Sunday, April 4, 2021

Skydiving - A lifetime experience (by Lily)

 Skydiving has always been something I’d like to try some day. 

Last year we did a lot of bird watching, watching the birds spread their wings gliding in the air only intensified my desire. As my birthday was looming close, I decided to treat myself with the adventure 😊 And my best friend Haibo decided to join me and signed up with me together. Allan graciously agreed to be our chauffer and photographer of the event.

On Saturday, we headed to Ennis where Dallas Tandem Skydiving resides in the early morning. The sun flirted with us for a few minutes then decided to hide away. We arrived early enough to go through all the paperwork and watch the service guy roll up the parachute and get the backpack ready. Weeks of anticipation was almost anti-climax, I stayed very calm.

before boarding for skydiving


boarding



A couple of groups went up and came down, then it’s our turn. Fully equipped with harness, we followed our instructors to cram in the tiny airplane. As we took off, we saw the airfield surrounded by green grass, bluebonnet flowers, and orange Texan paintbrush. While we were enjoying the view, our instructors methodically connected all the tethering between us. A steep climb pulled us to ~2 miles above ground, we could see a few clouds by the window. Without much warning the door by my side was lifted up, strong wind blew in. my instructor Imre lifted his left leg out, monitored the location for a while, then signaled me to move out. That was it! I dangled my legs out and waited. With my head up slowly and silently we were out of the airplane and started to fall. I felt the wind, I saw the green field and small lake spread in front of me, but I didn’t feel the speed, it was soft, gentle, almost floating. Then all of a sudden, a sharp jolt woke me up from the dreamy feeling, our parachute opened and our fall speed came to a halt. Imre removed my goggle, detached some tether, then he started to make a summersault by controlling the parachute, we went tumbling around. It was a lot of fun! Looking up I saw Haibo’s parachute opened up above us and soon she’s summersaulting too. I asked Imre to spin again but we only wiggled a few times. Soon he told me to lift up my legs and get ready to land. Looking down I saw Allan on the ground with camera in hand. I started to wave and lifted my legs at the same time. In no time, we were safe on the ground.


in the sky

get ready to jump
 
jump - I was required to lookup and put my head on instructor's shoulder

flying in the sky before the big parachute opened up


Flying in the sky!

Exciting!

It was such a fun experience! I’d love to do it again in a sunny day!


I jumped first, my friend a couple minutes later, she was above me

    
                                            

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