Keaton - Jumping From Planes

 

This last year, Keaton decided jumping out of planes would be a fun activity. He'd done it once before, a tandem jump (strapped to an instructor) a couple years ago. He did that again, then took steps to jumping on his own. Many Saturdays and Sundays were spent in Tooele at the airfield and up in the air. He even got Landon to jump once! He invested in his own helmet and gear. He'd share videos and recap the experiences for me when he returned safely home. Below, is his write up, and one of the videos showing some of the tricks/skills. One thing he said many don't realize is how LOUD it is, with the wind whipping by as you free fall.

I first jumped out of a plane in 2019 with one of my buddies for his birthday (see that experience HERE). We both loved it so much, and it resonated with me for two years until I finally looked into it more,  seeing how I could get more involved. It was surprisingly easy. 

I took a short ground school class where they taught you all of the basics and after that, you’re good to start jumping! I did another training tandem so I could pilot the parachute and remember the feel for what it’s like up there... and then after that you just put on a suit and a rig and you’re good to go. 

You have to complete about 13 jumps accompanied by an instructor who assigns you maneuvers to do while free falling. If you successfully do them and maintain control, you pass and move onto the next category. CatA is focused on stability, altitude awareness, good form, and practice touches. CatB is team turns and forward movement with instructors latched. Then I took a recommended course at iFly where I got 15 minutes of freefall time, which is similar to 15 jumps. This helped a lot with my form and stability. CatC is most of what CatA is except the instructors let go and you maintain your form by yourself (this is the hardest for most people, me included). After C is where the fun begins. Solo exits (no instructor latched) from this point on. D1 and D2 are 90, 180, and 360 degree turns. E1 and E2 are difficult maneuvers like front flips, back flips, and barrel rolls to prove recovery and stability. CatF has two parts: one is tracking (I call it Iron Man flying) where you move in the air to gain horizontal distance and the second is Hop n Pops. Normally we’re jumping out 13 thousand feet in the air with almost a minute of free fall in contrast to a hop n pop where you jump out at 5 thousand feet and pull your parachute about 5 seconds of leaving the aircraft. This is to practice the emergency exit procedure in the event of an aircraft malfunction. You can do them for fun, though. I love hop n pops. Then G1, G2, and CatH are all focused on docking (linking up with another person in the air). These are all pretty tricky because where you go and how you fall in the air is all dependent on your form and maneuvers. Lastly is the check dive or graduation jump. In this one, you combine nearly all of the maneuvers in previous categories into one jump. After you’ve completed your check dive, AFF classes, student status requirements, written test, and 25 jumps, you should be able to receive your A license which allows you to jump with any other licensed jumper. I was able to get 50 jumps in this year and I couldn’t be more grateful. There’s only going to be more to come.

Here's a peek at some of the video ...

https://youtu.be/SpLwsoy553k