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| 7 Month | 6 Day | 2002 Year |
| 12 Hour | 0 Minute | PM |
Jump 256 - Hot Air Balloon Jump!
Skydive Atlanta brought a balloon out
today. I got up at 4:00AM, showered and
hit the road by 4:45AM for the hour long
drive.
I passed the balloon van on the way down.
When I arrived I expected to see the van
about five minutes behind me. Thirty
minutes later it hadn't arrived.
It eventually showed up and the wind was
cooperating so we found a field just
northwest of the dropzone. We setup in
about thirty minutes and then we were off.
The amazing thing about the balloon is that
there's no noise. I'm fairly accustomed to
being at every altitude from zero to 13,500
feet. But normally there's the rush of
freefall or the wind of being under
canopy. When you're in a balloon there's
absolutely no noise.
At about 4500 feet I climbed out of the
basket. On the outside of it I pulled a
5.10 friction move on the wicker basket
trying to get in front of two guys with
cameras.
The fall was amazing. Unlike regular
skydiving, I got that weird stomach feeling
from the acceleration. The sound slowly
built up over about five seconds.
I fell backwards and flailed for a while.
Without any airspeed there was nothing that
I could do. All of my skydiving skills
were irrelevant for a while.
We picked a landing area while we were in
the balloon. We didn't see the big horse
in the field though. I was the first to
land and a little apprehensive about him
but he left me alone.
Woody, Trey and others helped us over the
fence. Woody and Trey both said "don't
step on that piece" no less than three
times to me. I stepped on it. And broke
it. Woody grabbed a hammer and fixed it as
the owner approached. Her number one
concern: the fence.
Excellent experience. Highly recommended!
Malfunction?
NoReserve Canopy
Malfunction Type
3000Deployment Altitude
3000Freefall Time
0hrs : 1min : 0sec Container
joereger.com Mirage G3Main Canopy
Atair Cobalt 135Jump Number
256Aircraft
Maneuver
Exit Altitude
4200
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