An old AN-2 plane with ten skydivers onboard stutters in the sky above Ryshkovo aerodrome, while the just-landed skydivers shout with joy on the ground. We made our first jump with my friend Christina Ukolova.
Fear Dissolves
Kursk Aero Club famous for its past victories across the USSR has trained a whole galaxy of pilots and cosmonauts. But the club saw some hardships in last two years and was almost closed due to dragged out repair time of planes. "Youth, to fly in the sky, get ready – parachutes are waiting already!” we saw such a slogan in the training classroom where we had a pre-flight briefing.
New-comers anxiously exchange glances. "Don't forget to lock the reserve," Alexander Kostenkov, Senior Salvage Officer, reminds us. "Otherwise you will be landing with two deployed parachutes which is not very convenient."
Training parachute D-1-5U, colloquially called Doop ("Oak") is the safest parachute of all possible ones. Newbies jump only with this type of parachute. There has not been a single parachute malfunction in the club. When a person jumps, the deployment bag connected to the plane via a line automatically moves down and the canopy is deployed. One way or another, but the system includes the reserve parachute that will deploy on its own at an altitude of 400 meters.
"What to do if the reserve one fails?" somebody asks. "I will give you a new one when you touch down," serious Kostenkov finally smiles. He has been into skydiving for almost 30 years and knows the sport through and through. Even when he was still a teen he had been thrilled by a free fall and all opportunities it entailed: to develop endurance and stamina. Alexander kept his passion for skydiving secret: his parents found out about where their son had been disappearing only after his third jump. By the age of 18, when Alexander was enrolled in the airborne forces based in Lithuania he had had already 274 jumps. To this date, he has made over 1,800 jumps, including the jumps from an altitude of 3,600 meters. But once he had a long break.
"Usually the season lasts from the middle April to the late October, but even half a year is enough to lose the habit," he says. "No matter how people talk large, but each time it is a bit scary anyway. And I hadn't skydived for several years. However, I remember perfectly well that as soon as I stepped inside the plane, all my fears were gone." Since the time Kostenkov has never parted with the sky – he landed a job in the Aero Club and brought his little son around.
The age of a skydiver does not matter much, unlike weight which is restricted to a range of 45 to 100 kilos – 14-year-olds may attend the club with a written permission from their parents. The oldest skydiver in the club is a 75-year-old resident of Kursk. "Albert had had hundreds of jumps but when he started experiencing health problems we had to prohibit skydiving for him," we were explained. "This is all very serious." It is prohibited to skydive for people with heart problems, with musculoskeletal disorders, with nervous system disorders and with some other diseases. All skydivers are examined by the doctor before each take-off.
Everything Matters
"Many people call us crazy, but when a man jumps himself he changes his opinion: one flies as if a bird! Only you and your unfailing parachute in the sky! You have to try yourself to understand this," skydivers ascertain. It doesn't take long to persuade us, moreover, we have been debriefed.
photo by Kristina Ukolova
Ivan Dolzhenkov, Aero Club Chief, is out in the airfield – he encourages the novice parachutists. He spots such people easily by the look in their eyes. Some eyes are large with fear, while some are large with anticipation of thrill. Ivan recaps for everybody that they should land upwind and fall as they have been trained: do not look down, bend and keep together knees and once your feet strike the ground, immediately throw yourself sideways to reduce the landing shock on feet and spine. And under no circumstances one should try to keep one's balance during the shock – it will result in a sprain at best…
Just in case we bandaged our ankle joints, though they say, that in terms of injuries skydiving is not worse than gymnastics or track and field athletics. Now instructors attach parachute harnesses to us. We learn that a fighter pilot may experience G-forces up to 9 G on a supersonic flight, whereas parachute D-1-5U produces 16 G at the moment of deployment. But the harness prevents any painful sensations. The main task is to carry everything that was put on you to the plane. A weight of 24 kilos is not a joke! This is especially heavy for slim females.
The weather is appropriate for jumps today – a weak wind, no clouds. The engine of the "crop-duster" starts and soon the plane takes off. The plane contains 11 persons together with the jumpmaster, all sitting on folding seats on the right and on the left sides of the aircraft. The instructor repeats the safety rules. His words are lost in the increasing noise, ears pop, and the body is pressed down.
"Is everybody going to jump on their own?" somebody tries to shout through the noise of the engine. "Some jump on their own, some may need help," an old-timer jokes and the others smile as well.
The altitude increases up to 100, 200, 500, 1000 meters… The first jump will be made from a height of one kilometre. A green lamp over the exit door lights up and the pilot gives three beeps. The heaviest ones go first and the wind takes them away like dolls. The plane makes a round: the second group of jumpers steps out. They will touch the ground in four minutes.
One more round and it's our turn. The jumpmaster tapped me on the shoulder: time to go. It is impossible to see the people from top, but buildings look like match boxes. We look back – the focused looks of the novices reflect the instructions they repeat in their minds. I recollect the words of Ivan Dolzhenkov: "When they jump out they forget them instantly." A step into emptiness...
photo by Kristina Ukolova
