Aboard the C-31A Friendship, a U.S. Army plane, I stare out an open doorway and watch the land get smaller and more abstract by the minute. "Two thousand feet up ma'am," Sgt. 1st Class Mike Elliott yells to me over the roar of the wind. "Only 11,500 more to go."
Dressed in a yellow and black jumpsuit, with a harness snug around my thighs, waist and shoulders, I'm heading up to 13,500 feet in order to jump out of an airplane. My heart is pounding and I'm nervous, but I'm trying not to show it because I'm sitting next to some of the best skydivers in the world, members of the U.S. Army's Golden Knights elite demonstration and competition parachute team.
Sgt. 1st Class Elisa Tennyson has been skydiving for 21 years, after first being introduced to the sport as a new graduate of the Army's Airborne School. She was hooked after one jump--"When I landed, I asked my instructor, 'when can I go back up?' " she says--and set her sights on becoming a Golden Knight.
Now a team member for more than 13 years, Tennyson is a five-time U.S. Nationals champion in style and accuracy and ranked as one of the top three style skydivers in the world. She travels all over the globe for competitions--she was in Russia in August for the FAI World Cup and goes to India for the World Military Games in October.
Based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Tennyson and her teammates get up at 4:30 a.m. to workout--run, bike or lift weights--and then make eight to 15 jumps a day. Last year alone, Tennyson plunged out of an airplane 976 times. Over her career she's racked up nearly 9,000 jumps.
She competes in three skydiving disciplines: classic accuracy, in which the goal is to land on a yellow dot the size of "a piece of pepperoni in the middle of a pizza," says Tennyson; speed style, jumping out of an airplane in a head-first dive, reaching speeds of more than 200 mph, and executing six moves in as little time as possible; and formation skydiving, where a team of four or eight divers form geometric shapes in the air.
Speed style gives Tennyson the biggest thrill. "I love the challenge of going as fast as you can and still being in control. It keeps me wanting to go back up and try again."
I don't execute any tricks on my tandem jump--I stick to screaming and grinning from ear to ear. When I flip out of the plane strapped to Elliott's chest, free fall at 120 miles per hour for 45 seconds (dropping more than one vertical mile), and then gently glide under a parachute for four minutes, I understand why Tennyson is so addicted to her sport. It's the rush of a lifetime.
Want to take a flying leap? Follow these tips provided by the Golden Knights
1. Choose the right "drop zone." It's crucial to jump at a skydiving center that is a member of the United States Parachute Association (USPA). Since the sport is not federally regulated, skydiving operators can range in quality and safety. However, members of the USPA must maintain high safety standards, employ only certified instructors and use inspected and approved equipment. For a list of members as well as information about skydiving, visit uspa.org.
2. Know what to expect. Golden Knight Staff Sgt. Norma Jean Estrella says the free fall portion of the skydive is often wrongly compared to a roller coaster ride's sinking feeling in your stomach. That "couldn't be any more false," she says. "Free fall feels similar to sticking your hand out of the window while the car is moving down the road. Take that feeling and apply it to your whole body--then you have a skydive."
3. Dress in layers. Remember that the air is colder three miles above the ground. Layer up with lightweight pants and a long-sleeve shirt. You may also be issued a jumpsuit to wear over your clothes. Don't wear anything with a hood, collar or zipper, and leave your necklaces and earrings at home. (Any of these can hurt when hurled into you by 120 mph winds.) Wear tennis shoes.
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