Skydive

Despite the relatively recent ability to access great heights from a plane, our instinctual reaction to stay away from an open door on said planes is surprisingly powerful. And yet, even as you read this, someone in the world is overcoming that instinct and throwing themselves out of an aircraft for the sheer fun of it. Without undergoing your lottery dream of surgically grafting wings on your body, skydiving is likely the closest you’ll ever get to flying.

How To:

Generally, as long as you’re able-bodied and under about 210 pounds, you can do a tandem jump. You will leave the technical and tricky bits to the professional in charge, and be given a short ground session on what your role is in the endeavour, which is, briefly: Don’t Panic. You will sign your name several times underneath ALL CAPS statements that let you know that if you go splat instead of float, you can’t sue. (Like most ‘extreme’ sports, your chance of injury or splat are miniscule, especially compared to the car ride to the jump.)

On your ascent, your tandem instructor will probably say helpful things like, “Boy, that last time did NOT go well!” or “I’m nervous too, this is my first day!”. And just as you’re used to the nice view from about 10,000 feet, you’re buckled together, at which point your body will produce a series of chemicals, which best translate to ‘NO NO NO WANT HOME NOW.’ Immediately after which comes the surreal moment when the door gets opened. Cold air rushes in, and the tandem instructor compels you to scoot to the edge, then 3-2-1 out you go, before experiencing anywhere from 45-60 seconds of freefall. With the ground so far away and no reference points rushing past you, the experience isn’t so much a feeling of plummeting, but one of floating. Much too soon, you or the instructor releases the chute - an experience more gentle than it looks on video - and you glide serenely down to earth for about ten minutes, just enough time for you to feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment and forget the fact that you couldn’t sleep the previous night and nearly cried on the drive over.

You can find a DZ – that’s cool/gnarly/rad skydiving speak for Drop Zone – and everything else you possibly need to know about Skydiving, through the U.S. Parachute Association’s website: