“Man’s small, why fall, sky’s call, that’s all”
When there is sky’s call, the man cannot resist the stimulus and the two adventure enthusiast from Mysore city embark for the sky diving course which is such a enthrallment that one gets carried away says Mr.D.S.D Solanki , An Ardent Adventure Enthusiast of Mysore.
The tenth sky diving course was organised by Indian Parachute federation, New Delhi in Dessa Air Port, near Palampur, Gujarat from Feb 22 to Feb 27, 2011 the five day course take you through various session of sky diving.
It
was Feb. 21, 2011 when we left Mysore by bus to Bangalore in the early hours
and boarded a flight to Ahmedabad and after spending a day in Ahmedabad seeing
the Best Road transit system, we had all appreciation for Gujarat govt, and one
time we wished even Bangalore should also follow the same traffic system to get
out of the clogging traffic system.
Destination
Dessa:
Next
day morning we visited Akshardham temple and later drove in a taxi to Dessa
Airport which is 180 kms from Ahmedabad airport we cruise somewhere between 100
to 120kms speed to reach the destination in less than two hours.
On
reaching the Hotel Deepak residency we enquired about the Sky Diving Course mate and the schedule, we were told that we had
missed the inaugural session in the morning but nevertheless we didn’t missed
much he said and asked us to attend after noon session, which started at 3.30pm
to culminate at around 7.30pm and fours passed we didn’t realise the time
itself that interesting the classes were conducted that too in Hindi by the
Jump Master Mr.Surya Prakash of Indian Parachute federation says Mr. D S D
Solanki, an adventure enthusiast of the city.
There
were about fifteen participants in the course as the course was conducted by
the ex-serviceman so there was little bit of military obedience in the program,
after the culmination of the classes we interacted with other participants who
had come different states like, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, J & K, Jharkhand,
Karnataka, New Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
It
was dinner time and the table arranged to the occasion in the same fashion that
is arranged in any of the military officers mess and the people coming in the
hall reminded me of my attachment course days in Pune says Mr.Solanki D S D,
with yummy Guajarati food served in the menu it was lingering taste which will
remain etched in our life time says Mr.Raza of Jharkhand.
The
days schedule culminated with scheduled being briefed for the following day and
we all retired to bed.
Day-2 :Physical Endurance :
It
was Feb. 23 we woke up at 5am to address our physical challenge and got ready
in P.T attire to get along with the schedule we walked, jogged and did some
Para Landing falls (PLF) at the Dessa airport to get acquainted with the sky
diving drills and the days schedule started with five pakora in breakfast and
tea, some went grumbling where will this breakfast last after so much of
physical activity but still no body complained.
Language: Here the classes are conducted in Hindi and especially people from southern region find difficulty to understand many a times for which the instructor had to be coaxed to tell the exact meaning of the same in the English.
Syllabus :
The theory classes consist of various
chapters like, Introduction to parachuting, Ground Training like
Para Landing Rolls, Basic safety requirements, Introduction and Familiarisation
with a parachute and their function, Fit chute and parachute kitting, Checking,
adjustments and wearing of a parachute with comfort and convenience, Design,
construction & flying characteristics of a ram-air parachute, Packing
demonstration and opening sequence of a parachute, Introduction and utilization
of parachuting aids, Aircraft procedures with commands and signals, Exit
procedures, Flying and handling a parachute, Identification of drop zone from
the air, Understanding wind speed and Wind Directions, Flying the parachute -
Circuit pattern, Landing procedures with Para landing falls, Handling of
parachute on landing Collection & carrying of Parachute, Operation and
utility of Automatic Activation Device and Emergency procedures
are thought to the sky diver trainees.
Day-3
The
day begins with the same routine but with different concept with the parachute
bag on your back and you are made to sit in the saddle and you are supposed to
perform the drill of sitting in the aircraft then followed by the dive in the
air and then depending on the wind condition you can try some stunts like stall
and spiral after that we do a box formation in the air like we fly in the cross
wind, down wind and base leg and in final leg we land against the wind here
comes the end of the practical test with emergency manoeuvres being thought
like look, cut away, pull etc was all fun learning says Mr.Ajit Chouhan of
Raighad, Chhattisgarh.
Completion:
After
completion of the training syllabus a written and physical test is conducted
before allowing a trainee to jump from the aircraft. The test is to confirm
that the trainee has understood all concepts and is competent to handle the
parachute jump independently.
Grades :There
are only two grades in Indian Parachuting Federation (IPF), SUPERIORS &
FAILURES. Superiors get a chance to jump and failures do not. There are no
concessions it’s based only on MERIT says Wg Cdr. (Rtd) Palit.
Day-4
D-Day
It
was Feb 25 and most of us couldn’t sleep previous night some due to anxiety and
some due to excitement like, what will happen tomorrow whether we will be able
to land in drop zone and so many questions in the mind boggling, but alas! As
the time descended close to the 7 O’clock we all shifted the parachute and
other logistics to the gypsy to be transported to Airport and it was all set in
the airport like target zone, Arrow marked, wind blade showing the wind
direction and final tuning being done jump Master Mr.Surya Prakash and Wg Cdr (Rtd)
Palit, and Wg Cdr (Rtd) Sanjay Thappar boosting the moral of the sky divers in
the last leg.
Demo:
As
told exactly at 9’O clock the Cessna aircraft piloted by Mr.Bipin descended on
Dessa airport and the time started to tickle our nervous system and here comes
the instruction to have a look at the aircraft and Mr.Surya, Jump master showed
us the cabinet of the aircraft which can accommodate hardly three people and a
pilot, so every body wore the Para chute and did the drill one by one and there
by which every body came to know what is one suppose to do that also built the
confidence in the Skydivers.
Eye set:
All
eyes were set when the City adventurist Deepak D S Solanki also known as Tiger
Solanki and Mr.Suraj R Krishnam wore the Para Chute, Helmet and tied the
altimeter on the wrist and started
moving to the aircraft with the jump master Surya Prakash, they sat in the
aircraft and they took off in the air, from where the topography of the air strip or drop zone
was shown to them and believe it or not the aerial view of the airstrip, cold
storage ,High tension wire, dry river, Mountains, Highway etc looked so small
and mesmerizing, that moments will remain etch in the life says Mr.Solanki D S
D
Dive:
After
reaching a height of 5000-6000 feet
height the aircraft comes on the target and the jump master connects the static
line to the hook in the aircraft and he asks us to take the position with one
leg on the foot of the right wing and other leg on the edge of the exit door
and the pat comes to exit and here without a small hesitation of what is next,
we dive one after the other in the air and performed the counts by that time
parachute gets opened with slider sliding down and making the sound signals
that the parachute is open and believe it or not, I made three topples in the
air and felt so happy doing the stunts, still the moments are in front of my
eyes says Solanki and suraj’s jump as spider man did spiral in air which is
worth emulating the experience.
Action:
After
the dive now its time for us to feel the controls with toggles pulled down and
did little bit of manoeuvring like left turn, right turn and did some what
which were taught in the class room and did some thing like stalls and spirals
among all spiral was nice fun because you turn continuously in which ever
direction you had pulled the toggles says Solanki.
Landing:
After soaring in the air for more than 7-8
minutes I was nearing 1200 feet I came on the target did the drill of cross
wind, down wind, base leg and final leg and landed in Drop Zone with out even
dusting the cloths. A contended man I was on Feb 25 says Mr.Solanki D S D
Happiness:
Solanki
says after soaring in the air for more than 7-8 minutes I was totally lost in
the air and with mix feeling I said alas! I have realised my dream that was
looking a distant dream due to various factor in the country, like who will be
doing the activity etc, thanks to Indian Parachute Federation and today I have
realised my dream of soaring like a bird in the sky.
In case if any body is interested in doing static line or free fall sky
diving for details you can write to tigersolanki@rediffmail.com
or iamas@rediffmail.com
"It was perfect military style arrangements
of the course, the dinner etc with perfect discipline ".
Ne
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