We met Teresa and Maui my Grand Niece and Nephew at the Drop Zone in Lodi at 9 AM, after signing up we were issued a number, I was #24, Floyd #25. We watched a video of how to jump and the dangers involved, including signing a bunch of waivers, basically saying if you jump you can be hurt but you or your family can't sue anybody.

We were assigned a instructor to tandem jump with, mine was Rick, as a point of interest he made his 4913 jump with me. They have nothing but expert instructors and photographers. You can't believe how many folks are jumping on weekends at the Parachute Center, the place was full. They have 3 planes and were the 3rd group to go up. The planes can hold up to 16 folks. 

In our plane load was Teresa and Maui, Floyd and I along with others. Maui videoed and also made digital pictures, on the ground and in the air. This was Teresa's 110 jump and Maui's 4347. He was my video photographer. Floyd also had his own video photographer, I haven't seen his pictures yet. The instructors and photographers some times jump 10 times a day.

At no time was I concerned or nervous about jumping, it just seemed natural and was no problem. We were fortunate to have relatives we knew on board so we felt comfortable, with every confidence in our instructors, everyone knows Teresa and Maui and we all joked on the way to 13,000 feet. With final instructions we all left the plane quickly, no time to really think about what you were about to do. The free fall was something else, it was really noisy, my hair stood on end and the wind was really strong, just imagine sticking your head out a car window at 120 MPH, after about a minute Rick opened the chute, instantly it was so quiet, Rick maneuvered the canopy for several minutes with ease on the way down and then we were on the ground, all in about 5 minutes. Our landing was so soft as Rick flew us in, we landed with our legs out in front of us and on the seat of our pants, as easy as sitting in a chair, it was so smooth. I was ready to do it again, maybe when I am 85? I also have a video and the pictures show a lot of the adventure. 

Photos Courtesy of:

Stan Viets