Bravery at 14,000 feet
Spira Tlhankane | Friday August 25, 2017 16:03
It was my second time in the Makgadikgadi Epic after successfully performing my bitter-sweet tandem jump last year. This time I just wanted to see the adrenaline junkies fly high above the earth’s surface.
When someone sees skydivers soaring over the skies it looks like they have fallen straight from the clouds. In fact, these daredevil skydivers actually jump out of a plane 14,000 feet in the sky, or more than four kilometres in the air. To put that in perspective, the drop is equal to falling from 48 iTowers stacked one on top of the other!
As a curious observer this time around, I was part of the media team that joined these skydivers inside the C-130 military aircraft belonging to the Botswana Defence Force (BDF). I was intrigued to be inside the big machine surrounded by brave men and women.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules, as they call it, is unlike any aircraft I have encountered. It was named “Hercules” after the Greek mythological hero known for his strength and courage. Designed to drop paratroopers and carry cargo, the Hercules’s belly is huge and open so all of the skydivers sit down and wait for the drop.
We sat on the side benches nervously thinking about what lay ahead. We had no right to be anxious considering what the real jumpers were going to do. As I gazed inside the military bird it reminded me of an impressive and jaw dropping car drop stunt I saw in the Fast and Furious 7 movie franchise.
While this machine was not dropping cars like Vin Diesel and his co-stars, it surely felt like we were actors in our own movie when the ramp closed. The BDF pilot pushed the four-engine turboprop aircraft to full throttle and took off on the Sua Pan Airport runway. We were soaring through the sky high above the clouds as the plane gained height into the clouds.
As it got closer to jumping altitude, one of the parachutists showed me his altimeter watch reading 12,000 feet. “We are getting closer,” he said. As I recalled my 200-km/hr free fall from last year, I went through a wave of emotions imagining what it would be like to be him at that moment. As he spoke merrily about the different types of skydiving formations, he looked calm like the atmosphere after a storm. As I continued with my inquisitive questions, I tried to concentrate on my breathing because oxygen is not abundant up there.
After what seemed like a 20 minutes flight, the time finally arrived and the ramp was opened wide as the skydivers took their various positions. One of the soldiers operating the C-130 told us to hold on tight otherwise we would ‘disappear’ into the oblivion.
One after another the skydivers jumped out of the fast moving airplane. I knew what it felt like to be thrown out of something moving that fast but this time I felt they had taken it way too far at 14,000 feet. As they edged towards the door, I wished they had some smart devices to monitor their heartbeats and perhaps stress levels.
They were jumping backwards, forward and in groups; it was clearly something they did for fun as they wound their way down to terra firma.
Like paratroopers, the parachutists are obviously trained in parachuting into an operation or place they do not know, which made me feel like I was part of an airborne force. As I gazed outside the window hoping to see the divers doing their thing all the way down, all I could see was blue sky nothingness.
The brave jumpers had been swallowed by the skies and we were now left alone inside the big-bellied C-130. Now that we were done with the divers, we were in for another brave stunt with Hercules.
I firmly held tight as we headed towards the event venue to deliver some surprise package to the spectators. Like a lighting bolt, they did not see us coming.
The pilot flew terrifyingly low as we passed the dusty grass strips, the beautiful and abundant Sua Pan water and scared wildebeests. We arrived at the event venue and swiftly flew over people’s heads before heading towards the President Ian Khama’s VIP marquee to finish off with another death defying turn. People didn’t know what had hit them and afterwards I talked to one of the spectators who said she fell on the ground as a result of the fly past.
By that time the divers had already arrived safely on the ground and I understood what it meant for them, every time they took to the skies. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary online bravery is the quality or state of having moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty. I used to consider myself brave; I should now find a different word to describe myself.