Raeford Parachute Center

This afternoon, a coworker and I traveled to Raeford, a small town located just outside of Fayetteville. We have been discussing (and compiling) our bucket lists, and decided that it was time to cross skydiving from our lists. We had made reservations to jump with the Raeford Parachute Center, which was a small airport that seems devoted primarily to parachuting.

After a brief video (which was little more than a warning that we could get hurt - and that the parachuting center would not be held responsible), we were outfitted in a jumpsuit and harness. Before we knew it, we were loading into a very small plane. The plane merely had two benches along the sides, which we had to straddle with a person directly behind us (and a person in front of us who was practically sitting on our laps - it was a very tight fit!)

Me jumping from the plane
When we reached 13,500 feet (4,115 meters), it was time to jump. Before we jumped, my jump partner asked if I wanted to jump straight out - or if I wanted to do a back-flip out of the plane; stupidly, I answered, "back-flip." When it was my turn to jump, I had to sit on the ledge of the plane, with my legs hanging out of the plane (which was quite scary!) We did our back-flip and then continued plummeting (quickly) towards the earth. After about 60-seconds (which seemed like ages), the parachute was pulled, and we made a slow descent to the ground. Surprisingly, the landing was extremely gentle. I don't know that I'll be taking to the skies again anytime soon, but I am glad that I can say I've done it.