I finally did it. I jumped out of an airplane at 3,000 feet on Saturday at the Parachute School of Toronto! 
Here’s how the day went…
“…Injured, Crippled or Killed…”
This was probably the scariest part of the day. We had to sign our names about 12 times on death waivers forms that kept repeating how dangerous this sport was and the high risk involved. It’s one thing to die, but I would NOT want to end up crippled!
Training
After signing all the forms I was fairly relaxed! There were about 25 people in the class and most of them were young. The last picture is the practice airplane where the showed us where to position our hands and legs before the jump. It’s a full day (10:00-17:00) of training to make sure you’re well prepared for the jump.
First pic is my cousin Johann and I getting strapped into the practice harnesses. In the second picture, the guy showed me a parachute malfunction and started shaking the harness (you feel turbulence when your parachute doesn’t open!). The last picture is when he showed me what happens if the cords get twisted. Apparently this “complication” happens about 50% of the time, so of course it happened to me when I jumped! Good thing we were well trained…
Waiting to Jump
Here’s a pic of my cousin and I, then a pic with his coworkers Sheila and Julian. Finally, in honor of the world cup, they were kicking around a soccer ball for a while. Portugal did end up winning that day, right Sheila? 
Getting in the Plane
This was the plane we were going up in. I’m glad we were also trained on potential aircraft malfunctions! The second picture is with our “Jump Master” who came up in the plane with us. The last one is once we were loaded up into the aircraft. I’m in the back because I was jumper #4.
“Get Ready…GO!”
This is the command the Jump Master gives you at 3,000 ft. before you exit the aircraft. People suggested not looking down. I looked down with a big smile and thought: “This is going to be NICE!”. Although we were trained to arch our bodies and do a count apparently
first-time jumpers never count. I didn’t arch properly OR manage to do the count! As I mentioned earlier, my wires did end up tangled so I had to do the procedure where you pull the harness apart and scissor kick your legs until the cords get untangled.
The Landing
Once you’re out of the plane, you free fall for about 6 seconds before the parachute comes out. After that, you’re floating in the sky for ~3.5 minutes; it’s one of the most amazing, peaceful feelings in the world. Oh yes, if your parachute (and reserve) fails, you have 21 seconds before you hit the ground…what a pleasant thought. When I jumped out of the plane I had NO idea where I was, but we’re equipped with one-way radios and we get directions from people on the ground as to where we have to go. Apparently first time jumpers usually don’t land on their feet, so we’re trained on how to fall properly. I insisted on [attempting] to land on my feet. It didn’t work quite well as you’ll see in the video. I landed on my feet but fell over after about 2 seconds.
You can hear the gentleman giving instructions to number 4 (that was me! ). “Prepare to land! Feet and knees tight together, looking out near the horizon. Ready, ready, flare! Feet and knees together, together, all the way down, ta…ARGH! [this was when I fell] OK, stay still number 4…”
It was so amazing I’m hoping to do it again when I’m back in Toronto in a few weeks. If anyone in Montreal or TO would like to join let me know, I HIGHLY recommend it! 
Want to see more pictures? Check out my Picture Gallery!