Jumping out of a Perfectly Good Plane

James' (son) birthday is very soon, Lisa (wife) bought him a sky dive. As she couldn't be here, we were minding the kids and recording the event.

So, what is it like - jumping out of a perfectly good plane?

 Here is the place to go ...

 ... and of course there are forms to fill in and sign.

And now his name is on the whiteboard - "James T14" because he is jumping out (in tandem with an instructor) at 14 000 feet.

Now we have quite a wait.

 There's a nice swing to play on,

 and Bethany enjoys playing in the old wingless plane.

There are lots of people waiting around, and getting ready.
Some people carry a video camera on their wrist - so there are videos of recent jumps to watch.

Some people practice their moves for when they sky dive.

 

There's an ambulance waiting around ...

 

... someone landed badly and injured an ankle.

People are very busy taking meticulous care of their parachutes.

James attends a training session.

This body shape is for when you are falling/flying.

This is for when you are landing (so you don't hurt your ankle).

Time to suit up!

Rugged!

Time to board the tiny plane.

It's going to be a full plane. Some of the other flyers are wearing wing-suits.

Here goes the plane along the runway - which is actually the road we all drove in on. Bethany (in pink, behind Peter) decides to try to run alongside the plane.

And they're up. We now have to wait quite a few minutes while they climb to 14 000 feet. It's really cloudy, and we can't see where they are. At one point we caught sight of the tiny white plane high above us in a patch of blue between the clouds.

Suddenly, the clouds are full of dots.

Is that him? How can we tell?

Oh, look! He's got his legs out like he was told to!

Down ...

All the way down!

 That's definitely a bit of a smile.

Time to deal with the equipment.

The little white dog is glad his master has once again returned safely. (This guy has to do several jumps a day.)

Carrying parachute and dog was a bit much, so James lends a hand. Still looking pleased!

Hi kids!

So ... was it fun?

Happy Birthday, James!