Last week, I had the opportunity to do one of the coolest and craziest things I might ever do in a lifetime. I boarded a place, and instead of walking out when the plane touched ground, I jumped out of the plane from 400 meters in the air, slowly making my way down to earth with the help of a parachute above my head, until finally making contact with the ground, landing safely and soundly.
There is a lot I can talk about, but I think it’s best to describe what the experience was like and how it feels, mainly because it is something that many people will not get to experience in their lives.
After a week and a half course preparing us for the jump, I was taken along with the other soldier in my group to an Air Force base in the south called Nevatim. From there, we exited the bus, got all of our gear in order, and organized everything in a line where the gear would stay until it was our time to start getting ready.
For the first jump, there were four things we had to get in order: the main parachute, the reserve parachute, our helmet, and the bag that carry’s them both, which will end
up going between our legs during the jump.
*reserve parachute on the left, main parachute in the middle, carrying bag on the right, and helmet flipped upside down
When the time comes, we all start buckling up and placing all the gear on us. This stage, as you might imagine, is pretty important. We need to make sure everything is tight, fits properly, and that nothing will come undone during the jump. As a result, when we finish helping one another, one of the instructors needs to check us before we sit down and wait. Furthermore, we need to make sure we don’t pull the yellow strap or the red handle, because if done, the parachute comes out while on the ground, which is a waste and means it needs to be replaced.
*buckled and checked by the instructors, waiting to head towards the plane
After sitting and waiting, the instructors then get us on our feet and start leading us to the plane. At this point, the butterflies start to kick in. It is only then that I realized I am actually going to be jumping, as I’m slowly approaching the back of a loud and roaring plane.
*heading towards and boarding the plane
After entering the plane, we sit squished together with barely any room to move. We buckle our seatbelts, which seems like an odd safety precaution considering the act we are about to do, hold tight, and get ready for takeoff. As the plane starts to move, every soldier, packed together like wolves, looks around with utter shock. There is this feeling in the air of “holy s*** we’re actually about to be doing this.” The plane moves faster and faster, and all of a sudden we are off the ground zooming into the atmosphere. One small glance behind me and I take a peek out the window, not believing that I will jump at this altitude, and in fact even higher since we were continuing to ascend.
Once we reached a steady altitude, a bell rings and we can unfasten our seatbelts. At this moment, the instructors get up and start attaching the clips of the yellow rope to the cable. To explain how the parachute itself opens, this is the crucial part. The parachute, which is attached to our back, will open when the yellow rope pulls it open. Therefore, since the yellow rope is attached to a cable on the plane, when we jump, the rope gets undone and opens the parachute, leaving the yellow rope still attached to the cable. And yes, if there was to be a problem, which thankfully there wasn’t with anyone, we have a reserve parachute on our stomach, which opens with the pull of the red handle.
*if you want to see how the parachute opens, check out this video from 3:25-3:45. And in fact, this video is roughly how our process looked as well.
When the plane nears the airspace of the area we are jumping, the instructor screamed at the first ten people on each slide of the plane to stand up and be ready in a line. One thing to keep in mind is that the plane is loud, and the only way to hear one another is through shouting. The first ten people on my side were up, and looking from a distance, I started to see them jump one by one as we entered the proper area. Once we leave the “jumping zone”, a bell is rung on the plane and anyone standing who didn’t jump needs to wait for the next round. The pilot then makes a circle and comes back a few minutes later, as the next group of ten stands up and gets ready.
I was lucky to be in the fourth group, and not only that, but I had the honor of being first. Usually being first doesn’t mean much, but in this case it means everything. The moment we enter the “jumping zone”, a light on the plane turns green, and the instructor slaps the back of the first person and yells “קפוץ”, translating to “jump.” After the first person jumps, the person behind quickly inches up to the door, and within a second receive the same slap and command from the instructor. This all means that if someone isn’t first, they are simply standing in line knowing that they are about to jump, but not being able to see the outside yet, since they are behind.
Since I was first in my group of ten, this meant that with the plane door wide open, my hand placed on the exterior of the plane, and my foot on the edge with my toes sticking over, I was waiting for about 30 second (for what felt like an eternity) for the light to turn green and my time to jump. The wind was blowing in my face, and all I can think about was how high I was and how far the ground looked from my eyes.
All of a sudden, within a second, the light turned green, I received the command, and I jumped…
This is where I felt like Nemo. If you remember from the movie, Nemo gets flushed down the drain and after being in a whirlwind, Nemo eventually ends up in the ocean where everything is calm.
Immediately after jumping from the plane, the wind took me and swirled me around. It takes a few second for the parachute to open, and during this time, if you can imagine it, I felt as if I myself was being flushed down a toilet.
*this is what the parachute looks like immediately after jumping. You can even notice the soldiers are sideways.
After a few seconds of feeling as if you’re being flushed down a toilet, the parachute opens and all you can hear is silence. It’s just you, a parachute and the open sky. At this moment I was in utter awe. I knew the parachute was working due to the speed I was traveling, and all I can think about was how crazy awesome it was to be this high off the ground, not on a plane. It was a moment that only lasted a minute, and one that I wish I could have taken a picture of because it isn’t something so easy to describe in words.
*a picture of a bunch of us having jumped out of the plane and how it looks
After one minute of falling, I eventually touched ground and had to fall in the specific way we were taught, in order to not injure myself. On the ground, we fold up our parachute, pack it into the carrying bag, and haul it over to the checkpoint where we’d be packing the bus to go back to base.
*this is how the parachute looks on the ground, before I fold it up. Detaching it from these bushes wasn’t fun.
After arriving at the checkpoint, we all share laughs and stories from our jumps, talking about what we were looking at and what we were thinking about in the air. From there, we went on to do another jump the following day at the same location, and then we did our third jump at Palmachim beach during the night, where I was able to see the center of Israel, including Tel Aviv, lit up in the night from the skies. In all, this was an experience that was worth it all, and one I will definitely never be able to forget.
*a nice video where you’ll be able to see the jump from start to finish
Loved reading this
Amazing. So very proud of you
I’m one proud aunt. ❤️