The day I jumped from an airplane

Whenever I had heard people talk about sky diving or seen the pictures of their bravado, I called them foolish for risking their life.

But here I was on the train to Osterburken, an unknown town somewhere in central Germany, with ten of my colleagues all waiting to take the dive. I was shit scared.

This trip was a dual challenge for me. I was to be in company that I knew little about and didn’t exactly look forward to because I had imagined them to be bawdy. And we were to camp – away from my warm, cozy bed. But I took the challenge – primarily to prove to myself that I am ‘fun’ still!

We arrived at Osterburken and met Alex – a short skinny fellow who seemed more like a tour guide to me. He indeed drove us to the Southside Base – the adventure sport company. It was cloudy and windy and I missed by bed on the Saturday morning.

Before me lay a small field and a quaint, little white airplane. We thought it was a dummy and the real plane would be in a hangar somewhere close by. But soon we woke up to the fact that this white dove was to be our stead indeed. And the airstrip? What airstrip? The plane taxis on the field and has to be in the air because it reaches the hill’s edge. I was so shit scared, I smirked!

In about an hour, we signed on papers that said that we knew we were putting our lives in danger and that the company or the guide will not be responsible for any damage that may happen to us during the flight, the jump and the landing and the that we understood we could die! Also, no turning back once you are in the plane. And all of this at a cost of 300 Euros to be in the air for 5 minutes. Then they trained us about the positions and the techniques, about the dos and the don’ts. I was so scared, I asked stupid questions like “can I shout when I am falling?”

Suddenly the weather cleared up and the two people who had volunteered to be the first to jump were in their jump suits. Smart and harnessed, they waved and smiled and posed for the cameras. It turns out that Alex the minnow is an expert diver and will be the main video-grapher for the day, while two sturdy divers will be the tandem experts – that will actually jump with us.

Off they went – huddled into the white contraption that spluttered and choked and shook as it gained speed. Several divers and two of ours. We cheered them and waved and clicked their pictures. Then we waited for the twenty minutes that we were told it will take the plane to get to the 4000 mtrs. from where the jump would happen. We craned our necks each time we heard the roar of the plane and tried to spot it among the clouds. At the promised time we were all looking heavenwards with gaping mouths for them to fall.

And suddenly spots appeared on the clouds. Purple and blue and orange and red and white on a backdrop of grey clouds. We cheered as we spotted the parachutes and waved and clicked like excited children.

Our two heroes were the last ones to make their landing and we watched keenly their landing technique. They waved and we shouted back. They came back looking like Top Gun heroes. I was excited but scared still.

Then the next pair was suited but the weather went bad. Then we waited. It started to drizzle and we waited. It cleared but we waited still cause the Met said it was too windy to fly the small plane. We waited and got hungry. We ate quickly fixed sandwiches while the first pair was happy to have made their jump. We ate and we waited. But the weather kept playing truant.

Then it cleared. The next flight was announced (yes – German orderliness) but only one of us could take that flight cause there were several other divers. We cheered the girl on and repeated the same routine as with the first pair. We were happy to see her arrive back but she did not open her legs well while landing and it was bad. She landed first rather than the tandem guide, who actually rolled over the poor little thing. She had three fractures and was rushed to the hospital. I was so scared, I gave up the idea.

The weather worsened and the plane was rolled back into the hangar. I checked the time for the train back home and realized it will leave in two hours’ time. I announced that I was bored of waiting and would return by the next train. Some of my colleagues tried to cajole me to stay the night and do the jump the next day, but I had had enough of the challenge already!

About thirty minutes before I was to leave, skies cleared and out came the plane. They started the dives again. One of my colleagues convinced me to wait till the last train at 10 PM. I cursed my luck – not knowing to be happy cause I could possibly make the jump or to be sad cause I was scared and was hoping to run away!

One after the other they kept going and jumping and arriving with smiles and stories:
“It feels amazing”, “better than any intoxication”, “be careful, else you fall backwards”, “the harness gets very tight and crushes your balls”, “It doesn’t feel like you are flying”, “my arm went numb”, “its scary when you look down” – each narration left me more edgy than the previous one. And I hoped the weather would go bad again. I was so scared I jumped up and down and went to the toilette without having had much to drink.

I imagined the fall into nothingness; the failures I have had on a few of the adventures I had tried earlier; the effect on the human body if it would hit ground after a fall from 4 kms; the plane going wrong; the hooks that tie to the guide coming off; the earth rushing to you….. I wanted to run away!

Then my turn came and I decided to block it all away. I just took it as a chore and got to business – got into my suit and harness, smiled for the camera, got my last instructions, Yay-ed to my friends, and went into the plane.

As I sat in there, the plane jerked and moved forward and got into the air quite effortlessly. I saw rolling hills, and brown wheat fields, tall wind mills and green pine forests. But I avoided looking out the window and kept making small talk to my guide and the partner. I smiled at the videographer while Alex the minnow dozed off! I was like “OMG! Can I run away now?” But I smiled and looked at the altimeter. It was only half the journey. I looked down a little bit and smiled and looked back into the plane.

After a while, my tandem told me it was two minutes to go and he got hooked me up into his suit. The door opened…and I flew!

When I landed back I jumped for joy several times and called up everyone that I could, to tell them I had jumped from a plane!!!