Why I Regret Jumping Out Of A Perfectly Good Airplane

In 1999, I was employed as the Executive Assistant at the local Council in the town of Batchelor, Northern Territory. One of my duties was to liaise with local clubs when they requested assistance from the Council.

One of these clubs, Darwin Parachute Club, holds an annual week long Skydiving event, whereby experienced skydivers would attend from all over Australia. For this event, a larger airplane would be brought in and jumps would be conducted from a higher altitude.

The Darwin Parachute Club would approach Council and request some equipment hire, chairs, tables etc, for the event.

As I was the official contact person in 1999, I was offered a tandem skydive, jumping from the extra height of 16,000 feet. I was delighted to take up the offer.

On the day, I was given the basic knowledge needed for the tandem jump, met my experienced tandem instructor and completed the necessary paperwork required.

I was surprised at some of the questions asked. For example, I was asked if I had any cold or flu symptoms. I thought this a very odd question at the time but there was a reason for this question. Bear with me and I’ll explain that reasoning.

I thought I would be scared or nervous on the day but all I felt was excitement.

Once we were fitted with the necessary equipment, we were loaded into the plane and proceeded to takeoff. After some time, my tandem instructor asked me if I was scared and again I could say no — that was until I heard my instructor say the following words :

“We are currently at 5,000 feet and it is at this height that I will pull our parachute.”

Oh boy, we were up so high and I had been thinking that we must be close to jump height and my instructor is telling me we are not even half way up — we were at 5,000 feet and still had another 11,000 feet until jump height.

Okay now I was terrified but there was no changing my mind!

Once we gained jump height, my instructor and I edged towards the jump door. It had been explained to me that we would jump facing forward from the airplane and do a somersault as we left the doorway.

Time to jump and as we dived out, into the forewarned somersault, both my ear drums burst and I passed out.

It would have only been seconds that I passed out and when I come to again, we were free falling.

We were free falling for 9,000 feet in 60 seconds and all I can remember is how much pain I was in and that I was unable to breathe. I had my mouth as wide open as possible, in an attempt to inhale air, but we were falling so fast that the air was rushing straight past my mouth and I was not able to draw a breathe.

It was terrifying and cold, very cold at that height.

At 5,000 feet my instructor pulled the parachute and we slowed very quickly. It then felt like we had all the time in the world.

My instructor told me to place my feet on his feet and stand. This allowed some slack in the harness and he was able to adjust it so we were both comfortable. Hard to believe that we had time to do this.

If it wasn’t for the pain, this part of the skydive would have been amazing. I could see Darwin Harbour, which was 100 kilometres away. It took 5 minutes until we were landing but that is a long time when you are up there and the views were astounding.

We landed easily and my instructor unhooked the harness and parachute.

I was free and all I wanted to do was go home. I was in excruciating pain but putting on a brave face.

My instructor asked me if I was okay and did I enjoy it. I did not let on. Instead I told him it was amazing but I had to leave as I was running late for an appointment.

As I got into my car and reversed out, I burst into tears. The pain of my two burst ear drums was unbearable.

Why did this happen, I hear you ask?

Remember the question asking if I had cold or flu symptoms? Well I answered honestly by saying no.

What I did not take into consideration was the fact that I have never been able to breathe through my nose, as my nasal passages were too small. I’ve always had to breathe through my mouth but because I have done this all my life, I did not consider the impact and pressure on my sinus and ear canals when jumping out of a plane at 16,000 feet.

I learnt my lesson in the hardest, excruciatingly painful way possible but this experience did teach me that I would have a similar issue if I ever tried scuba diving. If I tried scuba diving my ear drums would implode.

So after this experience, scuba diving was quickly removed from my bucket list!

**********************************************************************

If you liked my writing, please click on the small heart underneath, near my name. Or send me a tip and let me know you enjoyed it.

****

Please click the link below my name to read more of my work. I would also like to thank you for taking the time to read this today and for all your support.

If you enjoy this piece, you may enjoy this one too.

Originally posted on Medium