Sky is not the Limit, Ground is the limit | My 1st Skydiving Experience

"Once you have tasted skies, 
You will forever walk the earth 
with your eyes turned skyward, 
for there you have been, and there
you will always want to return."
- Leonardo da Vinci

This blog is quite different from my usual blogs and it is going to be a thrilling blog. Skydiving was a thought that struck my mind casually when I was browsing the YouTube videos as I went more into skydiving videos, I decided I am going to do it for sure, then some google look ups and discussions with my friends, I finally decided I am going to do Skydiving. 

Living alone for more than 13 years already made me quite adventurous and people who know me well understands that I live by the principle, "Get out of comfort zone" and "Live a fearless life" I have firmly believed in the thought Life is too short to not do things, because you are frightened something bad can happen. This blog is to inspire people to do the same and make life more interesting and adventurous. Here is the story of my Skydive jump at Paraclub, Namur, Belgium.

The idea starts. 

After having a confirmation from Paraclub, Namur to do a tandem jump, I got super nervous and super excited, a week later I found myself in Train to Namur, Belgium from where my friend took me to the Airfield. On our way we both were very excited though my friend who is also a pilot looked at skies and said weather does not look promising and indeed his knowledge about flying proved correct I was told that Skydiving can not happen today due to bad weather and I was rescheduled to another day on Aug 15th, 2020. I was little disappointed but it was fine as in the words of my friend, "air-sport is all about Wait and Hope."

2nd Time Arrival. 

Arriving at the Paraclub my heart already started pounding faster with excitement & nervousness! especially because I had no idea what to expect. I soon met my contact person, a nice friendly lady who showed me an online form that I had to complete. I put on my skydive outfit (a beautiful blue dress, which made me look like Nasa Astronaut) and then explored the club a little, its a beautiful airfield with other planes also keep on flying and landing. There was a nice helicopter training center as well, I was very thrilled. 

The Club. 

I soon discovered that they organize a lot of jumps in one day (if the weather permits). Their Plane was arriving and departing like every 20 minutes. It was amazing to see all the instructors and video people arriving back and preparing their parachutes again for the next jump. They handled it with such ease! But I’m sure it ain’t that simple and required high efficient execution.

Instruction Time

This was the time to put the Harness and listen to the instructions very carefully. I was glad Davio (my instructor) told me the harness would be much tighter up in the air, because now it seemed as if I could loose it😅😅. 

While Davio put the Harness  the video-man was already filming the session I was totally unaware this is going to come in my video. 

Davio was an enthusiastic funny guy, full of life, always in for a laugh. But also very experienced and professional. He was good to make me at ease, I was very happy after meeting Davio.

All Aboard !

It was time to go outside and board the plane, I was the only Tandem Jump in the plane additionally there were 3 solo jumpers and my video-man. On the plane we were sitting in 1 row and one column so its was like L shape sitting pattern to ease jump. My instructor behind me preparing the harness, talking to me about the nice views and that we would become best friends after our landing. Then Davio became a bit more serious explaining what to do once more while exiting the plane. When he tightened the harness I understood why they wait until the last moment. It was tight as if I was welded to Davio's harness. Before the plane door opened everyone shook hands and then the moment of truth was there, we were jumping😄. 

The Jump

The Plane door opened and chilled air filled the airplane. Davio told me to breath in and out to get used to the cold air. In front of me I saw all the solo skydivers jumping out of the plane as if it were nothing to jump out of plane. It looked as if they dived into a pool. Some by themselves, others holding each other’s hands. I was a little nervous not knowing how it would feel once falling out of the plane. But I didn’t feel scared at all. Not a single emotion of fear went through my mind. Which I thought was so weird knowing it’s not normal to jump out of a plane at a height of 4 kilometers and at a spead of approx 300 km/hour!

I was pushed to the door and without hesitating I put my legs outside underneath the plane, hanging out of the plane while Davio was sitting on the edge telling me to look into the camera. I crossed my arms in front of my chest like instructed, saw videoman disappearing into the depth and then we were take-down!

Freefall and Air Drag! 

Magic happens when adventure begins! first it seemed as if we were flying/floating and then the wind started to blow really heavy along my ears and I could feel some pressure. We were definitely falling straight down at 300 km/hour! Not the most comfortable feeling, but all I could do was thinking “this is awesome!” and smiling at the camera and video man in front of me. Davio tapped my shoulder twice meaning I need spread my arms in skydive position.

Davio made us spin 2/3 rounds in the air and then he check his altimeter to make sure he would open the parachute in time. Some say those 50 seconds you’re falling down seem endless. I thought they were over too fast (except my ears and eyes, they didn’t like it that much). The parachute opened soon after falling about 2.5 kilometers towards the ground.

Parachute

And then Newton's 3rd law experience comes, you get sucked back up into the sky, the gravitational acceleration of falling towards earth breaks due to increased Air Drag; that moment of going up in the air as soon as parachute opens was amazing and I could really feel the force of the wind that blows into the parachute. Awesome feeling and experience while my legs hang in the air because of the shock. And then I was floating on air… and I realized how high I am actually, I could barely see anything below.

The sight and silence were amazing. It’s so peaceful up there. Then on my way down to ground, I could see the woods with the trees turning into different colors due to fall. A view I will never forget.

Davio was awesome and even let me steer the parachute for a while (that was another thrilling moment). At a certain point Davio steered the parachute left and right, which made us turn around horizontally, making Air-Stunts which made me scream of excitement. This was too much fun! I love it.

Landing

Then my instructor told me once again how to hold my legs while landing failing to position legs in correct position will result in no circumstance to break my legs. So approaching the ground I did what I was told and landed smoothly on my hips. All I could say was “This was amazing! I want to do it again!” I was super hyped, adrenaline still rushing through my blood.

Conclusion

Skydiving is an amazing sport having said that it is definitely not for people who have blood pressure issues or psychological issues with heights; after landing my instructor Davio told me how in his 25+ years of Para-Jumping experience, he has seen people getting faint, vomiting and going insane 4 kms above the ground. Also this is an extremely expensive sport nevertheless Skydiving is also a great fun and thrill its worth the price and experience. I strongly recommend Paraclub, Namur if you are looking for sky dive experience. Wish you a great fun and happiness in life and if you are planning to go Skydiving remember the tagline of Paraclub, Namur, 'Sky is not the limit, Ground is the limit'

Check out my Skydiving video via a click on below links: 

Video of Jump Parachute 

Video of Landing

न चोरहार्यं न च राजहार्यंन   भ्रातृभाज्यं न च भारकारी ।  व्यये कृते वर्धते एव नित्यं विद्याधनं सर्वधन प्रधानम् 

Neither it can be stolen not it can be divided knowledge  gets multiplied when shared

Cheers! 

Nishant