a snowboard like they did in the Power Rangers movie? Haha!
Jessie - No, I haven't! And the thought is actually a little frightening! I've heard of some people who've tried it though and failed miserably. It's a lot more difficult than it looks!
Below: Aerial Geographers
AVANT - Has your parachute ever failed?
Jessie - Well, if my parachute ever fails, it can only fail once, right? So far, so good. I have yet to have a malfunction and cut away my main canopy to deploy my reserve. The closest thing to potential danger aside from line twists that I've been able to kick out of was a stupid mistake that I'd made when packing my rig. When packing a parachute there's a small piece of fabric called a slider that you have to fold in there with everything else. The slider serves to catch air when you deploy your canopy making your canopy open a little slower and softer. However, I forgot to pack my slider the right way and had an incredibly hard opening, was bruised all over my body, and my helmet fell off my head 3000ft above land. The hurtful part about this experience though was that this was only my second time jumping my brand new $600 helmet that was now falling to the ground and eventually shattered into a million little pieces.
AVANT - Oh no! What if your helmet killed an innocent by-stander?!
Jessie - Hahaha! That thought did cross my mind, of course. But I'm sure it's fine. I was mostly over barren Florida flatlands, anyway.
AVANT - Haha, okay. Whatever you say! Nonetheless, you're still crazy. Do you do backflips & tricks now? Or do you still play it safe.
Jessie - You learn how to backflip on something like your fourth jump! I mostly do Relative Work, or belly flying. That's what you see with people making shapes and formations in the air. The most people I've jumped with at once was around 20 or so. It ended up being a zoo-way AKA a total mess. There's a discipline in skydiving called freeflying which is when people fly upside down, in a sit position, standing and any other sort of crazy position they can fly their body. There's also something called swooping which is pretty popular that has to do with how fast, far, or accurate you can pilot your canopy. I've tried to do a little bit of freeflying, but found it very difficult, and don't harbor much of an interest in becoming a swooper. Two of my favorite things to do though are tube exits and rodeos! A tube exit is a fun way to leave the airplane. Easily done with two people-- one person sits down facing the door and the other person stands up while facing the door. Both people grab on to the other person's ankles. At the right time you kind of roll/push out of the airplane and spin spin spin spin spin until you can't hold your grip anymore and are eventually spun apart. Imagine rolling a tire out of an airplane. A rodeo is when one person sits on another's person's back during freefall. I've also seen people standing up and surfing which looks pretty cool.
AVANT - Have you seen those people gliding on YouTube? Paragliding with wingsuits? Would you ever try that? Here's a link: Paragliding Wingsuits
Jessie - Ahhh, yes, I've seen those. Wingsuit base jumping. Probably the most dangerous thing in the sport you can do. You need 200 jumps before you can start wingsuiting and I'm not there yet. I initially had no desire to wingsuit because it seemed to me that it robbed your body of the freedom to move. However, a friend of mine told me that I had to try it one day because "It's the closest thing to flying that you'll ever do." So maybe one day I'll try it. I definitely want to Base jump, though! No questions asked. One year I hope to go to Bridge Day in West Virginia and jump there.
AVANT - Are you even afraid anymore or get nervous at all? Or is it so comfortable to you now like eating breakfast?
Jessie - I still get nervous sometimes depending on the type of jump I'm doing or the weather. Strong winds mean I have to be pretty focused on my landings. Clouds are a big obstacle as well. If I'm jumping with a group of people I've never jumped with before or doing something I've never done or find particularly difficult, I get nervous because I wouldn't want to be the weakest link that messes up everyone else's jump. I'm constantly reminded that this is a sport that you cannot become complacent in when it comes to safety. The first time you think, "Ohhh, I'll be fine!" is when something is going to go bad.
AVANT - Any tips to recommend to people new to jumping? For first-timers?
Jessie - Have fun and relax!!
Above: Sky-Borne Heroine
