Flying without wings
Originally uploaded by mark&june
As you can see from the photo, I did it!
I wasn't expecting to go sky-diving until tomorrow, but we got back to Taupo a bit earlier than planned and the sun was shining, so I thought I might as well go for it!
We went along to Taupo airport and I was given a quick briefing before being suited up. The plane took about 20 minutes to reach 12,000 feet, and before I knew it I was sitting at the edge of the plane about to fall to earth.
Luckily I wasn't on my own, as a Swedish guy called Patrik was strapped to my back. We were in free-fall for 45 seconds, and the experience was awesome : the wind was rushing past me, the G-forces were pretty strong, and the ground seemed to be coming up to meet me pretty quickly. I was shouting and laughing with sheer joy - it was incredible!
We plummeted 7,000 feet before Patrik opened the 'chute and we floated slowly to earth. Patrik let me operate the "controls" for a while, and we had great fun spinning down in circles.
It wasn't at all scary and I would recommend it to everyone! Absolutely one of the best experiences of the trip (and my life) so far!
There's a few more photos over on Flickr, and hopefully I'll manage to put the video up soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment