Free-Fall

By Mike Munro

Anticipation and impatience grew as the plane rose to an altitude of 11,000 feet and leveled off.

The specially-made door opened and Zack, the professional sky-diver hooked the four clamps on the front of his harness to the rings at the back of mine. Another of the sky-divers lifted my legs out the door and Zack lifted from behind so that I was completely outside the plane.

I’ve got a severe disability caused by MS (multiple sclerosis), which has left me unable to move either my arms or legs, but I was sky-diving!

What a thrill, what an exquisite feeling, what an equalizer, what an ego trip!

There I was, expecting to be scared silly when the door opened and I looked down at the ground two miles below, but as I got outside I kept thinking, “C’mon, C’mon, Let’s Go!”

Before I boarded the plane, the club had shown me video films and Zack had talked about how the jump would be made – that and my desire to make a jump must have kept me from being afraid.

I had been constantly thinking about this moment for the past two months, ever since I read about the possibility of making a tandem jump. The magazine I read this in is American and it included the address of the head of the US Skydiving Association and since I was going to Florida anyway last March, I wrote to him asking where I could do this. Using sources provided by him, I finally found one club that would let me do something I had always dreamt about.

Then I was in free-fall. Sailing towards the ground at 120 mph, and being aware of everything and feeling totally free, not hampered by anything as insignificant as an inability to walk or use my hands. I was equal to all able-bodied people. Then after about 15 seconds the chute opened for the unbelievable beautiful float to earth.

Everything happened so fast that I’m not sure about how long it took between leaving the plane and reaching the ground. It probably was only half a minute or so, but I’ll never forget the sensation. It won’t matter how many times I do this because nothing will ever compare to the first time (like other things, the first is always special). It’s not easy to explain, but I’ll never be the same again. I now have more self confidence than I’ve ever had before.

It’s really interesting, because since doing this I look at small Planes in the air and wonder whether they’re above or below 11,000 ft., knowing that I could jump from there.

Would I recommend this for other people with a disability or MS? Well, I realize that it’s not for everyone, whether they’re disabled or not, but I have to say that it’s changed my life and I’ve found that my self-esteem has never been higher. If sky diving is something that you’ve always wanted to try, but felt you couldn’t because of MS, I know it can be done, so why don’t you start thinking about flying like a bird?