Well boys and girls... I did it!... and despite my thinking I was going to die (big paranoia about jumping out just as a big gust of wind comes along, blows me up into the A/C wings, knocks me out causing me to plummet to earth and die!) it was absolutely A-mazing!!
The guy who was lucky enough to be strapped to me was an awesome dude called Olly who never gave me the chance to be worried about it from the second I met him. After we got the initial brief out of the way we got into our jumpsuits and harnesses. As soon as I put that on it felt good it was so tight that I was sure there was no way I could somehow wriggle my way out of it and leave Olly and our chute behind! After watching a few of the others land and all coming back to the waiting area completely high as a kite and buzzing on adrenalin I was happy(ish) that I was going to love it just as much.... only the actual thought of leaving the A/C still made me want to throw up right there and then.
Anyway it was soon time for us to go, all 7 of us squeezed into the A/C and headed off up to 15,000 ft. Apparently most airfields only jump at 12,000 ft as we are only legally allowed to be over 12,000 ft for 6 minutes unpressurised and their engines are simply not good enough to get them up there quickly enough. For the whole flight up there (approx 13 mins) Olly was totally amazing at making me feel as relaxed as I possibly could. He made me watch him clip us together and try to pull them apart, he had the leg straps pulled so tight I think the blood was struggling to circulate.... but I liked it. I felt safe.
Before I knew it we were there and the green light was given. The camera man was clinging to the side of the A/C and jumped at the same time as the first tandem. I watched him jump desperate to see how quickly he descended away from the A/C to put my mind at ease that I wasn't going to bang my head. Before I even had the chance to register in my head to start 'sh1tting myself' Olly had somehow moved us into the door and into position. I heard him yell 'arms up and elbows in tight' automatically I did as I was told and before I had the chance to think we were out.
I can not explain how amazing it was. I didn't scream, feel sick, anything. I was too busy thinking oh my god this rocks. I could barely open my mouth to breathe from the pressure from falling. For about 58 seconds we fell.... he had us spinning around, diving about all sorts and that 58 seconds actually felt like about 5 minutes. Then when he deployed the parachute within a second we were gently drifting down to earth and I was able to breathe and talk again. 'Oh my god, that was fooking amazing' were the first words to leave my mouth. Olly was fab, let me have a go at flying it, saying that he had to help me get my arms down to get us spinning as it takes some guns to do that. Then we gently landed perfectly next to the landing spot.
I spent the next few hours just as high as others before me had been ,enjoying the adrenalin rush and hugging Olly, thanking him for making the experience totally amazing.
All that is left is for me to thank you all again for your very kind donations and words of suuport. My online just giving page teamed with my sponsor forms have raised just shy of £450.
Thought you's would like to see the proof.
DT_Xtremez_14: