Came out this past weekend with my sister for our first tandem. I purchased two tandems on Black Friday 2018, and had the opportunity this past weekend to put them to use.
We showed up a little after our scheduled time (due to traffic) but called ahead and spoke to Lydia. She was super friendly and had no issues with us showing up a little later. When we arrived we filled out all the paper work, watched the intro video and met up with our tandem instructors and videographers.
My tandem instructor was Tim, who was amazingly friendly and stoked for me that it was my first time Skydiving. He's got over 2100 jumps under his belt, and clearly loves what he does. I expressed a bit of interest in pursuing the sport beyond the tandem, and Tim was more than happy to provide me with additional information on what it takes to become licensed and explained a few things to me that I'm guessing he wouldn't have if I were just interested in the tandem, one time experience.
Next I met my videographer, Jake. Super nice guy, tons of experience and also extremely excited for my firs time. These guys were so friendly and reassuring. Plenty of high fives and fist bumps were had.
Off we went to get fitted for our harnesses, given altimeters and where we learned how to properly banana, lift our legs for a proper landing, and what to expect during the ride up, free fall and landing.
At no point was I uncomfortable, felt unsafe or second guessed my choice to choose Skydive Cross Keys as the location for my first jump.
After some interviews and photos, we boarded our plan, buckled our seatbelts and up and away we went.
Just before our turn to jump Tim reconfirmed with me that I was ready, and ran through some of the procedures again. We slid to the open door, stood there for a second, rocked back and forth and out the door we went. Surreal is one word that comes to mind. Going from a super loud plane engine to an almost quiet free fall, is one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
Freefall was about 60 seconds, we got to do a few spins, hold hands with Jake (the videographer) and then at 5,000 feet I got to pull the rip cord. What an amazing experience.
As we glided down under our canopy, Tim showed me how to properly control the parachute, how to travel at full speed, break, and make turns. He gave me a brief run down of the approach and landing procedures and pointed out the Philly skyline off in the distance.
When we landed, plenty of high fives were had. Tim was super interested how I liked it, and asked if I would do it again - to which I responded a resounding "F*** yeah!".
3 days later, I'm still thinking about the experience and contemplating pursuing my A license more than ever. Sadly, it's almost the end of the year and going to start getting cold soon - so that may have to wait until next Spring.
After our jump, I thought I had misplaced my wallet and asked around the DZ if anyone had seen it. I asked Lydia at the front desk, and while I was asking a very nice women came over and seemed very concerned for me and started asking around. She told me she's been skydiving there for 6 seasons, and they all treat each other like family, and that my wallet would turn up. After some more looking I realized it fell under my car seat. (Sorry for the commotion guys :D)
I cannot recommend this DZ enough. Everyone there was super friendly, accommodating, and made sure everyone was at ease and knew what to expect. The videos and photographs came out better than expected, and of course, my family and instagram love them.
Looking forward to seeing you guys for my 2nd and 3rd tandems in pursuit of my A license, sometime soon! Thank you all for an amazing experience, I can see why you all love what you do so much!! read more