My Incredible Skydive with the US Air Force!

skydiving the ultimate adrenaline rush to be honest i'm not sure what all the hype is about in terms of throwing yourself out of a perfectly good airplane and falling hundreds of miles per hour to the ground however people seem to love it so yeah maybe i will too however i need to let you guys in on a little secret i've actually been skydiving before that's right after my freshman year at the us air force academy for some insane reason i signed up for the jump program the only place in the world where your very first jump is completely on your own let's just say the experience didn't go so well and i swore note to myself that never again would i jump out of an airplane so i lied i'm gonna have to break that oath you see today i'm here at the air force academy in colorado springs where i was invited to jump with the wings of blue the official parachute team of the united states air force now the wings of blue aren't just any parachute team they represent the air force all across the world performing aerial demonstrations jumping into nfl football games and also competing at the collegiate and national level where they've had a very very long history of success the team was actually founded in the spring of 1962 by a group of renegade cadet skydivers here at the air force academy campus every single year the wings of blue train up hundreds of academy cadets on how to successfully exit an aircraft deploy a parachute and land safely while i may have completed the program before it seems like a lifetime ago and any knowledge i once had of skydiving i promise you is long gone but with all that being said i couldn't let the opportunity go to waste so i hope you guys are ready because today i'm once again going to jump out of an airplane good morning it is a beautiful day here at the air force academy it's been a while since i've come to this spot in fact i remember as a freshman every morning having to come here while i was in the jump program and literally freaking out because i knew i had to jump out of a plane but regardless it's awesome to be back and i can't wait however i will say isn't it pretty cool that this is like one of the only schools in the world they let college kids teach other college kids how to jump out of airplanes i mean seriously where else can you do that but anyways i'm gonna head into the squadron say hello get started show you guys around and i'll see you in a little bit so this is the 98th flying training squadron better known as the home of the wings of blue from the airplanes to the gear and all the cadets who come down here every day to train i'm not gonna lie it's all pretty impressive now this large building you're looking at right now is where they train hundreds of cadets every single year who go through the jump program known as airmanship 490. now this wasn't the first time i had been inside this building and there was one thing in particular that gave me some serious deja vu it may not look that intimidating but oh i promise you it definitely is all right i am standing here in the mock door this is what the wings of blue use to kind of train the exit when they're teaching new students i remember standing in this thing four years ago freaking out but it's crazy to be back gonna be in the air doing this for real pretty soon so if i can conquer the mock door i can certainly conquer a skydive right well let's hope you see things started to get pretty real when i heard the airplane i would be jumping out of roll in it had just finished dropping another load of jumpers and i decided to check it out its technical name is the uv-18b however most people know it as the twin otter it's one of only three owned by the us air force all of which are used by the wings of blue to carry a pilot co-pilot and up to 17 jumpers at a time it's a pretty cool airplane and i enjoyed getting the chance to check it out however i knew that in a short while i'd find myself looking at this thing from a completely different angle before i could talk myself out of what i was about to do i was called in to start gearing up i watched a quick safety video on what not to do when receiving a tandem parachute jump and before i knew it i was being fit for my helmet which looked like something straight out of the 1930s national football league but anyways i think it's time i introduce you to sergeant wilde yeah you heard that right wild with over a thousand jumps to his name he's the one i would soon be strapped to falling hundreds of miles per hour out of the sky now i'm just gonna make some adjustments for you here i got fitted for my harness leg straps and shoulder straps and made sure everything was cinched down extra tight oh yeah and since we would be climbing to eleven thousand feet i also got an oxygen tube that would help me not pass out on the plane ride up from there we headed to practice our exit from the aircraft which didn't involve much on my end except for i guess hold on for dear life but after that we are ready to go a few final gear checks were made one last briefing and then we were out the door ready to go all geared up it's gonna be crazy [Music] [Music] so yeah things started to get real like really real as nervous as i was sitting on that plane believe it or not i was actually pretty excited i don't know maybe it was the lack of oxygen but i felt ready to go when the jump door opened up i caught a glimpse of just how high we were but after that the rest was really a blur i remember getting up and walking to the edge taking one last look around and the rest well i guess it's history [Music] [Music] oh yeah got it oh yeah yeah so tell us how was that that was the craziest experience ever but i'm so glad i did it in a rush exactly would you do it again i don't know about that but uh i'm glad i did it yeah that's totally yes all right that was an absolutely incredible experience i told myself i would never jump again but i'm glad i had the chance to do it today with the wings of blue here at the united states air force academy thanks for tuning in everyone and i'll see you next time so i did it i jumped out of an airplane again if there's one thing i learned it's that you should really never count yourself out because sometimes you may just surprise yourself thanks again to the wings of blue for an experience i'll never forget and uh i'll catch you guys soon is it normal to be nervous nathan what do you think oh yeah um

Channel: Sam Eckholm

Views: 88,852

Keywords: Sam Eckholm, U.S. Air Force, Air Force Skydiving, Military Benefits, Air Force Careers, Why I Should Join the U.S. Air Force, Skydiving, United States Air Force Academy, USAFA, Military Life, Life in the Military, Opportunities in the Military, Military Skydiving, Air Force Day in the Life, Service Academies, Fly Fight Win, Aim High, Air Force Recruiting, Skydiving with the military, Air Force Career field, Wings of Blue, PTWOB

Id: NL5IMA-nquA

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 03 2020