Three students willingly jump from airplane, all survive

Does the stress of classes ever make you wish that you could end it all with a single leap from an airplane? Well, there is a group of Georgia Tech students that is driven to that fate-every weekend! The Georgia Tech Sport Parachute Club is a student organization devoted to the art of skydiving.

For anyone who has ever had the urge to plummet from 10,000 feet above the ground, the club has many ways to get started. According to club president Kirk Bauer, the main purpose of the club is to "allow students to experience and learn how to skydive." The most popular start is the tandem jump, in which the novice skydiver is harnessed to both a parachute and a jumpmaster. The GT Parachute Club boasts that they help between 100 and 200 students experience their first jump in this manner every year.

Previous skydiving experience is not required to make a tandem jump, and even the club membership dues are waived for this experience. After making an appointment, meet at Thomaston-Upson County airport, the club's Drop Zone (about hour and 15 minutes south of Atlanta) where you will be introduced to your jumpmaster. Jumpmasters have an instructional rating that requires both extensive skydiving experience and a real life, practical test. Their responsibility is to make your experience as safe and enjoyable as possible.

The jumpmaster will take some time to prepare you on the ground. The most stressed skill is learning to arch, which makes the fall more stable by leaning backwards with your hands in the air and stomach sticking out. All the equipment will be introduced to you as well-including the emergency reserve parachute, an altimeter to tell altitude, the harness, and the actual parachute.

After the flight to altitude-with the jumpers packed in the airplane like sardines in a can-it is finally time for the jump. Almost immediately after you exit the plane a small five foot parachute, called the drogue chute, is deployed, which slows the fall to a meager 120 feet per second. Contrary to popular belief, when exiting the plane the jumpers do not feel like they leave their stomachs behind. This is probably because there is actually very little acceleration, since the jumpers are already moving at the initial velocity of the airplane (remember Physics I!).

After 10 to 30 seconds of free fall (it feels like much less), 5,000 feet above the ground, the jumpmaster deploys the main chute. All the noise from the wind rushing by your face is silenced, for a quiet sail back to the earth. If you're lucky the instructor will let you steer the chute for a while, doing steep spinning turns toward the ground before landing.

Be warned, as this author has learned, your jump may be the beginning of a much larger addiction. If you decide to pursue skydiving as a hobby, the club offers plenty of opportunities. The club owns seven parachute rigs for use by dues paid members. This saves members a lot of money, since usually Drop Zones rent rigs for $25 per jump.

The first step in being able to jump by yourself is to go through the accelerated free fall (AFF) course. The AFF course is a 6 hour ground school which teaches, states Bauer, "everything that could possibly happen skydiving." Following the course is a series of 7 progressive "stage" jumps. In each, you jump by yourself, but with instructors holding onto you during free fall for stability. The first three with two instructors holding on and the last four with only one instructor. The purpose of these jumps is to teach control in free fall, first just the basics, and then later with backflips, horizontal movement, and changing descent speed. The total cost of the course is about $1,000, depending on how freqently you jump (with the limitation of three jumps a day).

Passing the AFF course is a "license to learn." It gives you the privilege to jump solo at the Drop Zone where you passed the course. Then you can pay just $16 for the flight to altitude to jump whenever you want. After completing 20 jumps, you can qualify for an A license, which gives you the privilege to jump at any Drop Zone. As you become a more experienced skydiver you can earn B, C, and D licenses which means you have made more jumps and can land with increasing accuracy.

Licensed jumpers can pursue a number of experiences. Among the more exciting for higher licensed jumpers is landing on beaches. There are additional certifications, such as a pro rating, which permits jumps into crowded arenas (such as when Buzz jumps into the football field, a feat that members of the parachute club seem to be planning again).

The club's members have a range of experience, and many started with the club while students at Tech. Corey Bilton, a member of the club working on his license, says he was apprehensive about his first jump. After time, "the scariness wears off" in exchange for a lot of fun. Other members head out to events such as jumping out of a 737, biplane, or hot air balloon.

The GT Parachute Club also participates in the U.S. National Collegiate Parachuting Competition. It is open to all levels of membership with an A license or higher. Events include accuracy landings, free fall formations (called "relative work") and parachute formations. Typically, Georgia Tech has done very well at these competitions, winning gold and silver awards.

In addition to providing a good way to escape classes, skydiving provides experience in life skills such as self-dependence, personal responsibility, and the ability to make quick decisions in possible emergency situations. One of the best parts about being in the small, select group of skydivers, according to Bauer, is that "it's the time of your life, it provides you with a close community of connections."

If you are ready to take the leap and join the GT Sport Parachute Club, contact the club at skydive@gatech.edu or visit the web page at http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/skydive/.