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Published: April 29th 2015
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I was at the edge of the plane. I looked down and could see our planet, around 14000 feet down below. It was time for me to jump and feel the force of gravity, yet again in my life.
This was the moment that I had been waiting for, for such a long time. I never intended to wait for so long. However, with me having no money, to skydiving companies facing legal problems, to my bookings getting cancelled due to bad weather; something or the other had always prevented me from doing this.
Earlier in the day, I had woken up at six and had some fruits for breakfast. I then took the Path train to get to the 33rd street and the subway to get to the 42nd street of New York City. I then walked up to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It was over there, that I bought my ticket and got in line for my bus to Clinton, New Jersey.
The bus ride was smooth and in a little more than an hour I reached Clinton. I then took a cab, that dropped me off at Skydive
Jersey.
Someone from the company came to pick me up in a golf car. There were three waiver forms that I had to fill up. Given the level of risk involved, skydiving companies always ensure that they are covered in case of any problems. It's also important for them to make the clients aware of the risk.
After waiting around for a while, I was called to get harnessed up. I was also given some basic instructions. My body-position had to change with the change in the altitude. Initially, my hands had to be close to my shoulders. Then, with a decrease in the elevation, my instructor was supposed to tap me on my shoulders, which would be a signal for me, to let go and spread my arms out in a 90 degree fashion. This would provide some resistance and bring down the acceleration. My legs were supposed to be behind, the whole time. My instructor said 'Always remember, your feet to my ass'.
We boarded the plane. The engines started whirring and soon it got really loud inside the plane.
We took off.
Within a while, we were at 4000 feet. There was one instructor who was jumping solo. He asked me, referring to my instructor 'Hey, do you trust this guy?'. I replied 'yes, I think so'. He jokingly said, 'Really? I have never seen him before in my life. Hope he hasn't forgotten to pack his parachute'.
I realised that it was so loud inside the plane, that I had to shout in order to make myself heard.
Once we had covered more than half of the distance, my instructor asked me to sit on his legs, so that, he could attached my harness to his. I looked outside and could see all the fields, the houses and the waters; pretty much the same view that one gets to see, while flying on a commercial plane.
The plane began to slow down a bit. I was asked to put on my goggles. We were close.
When the door of the plane was opened; and all that wind, just came gushing in; that's when I knew it was for real. The instructor, jumping solo, crawled over my legs and simply
jumped off the plane. He was immediately pulled down and disappeared within a second.
It was time. I put my legs outside the plane. My instructor said, 'okay, ready, go!'.
And then we jumped.
We did some sort of a somersault, immediately after leaving the plane. I was free falling under gravity. The wind was hitting my face with extreme intensity. My mind wasn't able to comprehend much, but I remembered to bring my legs up and bring my body in the arch position as I had been told. I started to shout immediately. Strangely enough, because of the wind, I wasn't able to even hear myself. My instructor tapped me on the shoulder and gave me the thumbs up. I then spread my hands out. We were accelerating really fast. I could see the fields down below and could feel myself moving closer to them, with the only resistance being provided by the air. Our speed was more than 100 miles/hour. It wasn't easy to breathe with all that wind hitting me in the face; but still, I closed my mouth and made a concious effort to breathe in air,
through my nose.
After several seconds, my instructor pulled the cord and the parachute inflated. We decelerated smoothly. That is when I was able to hear myself again and talk about what happened.
We were now coming down at a slow pace. The adrenaline rush was over and now it was time to relax and enjoy the view. The sky was pretty clear where we were, but I could look far ahead of me and see clouds. I looked down and see all the houses, smaller than the size of match boxes.
There was some comfort in the emptiness of the air. The ground wasn't under my feet, but the world was beneath my eyes. It made me forget everything. I wish I could have frozen that moment and lived in it forever. This was one of those things that you build up in your head and every time you think about it, you can only imagine what it would be like. And then, when it really happens to you, you realise that the reality is not like anything that you had imagined-it's much more beautiful.
We did
several twists and turns in the air. A few minutes later I spotted our shadow on the ground. We were really close. We had a smooth landing and I was back on earth.
I had imagined that there would be a part of me that would be sad after skydiving; since there would be one less thing to look forward to in life.
However, I must say that there's another part of me, which is happier and more content, that I was able to have such a wonderful experience, something that is going to be with me for the rest of my life. Something that I am going to do again.
Experiences like these, make one realise, that life has so much to offer. All that you have to do, is step out and explore.
Next stop - solo skydiving.
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Priyanka
non-member comment
Awesome!!
Are you kidding?!?! Flying solo?? Don't you need good training for that? So how much did you pay in total?