I have always wanted to do a parachute jump

By Ahmet Abdulaziz….

Many like me I am sure, dream of parachute jumping. Unfortunately, for me, this dream remains a dream because I do not know where to start. I believe that sometimes its better to let a dream remain a dream; this is what I have been doing for years.

Every year at the TRNC national day parade in Lefkoşa I love to watch the paratroopers jumping. The way they jump from the airplane and come down slowly, swinging right and left, and then land, right in front of all of us. People clapped loudly as they watched them touching down on the ground very slowly and smoothly. That’s really fantastic to see and for me the most attractive part of the event.

I always wished to be one of those paratroopers but as I said earlier, it’s always better for some wishes to remain a wish. That’s the way our lives move on. However, it does not stop me from putting myself in the place of those paratroopers. How do they feel, when they jump out of the plane? I always try to find an answer and I always tell myself at the moment of jumping they feel almost the same that we feel what we feel when we go down in a fast elevator.

However, it must have been very difficult for the person who had made the first parachute jump, to understand what his whole body would feel when falling down. That was really amazing. In fact that particular event had occurred on 22nd October 1797, when Andre – Jacques Garnerin made the first-ever parachute jump in Paris.

Leonardo DaVinci is the person who conceived the idea of parachutes, But it took quite a long time to put that theory in practice. In 1783, Louis Sebastien Lenormand, a Frenchman, tried to make the first parachute by joining two umbrellas and jumping down from a tree.

However, Andre-Jacques Garnerin succeeded in designing a parachute, that would slow down the speed, when falling and landing. The story of conceiving the design of this parachute is also interesting. He had spent three years in prison during the French Revolution. During this period he worked on the idea of preparing something that would slow down the speed of a person or object when falling down from a high altitude.

He came up with the final idea in 1797. His first parachute was a canopy 23 feet in diameter. A basket was made to hang down, attached with suspension lines. The first official display was made on 22nd October 1797 in Paris.

Garnerin attached his parachute to a hydrogen balloon. Seated in the attached basket, he ascended the balloon to the height of 3,200 feet. At that point, he released the parachute from the balloon. He landed, without any serious injury or whatever. The experiment was considered successful, with some weak points, which were ratified later on.

At that moment, he did not know that there must have been one or more air vents in the parachute, that would help it in coming down but slowly. Due to this reason, his parachute landed ultimately but after much difficulty. Garnerin was too shaky after having a rough parachute jump, but was happy to have done it.

What happened after that is history that we all know. The parachute and the parachute jumping over the years went through many experiments and refinements to reach the present-day shape of various parachutes.

I however still wish to experience a parachute jump. But when?

For more of the history of the parachute click on this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9-Jacques_Garnerin

Editors Note: We are showing below some of the thrills or para jumping at Gecitkale airport when the orgaisation running them was operating there. A further opportunity for a tandem parachute jump can be made with http://www.highlineparagliding.com/