TAKING THE PLUNGE

After three years of practice, teen jumpers say sky diving offers the greatest feeling of freedom.

Imagine falling for almost a full minute, hurtling straight toward the Earth from almost a mile above ground. You feel the air rushing by.

Suddenly, you are jerked up by the force of your parachute opening, allowing you three minutes to view the scenery around you before you float to a soft landing.

This is sky diving, a sport that is said to offer the greatest feeling of freedom.

"It relieves you of all your Earthly problems," explained Shane Bowlander of Anderson, Ind.

Nervous at first

Bowlander and his friend Jim Tranter sky-dive at Ace Airport in Anderson. Jim, 17, has been sky-diving for the past three years, while Bowlander, 18, has been jumping for the past four years.

Both were not immune to the nervousness of throwing themselves from an airplane for the first time. Bowlander said, "I was pretty scared . . . there was a lot of fear, but there was a lot of anxiety, too."

Added Jim: "It's very nerve-racking. You're about ready to let go of an airplane and fall for 3,000 feet. It's kind of hard to remain calm."

Of course, they got over their nervousness. According to Jim, "You just get used to the feeling that you're experiencing. . . . You learn to deal with your feelings and how your body's reacting to all the adrenaline and everything."

Jim and Bowlander feel privileged to be able to sky-dive while their other friends cannot. Minimum age for skydiving is usually 18, but Jim was able to jump at a younger age because his father owns the sky- diving company and was able to teach him.

As for Bowlander, his family has a close relationship with Jim's and they made an oral agreement saying Bowlander could sky-dive as well.

Their friends think that sky diving is cool. "Most of my friends are turning 18 now, and all of them are wanting to do it," says Bowlander. "I gave a lot of kids information about it."

Sky diving comes with different rankings. Right now Jim and Bowlander have obtained the rating of jumpmaster, which means they can lead a group of new sky divers through their first jumps.

Follow safety instructions

With the fun comes some pain. Both teen-agers have witnessed various accidents in which people have sprained muscles and broken bones when they have landed wrong. Overall, they say, sky diving is a safe sport if you follow your jumpmaster's instructions.

Sky diving can be an individual or group sport. Many people can jump at once or make formations by standing on one another's parachutes; jumpers can go tandem, where a new diver holds onto a more experienced jumper; or people can go solo.

Jim and Shane have participated in all these styles of jumping. In fact, combined they have about 2,000 jumps.

Their advice for the aspiring sky diver is to go ahead and try it, but make sure you know what you are getting into. First, you go through eight hours of ground school before you get your chance to jump from the airplane - if you still want to.

EDITED BY: Jon Katz