I was scared absolutely ****less on every flight, watching the
altimeter, knowing I'd have to jump.Â* Then, once outside and hanging off
the wing strut, all fear was gone.Â* The cool breeze in my face at
10,000' MSL made me impatient for the instructor's command, "Arch and
go!".Â* After that it was pure heaven maneuvering the canopy, entering
downwind, base, and final to the touchdown circle.

The injured pilot I mentioned earlier was an experienced
paratrooper/jump master with many jumps to his credit.Â* The winds were
high and terrain was rough.

On 6/2/2018 12:28 PM, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
Agreed on training. Learning on you way out the first time likely leads to broken body bits.
At a minimum, call a local jump school, maybe a bunch of local glider pilots can go through basic training without an actual jump (I have issues with height and leaving a perfectly good aircraft.....;-)).
This can be done for pretty cheap and at least you have a marginal clue.

Who knows, maybe you will do an actual jump?!?!
Better may be do an actual jump in your own chute YMMV.....

Reminds me of a known glider pilot at a contest. There was a midair within site of the home field. He was a sport jumper, bailed and sorta thought, "if I'm jumping, may as well as make it fun.....".
Did a delayed opening.
Last anyone on the field saw, he was freefalling.........argghhhhhh.
He was fine, call to glider insurance......

--
Dan, 5J