Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Sometimes you have to meet your greatest fears head on. Well, in this case it was feet first. Jumping out of an airplane at 12,000 feet to celebrate my birthday recently, hoping it wouldn’t be my last. There are only two skydiving clubs in Israel.
I chose to jump at Habonim Beach just outside of Haifa.nThe instructional video they show you is supposed to calm your fears if you’re a first timer. Did it? I’m sure you can guess. At least it gave me some idea of how to maneuver my body while shooting through the sky at 120 miles per hour. I jumped tandem – attached to my instructor Ilan. He says that for him, jumping is like washing the dishes– he’s been doing it numerous times a day for the past ten years. I remember hoping that he’s not used to breaking any dishes.
We boarded a Cesna Caravan and glided into the sky. There was a group of IDF paratroopers on my flight preparing to be certified as instructors. They looked cool like I hoped a paratrooper would be, but I wasn’t quite as battle ready. We reached our maximum altitude and walked gingerly to the ledge of the open plane. A bird’s eye view of half the country spread before us. That moment right before the jump was definitely the scariest – and there really was no going back. The only way home was straight down.
Then we took the plunge. The wind was burning my face – it felt like I was floating, though in actuality, I was plummeting at 120 miles per hour, slicing through the air. The free fall lasted for fifty seconds – I could barely breathe. Was it fear, excitement, or the thin amount of oxygen at this altitude? Probably all three!
Then the main parachute flew open and we hovered through the atmosphere for about eight minutes. I cried the whole way down… Excitement, relief, the joy of flying, who knows? It was definitely one of the most emotional experiences of my lifetime. When I made it back to earth, I looked back at the heavens and thanked them for getting me down safely – and wondered when I could do it again.
- Taking A Flying Leap: Skydiving over Israel - 7/15/2009
- Reporting From the Gaza Border - 1/7/2009
- Operation Cast Lead: Going Into Gaza - 1/4/2009
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Hey, looks like you had an awesome jump !! Where do I make an appointment to go skydiving?
I love the look on the instructor’s face. Very zen master.
Great read…. Thanks for sharing.
Congrats. I have 15 jumps myself, even though my jumps are a very different type of experience.
I wish you were one of my paratroopers. You would be our hottest one 🙂
HIgh compliments.
Right.
Never mind what I said, Leah. Muffti would like to discuss your cleavage.
Ignore Muffti???
what kind of terrible advice is that, middle?
Ignore Muffti! Nice post! That looked like a ton of fun.
I live next to Habonim and I must, no I MUST recommend the paragliding lessons. Paradiving looks like a one-night-stand against paragliding!
Also, take flight school classes in Herzliyya. It is a small area there, but you learn a lot about Cessna 140 stalling behavior, because all the teachers there have the habit to put the motor on minimum just when you think you v=can fly the plane back home.
OK, busted, Muffti was kinda checking out L’s cleavage during the video.
Nicely done. Sky diving is Muffti’s wanted to do for a long time.