'You are going to jump out of a plane?’ Bharathi’s aunt asked her in a tone of disbelief. ‘I wouldn’t jump of a chair!’ She always knew that Bharathi was crazy, but this was beyond her wildest expectations. Imagine someone voluntarily doing that, and paying good money for it too!
My brother, the fighter pilot, also had strong opinions about jumping out of planes. ‘You do it only in an emergency.’ He patiently explained to me. ‘To save your ass when the plane is on fire or something. To jump out of a perfectly fine and functioning plane is a sign of complete idiocy. Get your thrills from inside the plane and not out of it.’
But we would not be shifted from our position. We are idiots. We want thrills. We have jumped from a high platform with a rope tied around our ankles. And once you have done that, to jump from a plane is just the next step.
So here we were, in New Zealand, the adventure capital of the world, driving to the airfield. When we got there, they furrowed their brows a bit looking at the fat gent who wanted to jump, but I suppose business must have been bit slack, and they decided that [(Ketan + Bharathi)/ 2 = 2 normal weight people]. So they quickly showed us the video and suited us up in the jumpsuits, introduced us to the instructor and bundled us into a cute little plane the size of a car. And Zoom, we were off.
The instructor tied our harnesses together, and told me ‘Don’t worry mate...wherever we go, we go together’. We were jumping from 13000 feet- that's about 4 kilometres high. And that's pretty high.
Doing a bungee jump is actually more scary than a parachute jump. You have to do it all alone. You have to cold bloodedly walk to the edge of a platform, look down onto the panorama below....trees looking like bushes, people looking like insects, wonder why you are doing something so stupid (to quote Dilbert ‘Hi. I’d like to expose myself to avoidable danger’ ) and then jump from zero velocity.
Comparatively a parachute jump is easier....partly because I had done bungee before, but mainly because the instructor makes the decision for you. We reached jump altitude and the instructor told me ‘the outside air temperature would be below zero degree Celcius. So might be a bit cold.’ Very reassuring. Then the door of that little plane slides open and you could see the countryside below. My blood was really pumping, and perhaps because of that I didn’t feel too cold.
‘OK mate’ the instructor said ‘Now we will slide to the door, and I will hang you outside the plane. Smile for the wing camera, and then put your hands on your shoulders, and fold your legs back. After we jump, I will tap you on the shoulder and you can then let your hands loose. OK?’
I nodded, and when I looked at the door, Bharathi’s instructor grabbed her and threw her out of the plane!
Whoops, now its my turn! Before I knew it, I was hanging precariously out of the door of a plane flying 4 kilometers above the ground. I gave a fatuous smile to the camera and then we jumped!
AAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
That free fall was the MOST AWESOME EXPERIENCE IN THE WORLD! Falling falling falling, the scream of the wind in your ears, the air almost pushing at you asking you are hanging over a gigantic fan, the terror balancing the ecstasy and the thrill, the feeling of your throat going sore with screaming your guts out, the sight of sky, the seashore, the mountains and the earth wearing her green mantle. It was really transient – just a few seconds – but it also seemed to last forever.
Then the parachute opens, and the experience changes completely. The opening gives you a violent spin, and your inner ear curses you deeply, but after that you are floating down like thistledown. Suddenly its very quiet, except of the creaking of the parachute strings. If you just go parasailing, it would be the most exciting experience in your life, but after the sheer adrenaline rush of the jump this feels like a gentle retirement.
The instructor points out the Abel Tasman national park, Nelson city, mountains and the sight of Bharathi’s parachute floating down below. Maybe he feels that I might be getting bored, so yanks the parachute around, making it yaw around alarmingly and guides it to land right at the point at which we took off from.
Since I am big and fat, we do a butt landing instead of a foot landing, and here we are – back on terra firma. Ah. What a rush.
We were both high on adrenaline and disoriented, so staggered around and giggled like school girls for a while, until we calmed down a bit. I could hardly speak, as I was hoarse from all that screaming.
What fun.
http://www.everythingnewzealand.co.nz/abel-tasman/adventure/skydive-abel-tasman.abel-tasman/
I can hardly wait to do it again, from a higher height next time. 16500 ft, here I come.
