The following morning, Roz gripped Konrad’s hand, hard, yet he barely noticed it. He was busy trying to still his nerves and keep from shaking, and they were only watching the training video.
The virtual plane had already taken off and was ascending to the required twelve thousand, five hundred feet. Wolves didn’t belong in the air. He liked his paws firmly on the ground, yet how much of a wuss would he be if he told his girlfriend he was afraid to skydive? The big bad werewolf scared shitless? No way.
“When in doubt, whip it out.” The instructor’s voiceover caught Konrad’s attention and dragged him back to the moment.What the hell is he talking about?
“The reserve chute,” Roz answered telepathically.
Fear must be amplifying his thoughts. He’d have to be careful.
The video droned on.
“Many jumpers faced with minor problems such as a broken line or minor canopy damage choose to jettison the questionable parachute and go to their more reliable reserve. So long as the jettison and reserve activation are initiated at a safe altitude, which is a minimum of 1,600 feet, this practice is considered to be very conservative. It’s called a ‘break-away’ or ‘cut-away.’”
Conservative? Cutting your number of parachutes from two to one with no spare? That didn’t sound very conservative to him.
“…the benefits ranging from peace of mind, to avoiding sprains or broken bones incurred when a damaged canopy lands you too fast or too hard, to actually saving your life.”
Saving your life is a benefit? He thought it was a given. Konrad squirmed in his seat.
“Jettisoning an unreliable chute causes it no damage, and it can be instantly reattached later. Most jettisoned canopies are recovered, but with prices for new canopies starting at around $1,500, one lost canopy can be quite a setback for instructors.”
“And I need to know this, why?” he whispered.
“Shh.”
“Once the reserve has been deployed, an FAA-certified parachute rigger must inspect and re-pack it. This service can cost around fifty to seventy-five dollars, sometimes more, and cannot always be performed immediately. It’s not uncommon to see a skydiver moping around the drop zone after a reserve deployment, frustrated because his ‘reserve ride’ has left him grounded, possibly for the rest of the day, while he searches for lost gear and waits while his reserve parachute gets its inspection and repack, called ‘I and R.’
“It’s for that reason that instructors are sometimes reluctant to employ the break-away technique.”
Crap! I sure didn’t need to know that.And did they have topayfor all of that, if the primary chute fails? Konrad knew skydiving was expensive; after all, they’d paid two hundred fifty dollars to jump this once. He hoped they wouldn’t fall in love with it.
Konrad’s finances were already suffering badly. He’d insisted on paying for their full dance courses, plus hospital bills not covered by Roz’s deductible, and a bartending course, followed by damages to the bar. If he didn’t get some legitimate business from the security systems job soon, he’d be in deep shit.
“Most people can now train through an accelerated eight-jump course for about two thousand dollars. That figure can go much higher, depending on options such as wind-tunnel indoor skydiving training, repeat jumps, freefall videos, and the price of fuel.”
Great. More money.Why did we want to do this again?
“Because if we love it, we can be trained quickly, and the FAA doesn’t require skydivers to get a license,” Roz answered.
Ding, ding. These people who were about to push him out of an airplane might not be licensed?
He wasn’t surprised that his question was strong enough to broadcast itself.
At last the video ended, and so did his enthusiasm.
What kind of temporary insanity had possessed him to try skydiving? Oh yeah,love.
***
Roz was getting hooked up to her instructor for their tandem ride when the pilot announced he had reached the target elevation.
“Don’t worry about this being your first time,” her instructor shouted over the wind, “because this is my second.” He laughed.
Konrad’s instructor piped up. “I’ve got you both beat. This is my third.” He laughed maniacally. “Only joking. We’ve been doing this for years.”
“Very funny.”
Konrad hadn’t seemed happy to discover they each had to jump coupled with an experienced instructor, and that both of them were men.
