I always thought skydiving would be fun, but I was also always scared to death of heights. So, I never pursued skydiving. I just thought it was something I was not capable of doing. However, after I had decided to eliminate fear from my life, I realized that skydiving was now possible. So, after returning to Mass, after a tour of duty in Alabama (Air Force, and no I didn't fly a plane), I decided it was time to confront my biggest fear.
As the plane was taking off for my first skydive, I was nervous. The higher we got, the more nervous I got. Then they opened the door. I could see people leaving the plane. Every time someone jumped, I could feel the plane adjust to its new weight. I got real nervous. Then, I saw the view from the door. I could see the threshold a few feet below my head (I was bent over), and the ground over two and a half miles below. That is absolutely the most terrifying scene I have ever witnessed. My body froze. However, as soon as my body froze I remembered my decision not to allow fear in my life. My brain shut down the fear and I walked to the door. I got into position and jumped without any hesitation. That was the greatest moment in my life to date. Nothing will ever compare to overcoming that fear.
If you are interested in how people have overcome fear, I have included a couple of pages about overcoming fear.
Clear skies and soft landings,
Carl P. E. dos Santos
From: Hank Sohn <hanks@hotmail.com>
While I respect that everyone's psyches are different, it is important to know that most skydivers do not overcome or eliminate fear as you would leave people to believe. After extensive sessions with fellow jumpers, I think it is more appropriate to say that we stop letting fear dictate our decisions and learn to enjoy it. The jumps you will remember are the scary ones (For me: watching a canopy open below me with visions of wrap in my head, AAD early fire on a student rig and two open canopies, night jump, etc.) A number of my friends were seriously hurt in a plane crash in VA this weekend. I am terrified to jump. That fear is there. And just as the decision to jump again after each of my other harrowing experiences led to an incredible, exhilirating jump, so will this.
We still know fear but it is a companion that reminds us we are alive not a snake whose bite paralyzes us. My first jumpmaster said,"I won't take anybody up whose not a little scared, because those are the ones who are crazy, cocky or stupid, and those are the ones that end up dead." Even jumpers with 1000's still know fear; the ones who forget it do things like bail out to video a jump with no gear on (true story).
From: Carl P. E. dos Santos <carl@tiac.net>
Hank,
I am sorry to hear about your friends in VA.
I will modify my site to more clearly indicate that my pages about fear describe my own feelings, not those of all skydivers. I am curious though, what led you to believe I was trying to speak for all skydivers? I specifically titled that section "My Feelings On Fear". I don't understand where you got that idea.
I guess I did not describe what I meant by "acknowledge and respect danger" well enough. I don't think you understand what I mean. I strongly believe that someone who does not fear skydiving and does not acknowledge or respect the danger involved will end up dead. That is the person who will dive without a rig! However, I believe that someone who acknowledges and respects the danger in skydiving has a much better chance of surviving without injury than someone who fears the danger. Fear tends cause instinctive responses. Eventually any person will come across a situation that requires something other than instinct. If they fear the danger, they will most likely get hurt or killed. Just as someone who fears the danger, the person who acknowledges and respects fear works on safety procedures before and during the jump. However, they do not panic or rely on instinct when faced with a situation for which they didn't prepare. Instead, they are still calm and able to think it through.
I think it's disappointing that humans still feel the need for fear. I include myself in that statement! Everyone everywhere feels the pull of fear. However, I believe we do not need fear to survive. I believe fear no longer produces the responses that will save our lives in a dangerous situation. Today there are too many situations where instinct will produce a counterproductive action. I believe it is far more important for us to acknowledge and respect danger, by constantly working on and improving our safety procedures, and remaining calm and coherent during dangerous situations.
In an attempt to clarify my stance on fear, and the fact that I am not trying to speak for all skydivers, I would like to include your original email and this reply on my web site. Do you have any objections?
Thanks,
-- Carl
From: "Carl P. E. dos Santos" <carl@tiac.net>
Hank,
One more thing I forgot to mention in my reply. On one of my jumps, I suffered slider lock, and my chute didn't open. However, even though I wasn't scared, I acted properly. As my chute finally opened, I watched the guy video taping my dive continue to fall. His chute didn't open until he was 700 feet from the ground. As you can imagine, that was pretty scary. I thought I was going to watch him hit! However, that is not my most memorable dive. My most memorable dive was a sunset solo that went perfectly smoothly. The exit was good, the view was awesome, the maneuvers went smoothly, the chute ride was calm, the landing was soft. Nothing went wrong, nothing scary happened. However, it was beautiful and peaceful. That is what I consider memorable.
-- Carl
|
|||||||||
Access counts as of Thursday, Febuary 27, 1997 at 06:26:40
This page:
1651
|
Web site by Carl P. E. dos Santos (carl@tiac.net).
This page was last modified on Tuesday, 26-Nov-96 at 03:44:45.
Copyright © 1997 Carl P. E. dos Santos
All rights reserved