High Flyer

I was bought a tandem parachute jump as a present for my birthday from my wife last September. I was not sure if there was any malicious intent behind that, but to be fair to her I did say that I fancied trying it at some point. There was no shying away from it now. I would not say I am an adrenaline junky, but I do like to push myself outside of the comfort zone on occasion. Bungee jumping never appealed to me, but I have done Hand Gliding in America which was quite relaxing rather than exciting, but for some reason I really fancied the idea of jumping out of a plane. So we booked it for this August and 11 months of wait was almost over for 30 odd seconds of freefall at 140mph from 12,000ft and then 4 minutes of gliding on a parachute. It would all be over so soon.

I have to say that the day before I was a little anxious, but as my slot arrived on the Sunday morning I was excited and ready. With my family watching, including 2 little girls that wanted to come up with me (how I wish I had no fear like them) we loaded on to the plane and up we went.

The earth got smaller and for some reason we went to 14,000 ft and then it was time. Tuck your legs under, smile at the camera man that had climbed outside of the plane to then fly down and film us, and the you're off. For anyone that has not done a jump, I can only describe the second you give yourself up to the unnatural thing of tilting forward and falling out of the plane at such a height is nuts, terrifying and extremely exciting all rolled into one. Thereafter, it all happens so quickly and is unbelievably exhilarating. Plummeting to earth at such speed with a camera man flying almost right ahead of you is bizarre and then the impact of the parachute being launched, the immediate feeling of what you have just done and then the graceful, somewhat adventurous fall to land is definitely one of the best experiences I have ever had.

I would like to say that everyone at Skyline Parachuting (South Cerney Airfield) and in particular Hodgy (My Tandem Jumper) and Trevor (Photographer), were extremely professional, very nice people and made the whole experience extremely good fun.

Would I do as much jumping as these guys? Probably not, will I go again – definitely.

Ashley Keen, Senior Executive Consultant, Vector Resourcing, Wiltshire