Fara & Nizwer celebrate birthday in the air.
On February 1, 2003 Fara celebrated her 18th birthday up in the air.
Dad turned 46 too, not quite ready to give up the high life yet.
The
King Lear plane  ascends to
14000 feet in 15 minutes .
Jump out
at 14000 feet. The paraglider deploys at 5000 feet, and the the free fall from 14000 to 5000 feet lasts
roughly 40 seconds.
The velocity at which we fall towards the ground is approximately
120 miles per hour.
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suiting up inside the airport! |
Is it scary? You sign so many legal waivers before your flight, well that part is scary. The rest is
pure fun ,
you simply trust your
experienced instructor, and enjoy the dive.
My favorite pic taken immediately after we
fell out.
Photographer jumps a split second before us and with cameras mounted on helmet,
takes pictures with his tongue. Pretty cool. huh? The photographer moves all around you to take some spectacular
closeups too. Here is
another closeup.
|
 Fara with instructor immediately after jump off |
| It takes another 5 minutes or so to descend the 5000 feet after the chute unfurls. The paraglider has a forward speed of 25 mph as we descend slowly.
That afternoon the skies were clear, the sun was out, not too cold, and a strong headwind as we touched down.
The other folks on the plane land before us, and
standby to help .
Lot better than throwing a birthday party. What say you!
If you just turned 18 and you want to do this make sure you take some form of identification with you (driver's license, passport, school ID).
You will not be allowed to skydive without that. You have to be 18 or older in California to skydive.
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