At about 10 o’clock on Monday morning, ten of us piled into two cars and drove for an hour and a half towards Calverton. The plan was to turn up for out 12 o’clock booking, get some quick training, throw on some harnesses, and jump out of a plane.
At Skydive Long Island, you get thrown into a plane with up to five other jumpers, flown to 13,500ft above ground level (about two and a half miles high). The idea is to then shuffle towards the door attached to the front of an experienced skydiver, jump out of the (perfectly safe) plane, plummet towards the earth for a minute at 120mph before the parachute opens and allows you to soar down to earth for the next half a mile height.
However when we got there, there was already a back-log of people who had been waiting to jump all morning. It had been cloudy in the morning, so people were being made to wait a while before they could jump. We weren’t bothered by this fact, as the wait was currently only about an hour and most of us needed to get our heads straight before climbing into the planes anyway.
We signed disclaimer forms to agree with the obvious risks (death etc) that are associated with such a stupid sport, and watched a brief training video on what to do once we got airborne. The beauty of tandem free-falling is that it requires very little training whatsoever, as all you need to remember to do is stick your arms and legs out once you’re clear of the plane.
Four hours later, it was finally our turn to board the planes. As there were nine of us jumping, we split into three groups of three. First up was Dave, Natalie and Steph. They were taken to one side, and strapped into their harnesses. Twenty minutes later and they were all back on the ground again, grinning like Cheshire cats and wanting to jump again.
Cam, John (one of our managers) and I were in the last plane to go. We were strapped into our harnesses along with the second plane-load so that we could go straight up after they came down. We waited and watched as Irene, Min Ji and Kirsty did their jump, and before I knew it, it was our turn.
We each climbed into the little plane one by one behind our instructors, before sitting down in the plane along a couple of benches. I was the last in out of us, followed only by three individual divers. I wasn’t nervous until I actually boarded the plane - that was when my heart started pumping harder and faster than before. The plane started its engine, took off and quickly climbed to 13,500ft. The journey up into the heavens was quicker than I thought it would have been, as the whole way up my time was taken up with being strapped tightly to the front of my instructor, Ben. You get attached to your pro by four clips – two on the shoulders and two on the hips. Once I was securely clipped onto Ben, he tightened all of my straps so that there was no way I could fall out of the harness when the ‘chute opened.
As the plane levelled out and one of the solo divers opened the door, I really began to wonder what the hell I was doing. The three guys in front of me all shook hands and clunked knuckles before diving out into nothingness. Then Ben shifted us along the floor and towards the door so that we could follow suit.
I stuck my legs out of the door, immediately getting them blown to one side by the speed we were flying at. I held onto my harness as instructed (so that you aren’t tempted to grab the door), tucked my legs under the fuselage, and got rocked back and forth once before plummeting out the door.
Videos don’t do the situation any justice. In the couple of seconds that it took for me to accelerate to terminal velocity (about 120mph) all of my internal organs felt like they were rising up inside me. I screamed my lungs out with excitement as we fell quicker and quicker. The air rushed past me so fast that I could hardly hear myself screaming. I was getting a rush a hundred times better than any roller coaster could ever give.
Less than a minute later, the parachute opened and we slowed down to about 14mph. We whooped and cheered, and then glided back down to earth at a speed that felt like a snail’s pace compared to what I’d just experienced.
The whole experience from sitting on the edge of the plane door to hitting the ground took about six minutes, but feels more like 30 seconds in my head.
I would do it again at the drop of a hat.
ps. I'll post more photos (and a video) as and when I get them.
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