People jumping out of what appears to be a perfectly good airplane:
Aiiieee. Just looking at the picture makes my knees watery.
And then there's this:
I don't worry about THAT fiscal cliff any longer. But there was a time...
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| Air Frame: Members of the Army's 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) jump from a C-17 Globemaster III during parachute assault training at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Nov. 13, 2012. (Air Force photo by Justin Connaher) (Click on image above to reach larger version.) |
Aiiieee. Just looking at the picture makes my knees watery.
―:☺:―
And then there's this:
I don't worry about THAT fiscal cliff any longer. But there was a time...
I hear you about watery knees induced by parachute jumping. I've never done it and don't think I could. Vertigo is my middle name. When we attended a production of "Les Miz" in London in the late '80s, our cheap seats were somewhere up in the 4th or 5th balcony. The actors were so far below they looked like ants, but it didn't matter to me because I spent the whole time in a state of high anxiety, expecting to topple forward at any moment.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't jump, as I've suffered from severe acrophobia all my life. So I hear ya... and HOW... about your experience in London.
DeleteJumping out indeed...why? Why why why why????? And I'm with Dan - I can't do the nosebleed seats at anything for the very same reason.
ReplyDeleteAs to the fiscal cliff - I do worry, quite a bit. Congress needs to (pardon me...) do its fucking job and remember that they are employed by WE THE PEOPLE. They screw us with this and we WILL remember. I'm facing a roughly 75.% tax increase with the cliff - which will definitely send my household budget over that cliff.
I'm not at all hopeful about the congress.
DeleteHey, maybe Congress'll jump out of an airplane, sans chutes. Just a helpful suggestion...
DeleteJumping out of perfectly good airplanes? No. Thank. You.
ReplyDeleteDoing all sorts of wild maneuvers and aerobatics in said perfectly good airplane? Bring it on!
As to that Fiscal Cliff? The morons in DC better be careful. At some point in time the people who pay taxes may finally run out of patience BEFORE they run out of money. And Kris, you're right. The bastards need to get off their asses and do their damn jobs.
As for wild maneuvers... I went up with a buddy one time who was taking flying lessons at the VAFB aero club. The lesson of the day was "unusual attitudes" and recovery from same, with my bud "under the hood." ALL of us were glad there was a barf bag in the back seat... ;-)
DeleteMy kids actually paid good money to send me up in an SNJ-6 (Navy version of the T-6) for to do aerial maneuvers and such. Immelmanns, Split-S's, barrel and aileron rolls, loops, etc. It was the most fun I have ever had (with the old caveat "with my clothes on"). Did it with the buddy who talked me into it, he was in a T-6 so we did some formation stuff too. At the end of the flight, he was looking wobbly. I had an unbelievable adrenalin high. I get all excited just remembering it.
DeleteThe photo reminds me of seeing an old WWII airplane flying at dusk over Lawton. Then parachutes began dropping and opening against the orange sky - beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHeights do not bother me. I think I could do it, but who knows. Jesse did it.
Good on Jesse... and you, too... if and when you decide to jump.
DeleteI went to USAF water survival at Homestead in 1973, and they asked for volunteers to do the helicopter jump. My best friend "Big Al" of course volunteered me and himself by pushing me to the front. The instructors started giggling, and I knew my life was going to end soon. First off it was a UH-1 helicopter, and I don't like single-engine anything, especially single engine without wings...
ReplyDeleteHere's the deal though, I wanted to be a PJ, and so you have to have a history of stepping-up. Big Al was real PJ material; I thought I could sneak through behind him (I finally washed out in Panama about a month later). Big Al was like a slingshot pulled back, while I was like a slingshot not pulled back yet :-) The instructors and us two performed before the rest of the class while we were out in the Bay. I jumped out the port side at the same time as Big Al jumped out the starboard side.
Anyway, the jump required us to correct a "Mae West" from 1500 feet. They gave us the easy one. A Mae West is one of the simplest corrections, but until you do it, scares the shit out of you. Two instructors jumped before us, and we had to count to three and jump after them. The first two instructors had problems that required them to cut lines to fix it, so after I jumped I looked for them and they were almost in the water before they fixed their problem. I counted to three after jumping (so I didn't get sucked in to the helicopter blades), pulled the ripcord and holy shit I could see Big Al got a Mae West, and I got a streamer, and was dropping like a rock. My brain said this is not right, but it took a while before my hands got the signal to abandon ship.
I finally released my main chute and pulled the reserve. But I was going like Mach 2 and nearly lost my gonads when the chute opened, and then a few seconds later I hit the water in the best water entry position I could manage. Normally you go down about 4 feet, but I swear I must have gone 30 Leagues under the sea, because I was spitting dolphins when I popped up top.
Sure enough, the parachute was on top of me, like in training, so I just grabbed a seam and started pulling to get out from under it. About that time the speedboat showed up and hauled me aboard. The instructors said that was the greatest death spiral they witnessed all summer - thanks, assholes... Anyway, Big Al and I were the only two class honor graduates, so my commander was super happy, although I still had to wait the whole six months after Basic for my first stripe - bastards...
You know, I miss those early days. I'm an old geezer now, and walk like a cripple, and I sure miss being 19...
Jesus! That's one hella story... among the best I've heard. I miss bein' 19 too... sometimes. I DON'T miss all the dumb stuff I did at that age, though. It sure would be nice to go back for about a week, especially knowing what we know now. ;-)
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