FrEEdom @ 13000 Ft, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane

I think it was around a time when my stach started showing up on my face that I had watched this program on DoorDarshan on a Sunday afternoon - it was about skydivers ! I was awe stuck to watch them do maneuvers in the 14" portable B&W TV we had at that time...somehow this got etched in my mind as a lifetime to-do...
I had to wait about 11 years for this to-do to be checked off my list. Three of my friends and me got together and planned on the possibility of going for it. I was 100% for it and all of my adrenaline junkie friends voted for – no Veto the skydive-bill was passed !!

Couple of weeks went in googling (I just added it to my winword dictionary), watching youtube vids on skydiving and we circled into a place called Baldwin, in the neighboring state of WI. At that time none of us had a US DL, and had to book a cab shelling out some valuable $$$ for the trip. We arrived at the “ Skydiving Club” around 1000 . 3 of us wanted to do the Accelerated Free Fall and one of my friends opted for the Tandem(where you are buckled with another skydiver, you get the rush only from the freefall none from you being alone – waste of money).

You need no training for the Tandem jump and my friend went in right away with the jumpmasters and did her jump. We were so thrilled to watch her from the ground – kudos to your courage !! We were put into a training course for 3 hours , verbal instructions and video presentations took most part of it. We were told what are the 100+ things that can go wrong and how we can try to come out of it, the signaling etc etc.

A tornado warning played spoilsport on that day and we returned home dejected with nothing under our belts. We rescheduled the jumps to next week, this week we were lucky enough to rope in one of my great friends vivek to drive us in a rented cab to the place, saved a lot of $$.

The D-Day had arrived, we just revisited all the lessons and had to give a short written exam to do the AFF. My jumpmasters were ready and we were all suited up and got into the plane with 20 others most of them who were pros. We cruised to an altitude of 13000 ft , my heart started beating faster and I could sense some rush into me even before I leaped out of the plane..

Hovering at a height of 13000 ft, I was waiting for my turn to jump out of the plane. All the pros were jumping as we take the dip to the pool. My jumpmasters took me to the door of the plane, I could see the fields and houses down below as small boxes. One of the jumpmasters asked me , do you wanna jump? This was the only moment when a little bit of fear conquered me watching the space below , hearing the roar of the propellers and seeing the wing of the plane near you, but regaining my composure I replied in the affirmative .

In minute we exited the airplane along with my jumpmasters , wowwwwwww the feeling the adrenaline rush cannot be explained in words – however hard I try !! You feel like you are floating in the air but in reality you would be rushing down at speeds of around 150 Kmph. The vertical fall against gravity and piercing the clouds lasted only a minute, because you are advised to pull your chute at 5500 ft, by closely watching your big altimeter on your left hand !!

I waved my signal and pulled my chute at 5500 ft, the upward pull that you experience was never told to us, as all the momentum gained from falling at enormous speeds is absorbed by the opening chute you are pulled up to some height ;that is the dividing line between the adrenaline rush during free fall and the serenity of floating around in a fully opened chute. After the chute is completely open and you gain control over your senses , then you experience the real 360 deg of freedom on earth. Its no one around you, and you take some moments gliding about all silly thoughts on how small a speck we are on this earth ….The moments are worth their time in gold ,,

It takes about 4- 5 minutes to descent from 5500 to the ground, the final descend has to be carefully done in order to have your bones intact. You got to watch flow of wind and then get into the opposite direction so that the speed of your landing is reduced...

Once on the ground , I looked up and thought about the vertical-journey I completed from 4 Km above ..A laminated certificate and a DVD will allow me to cherish and share this memory for ever !!
Video @ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6583827058668610913&ei=BL5WSa-RJZj8qwKPw_2qBA&q=first+free+fall+-+13000

Would love to experience the rush on a rocket or a space shuttle someday .. dreams do come true !!