Sometimes, you just feel like you’re Superman and can do whatever you want – especially when you have awesome friends – but unfortunately I did NOT get to go skydiving today!

The idea to go on this adventure was originally planned by my good friend and former neighbor, Nick.  It was on my mental bucket list, but nothing that I ever REALLY planned on crossing off until Nick mentioned the Living Social deal that I linked to in the previous blog post.  It was pretty awesome timing because I had been looking for something new and exciting to do – and I was pretty determined to do this because, I don’t know – who thinks of a person who uses a wheelchair going skydiving?! Awesome, right?!

So we paid for our deal online a few weeks back, and recently decided on a date that we could all make it.  Nick, Hilary and I were just three of a group of eight that purchased the deal, but the three of us thought that today was a good day to finally suit up and do it.  We headed to the DC Skydiving Center running ever so close to “on time” (anyone who knows me that this is very typical) and got there just in time to take care of all of our waivers and get to business, learn how to harness up, and jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet!

As I signed my final waiver the head-skydiver named Chris approached me in a very friendly way but also offered a not so great greeting. 

Hi, Justin? I’m the guy that gets to deliver the bad news today.

Immediately nervous. What’s the issue? Why does Chris have to give me bad news?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like you have enough leg mass to suit up in the harness safely. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to jump today. 

After numerous explanations, I’ve arrived at a somewhat simple explanation of why I wasn’t able to go skydiving today.  When you suit up in the harness, there are numerous straps and buckles and that are provided to ensure your safety.  Two of the most important safety features of the harness go around your legs, around your inner thigh.  While may fit a person of “average” leg size appropriately, my legs are certainly not average size, as shown in the photo above.

When you are jumping out of the plane at 10,000 feet in the air, there is a lot of force that can impact your body, ESPECIALLY when you let our your parachute.  At the moment that you release your parachute, I was told that there are over 5 “G’s” of force that are impacting your body – this means that you are receiving five times your body weight into your muscles and bones as the parachute stops you from free-falling. It is at this moment that it was possible that my legs could break and I could be seriously injured.  The skydiving center was looking out for my best interest and would not allow me to jump (yes, I was annoyed that I had called ahead numerous times and explained my situation to them, and got the good graces each time. But the person answering the phone, unfortunately, is on my uh…not-so-great list. They didn’t know what they were talking about).

Obviously disappointed, we then got news that there would be a slight delay due to clouds/weather.  We had contemplated leaving, and using the vouchers maybe at another time.  After we thought about it though we were still determined to have a really good time! So we waited it out a few minutes, and learned that Nick and Hilary would still be able to jump! Obviously I was still up to be a part of this – even witnessing skydiving seemed like it would be a bit of a rush!

So, the two received their class and learned all of the proper procedures to follow as they prepared to jump out of the plane.  As I watched them, I was just a bit upset – how annoying that a consequence of my disability is going to keep me from doing this awesome activity, which I was extremely excited to do!? I came all the way here! I had told my first graders all about it! EVEN TAUGHT THEM WHAT THE WORD “TANDEM” meant!

After they received the safety lesson, I thought of an idea. I wondered if I would still be able to go up in the plane, even if they wouldn’t let me jump out of it.  My parents did always teach me that I can do anything I want, sometimes I just have to do it a bit differently. After talking to his pilot, Chris delivered much better news than he did the first time – I would be able to go up and check out my friends skydiving to the ground!! And honestly…let me tell you. This was maybe just as awesome as the real thing.

The plane was a very small plane which was piloted by a private pilot named Reid. Reid was awesome – he was very friendly and let me sit up in the front passenger seat with him.  He taught me all about the workings of the plane before we took off and waited for everyone to finish suiting up.

In fact, a recent addition to my bucket list – flying a plane – was crossed off of my bucket list today! My friend Karen had mentioned it to me a few weeks back, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how awesome that would be.  They offer some program in Blacksburg where you can take lessons and fly a plane (with assistance of course) but Reid even let me drive the plane for a bit, which was VERY cool!

After the final jumper got out of the plane, Reid steered us into some pretty crazy maneuvers and landed the plane seamlessly. The force was so strong during one of the dips (where the nose of the plane was literally facing the ground! CRAZY!) that I tried to lift my hand to take a picture and I couldn’t – it was THAT much force! It was literally being on your own man-made roller coaster in the sky. 

The views through the clouds were absolutely beautiful.  It was a really cool experience to be up so high, experiencing what many aviators do everyday but something I never thought I would get to do. It’s almost as cool as being in the cabin of a big jet – except you have the intimacy of a much smaller plane. This was definitely the next best thing to actually skydiving.

Here’s a video of the plane landing!

And here’s a video of some of the skydivers landing; the view is from the front seat of the plane hence the propeller.

*Be sure to make both videos full screen – it’s too late for me to really
figure out how to embed these well through the WordPress interface.*

So, as I lay here typing this blog post at 1:30 a.m. and venting somewhat angrily to my best friend on the phone, all of this is put into perspective.  I still have my mind set to skydiving and I do not doubt that I will be able to do it.  The guys at the skydiving center gave me some names and contact information for certain harnesses, etc. that I could use, SAFELY, and invited me to come back and skydive for free, even after I get my refund back from Living Social. Although I didn’t get to do it today, my day still ended up alright.  I got to see my friends have an amazing time, and I had a pretty great time myself. Sure, I would have loved to jump out of the plane right alongside them, but it just wasn’t meant to be today. 

As I vented to her, KH looked up some interesting websites about adaptive/accessible skydiving. To be honest, I wouldn’t necessarily want to do something like this, but here’s one that stood out – another blog.

Just another example of how you have to roll with the punches and life, and most importantly – never give up. Don’t ever give up. Someday, I will skydive. 

Thanks for reading!