A simple jump - almost a hop.

This is an experience people would describe with adjectives like stupendous, hair-raising, heart-stirring, and breathtaking. This would rank among the stupidest things people do.

What is it? A Jump? No. A jump from an airplane flying at 15,000 feet above ground. I did it yesterday, with a bunch of friends from work, and the verdict - anyone who has been on an aircraft must do this to know what it is like to get out of a plane - midair.

My colleague asked me I wanted to jump of out a plane. I said why not. 8 more people jumped in, some excited, some with self doubt and skeptism. On the D-Day, we were there at the skydiving company's place all set.

The things that the company makes you sign might make you wonder if jumping is really a sane thing to do. We are basically signing off saying the skydiving company assumes no responsibility for any death or injury, that we understand that it is risky and we will not sue the company. By signing it, we are pretty much handing over our lives to the instructor and the parachute. I haven’t trusted anyone with my life so much. Trust. Anything for adventure.

Anyway, we got dressed up. Felt like an astronaut getting ready for a mission. ;)


Or do my friend Karthik and I look more like F-16 pilots - without a helmet?

We flew on an old aircraft to a height of 15000 feet. While many were getting tensed going in that aircraft, thinking about the jump, watching the ground getting further away, I was engrossed looking at the cockpit. I was sitting very close to the pilot and knew I would not get a better look at a pilot in action. It was totally cool. The pilot was, unsurprisingly, the most bored person on the airplane. Must be strange for a pilot to have 15 people on take off and have just 1 on landing.

When the time came to jump, for one last time walking down the aisle towards the door - I thought - what stupidity - what the hell am I doing jumping out of a perfectly fine plane? If guys were to walk down the aisle at the time of their wedding, I am sure that’s exactly how they would feel - what stupidity - what the hell am I doing spoiling a perfectly fine life. Whatever. Before I had any chance to answer, I was out rushing towards earth at terminal velocity.



The hand you see reaching out to me is that of the photographer/cameraman recording my jump - both as a video and as a set of still photos. I was attached to a qualified instructor who pretty much did everything - push me out of the plane; guide me during freefall; release the parachute and direct the parachute to the landing spot.

Yes. That’s us flying like a bird with a nice long white tail. After 60 seconds of free fall, which was over in a flash, the parachute was released.

After that, it was more like a walk in the park. A nice glide down towards ground. The instructor did some twists and turns, flew over the nearby free way. But otherwise, it was more like an approach during landing; only more slow a better view and a little less comfortable. When it was time to land, that’s when I messed up a bit. I was supposed to lift my legs so that both my instructor and I can land sitting with the legs stretched and skid on the grass. Instead,

I dint lift my legs enough. So my foot hit the ground first, got caught at that spot, my body went ahead of my legs and my legs got caught under my body and then my foot went under the instructor., all folded.


Celebrating the fact that now I have n take offs and n-1 landings in an aircraft.


A word of advice - Go jump out of a freaking plane. You don’t need any reason for that. Just jump. You wont regret it.