On February 7th 2010 I fell out of a plane. I can’t really claim to have been the one to jump out of it – the instructor did that for me – I didn’t really get the choice once I was up there.

Anyway…I’d been wanting to do a a parachute jump for a while, so when my friend Gill said she was going to do it I thought it would be fun. Always easier to do these things when you have someone along with you. We booked our ‘first’ appointment wa-a-a-ay back in September 2007, but thanks to the wonderful weather we have in Scotland we had to go up another 4 times to get the right weather. But what a beautiful day the 7th of February was. Gorgeous clear blue skies, a little cold though, well only -22°C in the sky!

We learned from our experiences to get to the centre sharp, to ensure we were one of the first to jump, so, nice and early we got all our gear on. Looking rather ridiculous in our dodgy hats, goggles and jump suits, but that’s all part of the fun. At this point we’re really not that nervous – after so many times going up the nerves just fade away. Off we shuffle to the little plane, my instructor Bob with his rabbit fur hat leading me out by a strap, like I’m a puppy on a leash. I’m jumping after Gill so I get into the plane first with Bob behind me – all snuggled up in the back, further away from the gaping hole in the plane – oh yes, the plane has no door – just what you need flying in below freezing skies.

As the plane lifted off the ground my nerves started up a little, but after about 20 minutes of looking at the beautiful scenery you kind of forget what you are about to do. At 8,000ft things start happening (We jump at 10,000 ft). We get ourselves strapped to our instructors tighter, and our goggles come down. Right – no time to think! Gill’s instructor shuffles forward to take her to the edge of the door. This is it! Before I know it Gill’s instructor has gone and I see Gill fall in to the sky. “Aaaaaah! What the hell am I doing?!?!”, but before I know it Bob is shuffling forward too! We’re on the edge of the door and I’m thinking ‘Don’t look down! Head back. Arms crossed. Legs under the plane’. Then I tip over…..and I’m gone. There’s nothing you can do now. I think I screamed for a little bit, but then I realised there is absolutely no point to it, and thought I’d better get myself into the right position. Free fall is amazing. Wind is just flying past you and you can barely see, then before you know it, you feel this gentle motion and then you are vertical again, lightly floating down to the ground. It felt so calm and relaxing, so even when I looked down at my toes wiggling thousands of feet above the ground it just felt nice. We did a bit of spinning round in circles, then started to prepare for the landing. We came in fast and bumped to the ground, no harm done. Then we pick up the parachute and trundle back to the hanger. And that was it over, it all happened so fast. I’m ready for the next time…I just hope Scotland’s weather is.