Novice Skydiver Adventure

Encouraged by my late brother Muhandes in 1981,  I followed my two other brothers to try sky-diving.

Capt(R) Moid doing precheck.

Brother Muhandes had  a Master-Jumper license from the United States Parachutist Association (USPA).  Back then, he was a member of the Wilayah Parachute Club. I was a newbie while my two other brothers had several jumps in their log books already.

The small group of novices (I think there was eight of us) was required to attend several weeks of ground training. The location was an old bungalow by an old tin mine which is now the Flamingo Hotel near Ampang. The ground training involved stretching exercises, jogging and the PLF (Parachute Landing Fall). Other than brother Muhandes, there were two other men who were our instructors. One of them was by the name of Captain (R) Moid. Sometimes, there was another guy, an air force officer, Captain Meor, also came to help.

After several weeks of ground training and safety briefing, we went to Malacca Airport for our first two jumps. Remember, those were the days before PLUS highway was in existence. We departed KL for Malacca very early on a Saturday morning. We arrived Malacca Airport in some 3 hours drive, I think.

In 1981, the Malacca Airport was not very busy. There were a few flights serving Malacca to Padang and Medan. The flight academy was not yet formed. Therefore, the airport was quite available for parachute jumps.

The aircraft for our use was a Cessna  172 from the Selangor Flying Club. The pilot was a retired air force captain whose name I could not recall.

As novice jumpers, we were to use the round canopy static line parachutes. The Cessna would take us up to the height of 3000 ft  and each trip would only fit 3 novice jumpers  and one jump-master (of course with the pilot). The jump-master will coordinate with the pilot on the point and direction for us to exit the aircraft. Before exiting, the pilot will cut the power to the engine and the jump-master called me to the exit position.  The exit position is under the right wing, right foot on the aircraft wheel, left foot on the climb-pedal and both hands on the wing strut. When  I confirmed I was ready, the master-jumper gave the order to “Go”, I kicked my right leg backwards and let my hands off the wing strut.

Then I began the count “five thousand, four thousand, three thousand, two thousand, one thousand, check canopy”. It was a great relief to see the parachute opened normally. The view around me was great but brief because it took less than three minutes to reach the ground.

All the novices completed our second jumps by that afternoon. After we packed up, we went to Bandar Hilir for makan. Back then, the food stalls and the shore line was where the Mahkota Parade stands now. After a good meal, we said our goodbyes to Malacca and headed back to KL.

I did four more jumps  at Ipoh Airport in 1982. I did not continue the sport because it became costly.

In 1989, my brother Muhandes died in a parachuting accident while rehearsing for the grand opening of the SEA Games in KL. This incident hurt my mother very much and thus I ceased participation in that sport.