Carole & Gillian's Skydive Report

8.45 a.m.

We arrived at Strathallan airfield near Gleneagles after a hearty breakfast at our

B & B. The weather was not looking good so the instructors were in no rush to get organised. There was a safety window of wind speeds within which we could jump and at that time the wind was much too strong. It would be a case of waiting and hoping that the weather would improve.

9.20 a.m.

Those of us who were doing tandem jumps were called together for our training. Ten of us, 9 females and only 1 male, were hoping to do our jump that day. Our trainer took us through to a building that contained a full-size model of the body of the Cessna plane we would eventually jump from. It looked tiny! We all introduced ourselves to the group and were asked to stand on some scales to confirm our weight that we had given on our booking forms. Surprisingly most of the ladies seemed to think the scales were reading high!!!! We were shown the equipment we would use during the jump and assured of the high safety standards maintained by all the club members.

We would be kitted out with our jumpsuits and harnesses when called for our jump, complete all paper work then and would be attached to our partner in the plane just before the jump. To prepare for the jump our partner would sit at the door of the plane with us attached hanging out in front, arms crossed across our chest and head and feet arched back making the shaped of a banana. This seemed scary enough visualising this on the model plane on the ground let alone how it was going to feel like at 10000 feet. It was at this point I began to realise what I had let myself in for!

We were asked to practice our freefall position by lying on our tummy across a chair in our banana position, i.e. arms across our chests, head and shoulders back and legs raised. We could expect a tap on our shoulder from our partner to let us know when to spread our arms wide.

Once our chute was open and we were enjoying the view our partner may allow us to steer for a while or do a few twirls depending on how things were going. For the landing we were to hold our legs out ahead of us to allow our partner to control the landing on his feet or sliding on his bottom.

10.00 a.m.

Training complete. It was now just a case of waiting for the weather to improve. Met up with Ralph Davidson, originally from Halkirk, who I taught a few years ago. He seems hooked on skydiving spending most of his weekends at the club. It's a small world!

12.00 noon.

Still too windy. Other types of jumps were taking place so we watched a few. Gillian and I found a 1000 piece jigsaw lying in the waiting area so decided to start it to keep us occupied. There was a small sandwich bar providing soup and sandwiches if required. Announcements were made every 45 minutes or so to let us know the conditions were still unsafe. Some of the jumpers had gone off to Auchterarder or Perth to fill in the time.

3.00 p.m.

Jigsaw going well but beginning to think we may not get to jump at all today.

4.15 p.m.

My name and that of another lady were called to go through and get ready for our jumps. Both Gillian and I were disappointed that we were not going to jump at the same time. Fortunately for us one of her friends had gone off with the lady's medical form so she could not jump at that time and we managed to persuade the instructors to let Gillian take her place. Anyone over 40 must have a medical certificate from their doctor stating they are fit to jump.

We were kitted out with our jumpsuits, gloves, helmets, goggles and harnesses and went through to complete all the paperwork and payment for our jumps. We had paid £25 deposit each and now paid the balance of £175 each. We could have had our jump videoed for another £60. As we waited to be taken out to plane we met a young man who was there for the fourth time and had not yet had good enough weather to make his jump.

4.30 p.m.

We met our partners at the plane. My partner, Vernon, had just landed from a previous solo jump and was quickly kitted out to go straight up again. Gillian and I sat on the floor of the plane between our partners' legs and a solo jumper came up to 'spot', i.e. let us and the pilot know when we were in the correct position to make the jumps. To calm my nerves on the way up I asked questions about the jump. How high are we, how high when we jump, how fast will we be falling before the chute opens? The very large numbers in the answers didn't really steady my nerves!!! My stomach was feeling a bit queasy at this point.

4.45 p.m.

We should have jumped from 10000 feet but weather conditions were not perfect for this and we probably only reached 8500 feet - not that I could have known the difference. When the plane was in position for our jump we sat on our partners lap and our harnesses were attached. Vernon and I shuffled across to the open doorway after 'Good Luck' and thumbs up from Gillian and partner. For me, this was the scariest part of the day even though I think my mind was numb!!!!

I hung out of the doorway in front of Vernon for a few seconds before I felt his legs pull mine back and we toppled forward. I felt as if we somersaulted at least once before realising we were in the freefall position. I was just beginning to relax a little and was waiting for the tap on my shoulders to open my arms when I felt as if we had been jerked strongly upwards as the chute opened. In fact we were just slowing down very quickly as the chute opened. My stomach was struggling to cope with all these changes!!!

Once the chute was open and we slowed to steady fall I felt as if we were just suspended in midair. Vernon pointed out the various landmarks we could see. He thought visibility that day was about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. We practiced the position for landing a couple of times. Although Gillian and partner jumped after us, they were already below us when I looked for them. They were showing off with twirls and Vernon suggested we might try some. By now I realised it would be an achievement to keep my stomach contents inside me until I landed and I asked for as straightforward a descent as possible and definitely no twirls!!!

We watched Gillian's landing which was a bit of a tumble. Serves them right for showing off! We were both determined to make a better landing and we managed to stay on our feet as the helpers on the ground grabbed our chute and us. Relief was my main emotion at this point!!!

4.50 p.m.

We helped our partners with our chutes back to the training area, removed and returned all our equipment and chatted about our experience with our partners as they wrote out our certificates.

5.05 p.m.

This rest of the group were anxious to hear how it had gone and if we had enjoyed it. I am not sure I enjoyed it but I did and still do feel a great sense of achievement, both for doing the jump and avoiding covering my partner in vomit!!! It is only now, two months later that I can look at a banana without thinking about the jump! Gillian enjoyed the jump and is thinking about doing another sometime.

Jumping was suspended again because of the weather once we landed so we were extremely lucky to get our jump in, and together, on that day.

Although we were jumping because it was something we both wanted to try, we decided to raise some money for charity at the same time thinking of friends and family who have been affected by cancer and heart disease. Cheques for £325 each have been passed on to Macmillan Nurses and British Heart Foundation. A big THANK YOU to all who sponsored us.

If any of you reading this were thinking of doing a jump - my advice would be to GO FOR IT!!!!!!

Carole Cameron - 23/11/04