PJ Madam: 'Luke convinced me I could conquer my fear'

Everyone has a fear.

I’ve heard of spiders, heights and claustrophobic spaces. I remember an old school friend would scream hysterically if she got too close to birds.

Mine, was jumping out of a plane.

No, I didn’t have a specific fear of heights or flying. Both would be an impossibility working for Sunday Night.

I could just never mentally digest putting my life into someone else’s hands, while jumping from a perfectly, safe, moving plane.

Why do it? Surely the freefall isn’t that good? Ugh, I hate adrenalin junkies!

Ex-partners tried to convince me to do it, arguing the best way to conquer my fears was to ‘face them head on’.

BALONEY!

I would protest, feign sickness, period pain, headaches, exaggerate dubious injuries and even threaten to break up. The meltdowns were epic.

I happily convinced myself I would never, ever skydive.

Just not on my bucket list, thank you very much.

So on the morning of July 31, I watched with a lump in my throat and stomach on the floor when Luke Aikins jumped into the record books by skydiving without a parachute.

‘What a madman!’, I thought. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

This mere mortal from Seattle in the US had the nerve, courage and confidence to fall 25,000 feet into what looked like a flimsy, hard-to-see net, strategically placed in the desert.

Before spitting out my porridge, a quiet thought ran through my head: ‘I still, would never skydive, but maybe I could with that man’.

After all, he had just proven the impossible could be done.

Damn my thoughts. Because three months later, fate, luck and serendipity stepped in.

The story landed in my lap and before I knew it, I was researching how Luke Aikins spent two years meticulously planning a jump that could either kill him or turn him into a skydiving demi-God.

Soon my fear turned to fascination with the mechanics of sky diving. For days, I read all sorts of nerdy aerodynamic manuals, skydiving blogs and watched countless clips on Youtube. I even googled how to prevent a poo or spew incident on the way down.

But deep down I knew the best research would be to jump myself.

Luke Aikins agreed.

So on the day we met, we decided to do (in my mind) the unthinkable. A tandem jump with a parachute.

With Luke, it should be safe – after all he has jumped more than 18,000 times, is a professional pilot, wing suit flyer, base jumper and trains the US military.

As I peered out of the Cessna aircraft, strapped to Luke, and holding on for dear life, I realized I was about to put myself to the ultimate test.

It’s true, Luke may have made skydiving history, but to me, he did something far more important. He convinced me I could conquer a long standing fear – and even enjoy the process.

Now that’s an achievement.