I convinced my parents that it was safe and that it was a once in a lifetime experience so later that day I received a call to confirm that I would be raising money for a charity of my choice. As I started to collect the equivalent £90 for the jump I tried to picture the frightening glory of the beginning and end.
While I was sitting in a chair at gate 22, I was thinking about two things. The immediate thought was about the low layer of smoke from people’s cigarettes. I remembered a Scottish comedian once getting onto a stage and telling everyone the reasons for why smokers never quit. His theory was that the majority of smokers were not quitters and therefore could not quit. I tried to keep this in my head so I would not start thinking about my second thought, which was not surprisingly about the ‘Screamer’.
In a plane circling Las Vegas’ international airport at night, you could see the reasons for so many people flocking here. From the tallest hotels to the grottiest building sites, everything was lit in neon lighting. You could see all the different ways that hotels use to attract you there. The hotel Treasure Island had a daily pirate show involving three ships and a lot of explosives. Another hotel had a ‘volcano’, which erupted every hour using the latest lighting and heat effects. From the plane you could also see the Stratosphere. This is a very tall, thin building which has something slightly different about it. The difference is that it has a roller coaster on the very top of the building that people sit it and get fired 50 feet up only to fall back down again. In simple terms it is the Pepsi Max (Trocadero, London) on top of a skyscraper. Even if I weren’t thinking twice about the ‘Screamer’ I would definitely think at least three times about this.
All the main hotels, casinos and shops were on the Strip, which is the main street in Vegas. From the Strip you could occasionally see what looked like a bird flying over the rooftops. At first I just thought that I had an eyelash in my eye, but when I asked I found out that this was the ‘Screamer’ in action.
It was now the second day of our stay in the entertainment capital of the world. I woke up to a sky so clear that it didn’t seem real. It then dawned on me that today was the day. With my entry form in one hand and my stomach in the other, I finally saw the ‘Screamer. As I walked towards the ticket booth, there was music playing all around me, balloons being let off into the sky, television crews filming and my parents fretting behind. The structure was even bigger then I had thought. My scheduled flight time was quickly approaching. As I made my way through the crowds to the clothing area, I realized that I would either love or hate the feeling of freefall. I really hoped that it would not be the latter.
In the clothing area I first had to put a very padded blue harness on. This went from my shoulders down to my knees. Then three thick metal chains were connected to the jacket. Once this was finished a ‘crew member’ held the chains together at the back and another member held my harness up so that I could start walking towards the platform that linked you onto the bungee cord. Half way there I was stopped and given some instructions. The main thing that I was told was what to do when I had been lifted to the top of the 300ft pole. On the right hand side on my harness suit was a red pulley. When I reached the top I was to wait two seconds and then to pull this cord. This would release me from the pole and let me start the flight. At this point I walked forward onto a hydraulic platform. This lifted me up about 4 ft so that I could be connected onto the rope. All around me people were cheering and looking towards me to see what this experience would be like. At first I couldn’t understand why this was until a very loud announcement stated that I was the first person up today. I think this made me even more nervous.
The straps were all tightly fastened so the green light went on. At this point the platform went down leaving me swinging about 10 ft of the ground. This was the worst time because in every momentum I went backwards and forwards, making you felt like you were going to fall out of the harness. After half a minute the pulley system went into action. It started pulling me up at a very fast rate. My heart was pounding rapidly as I was on my way up to the top. I could see all of the planes in the airport, the desert beyond the Strip and the steadily growing number of dots around me. Within what seemed like less than a minute I had reached the top. After two seconds of marveling at the surrounding area I pulled the cord. I was in freefall screaming at the top of my voice. I then came out of freefall into flight at more than 80 mph. It was the most incredible feeling I had ever had. The adrenalin rushed through me, as I flew over the other inferior rides. I was flying forward until the rope caught up with me. At this point I was flying in reverse at around half the speed. This forward and reverse momentum continued until I was instructed to catch what looked like a fishing net without the net on it. After two attempts I caught and held onto it. It extended as I went back, only to shorten when pulling me back in. At this point I new that my flying was over as the hydraulic platform rose to help me down. I was taken out of the harness and back to the ground again. As I was walking back towards my parents who were still gob smacked that I went through with it, I felt mixed emotions. I had gone from being frightened to being overwhelmed with the sensation of freefall. This was the hardest thing that I had ever had to do and yet I now wanted something harder to get the adrenalin rush back. This was the first of many daring feats that I would like to carry out in the future. Maybe next time I will jump out of a plane!
