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I Did It! Arturo Bartolomé Asín from Spain
Suddenly, the master jumper asked me if I remembered all the procedures. I said, "mmmmm, yes… I do, hold on, what was the third step?" Shoot, I didn't remember anything. He looked at me, and he told me, "Don't worry, we'll be with you." Then, I looked at my altimeter. We were at 10,000 feet. I only had two minutes to turn back. At that moment, I thought about my favorite saying "Alea Jacta Est" (There is no turning back.) I looked at the door, and I realized that the light had switched to green. "Are you ready?," the jump master asked me "Yes, I am," I answered him. We walked to the door. There were two jump masters who jumped with me. One was on my left, and the other was on my right. I followed all the steps, and then we jumped. I was flying! I looked at my jump masters. They were with me, and they were smiling. "So far so good," I thought. I relaxed, and I did all the procedures. I had to wait until I was at 6.000 feet to pull the cord. Things were working without problems. There was no noise except the sound of the wind. I was descending at 120 mph in 55 seconds of freefall. Then, I looked at my altimeter. It was at 6.000 feet. I made the "five-five" signal with my hands by flashing that number with my fingers, and I pulled the cord with my right hand. 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, I almost stopped in the air. The harness was holding me. I looked at my parachute and (Oh my god!) saw that the cords were twisted (Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!), but I yanked them taut above my head, and (aahhhhhhhhh) they straightened. I said to myself, "Relax, Arturo, the worst stage is over." I was at 4.000 feet. I could see the airport and the place where I had to land. I tested my parachute, and it worked perfectly. I turned to the right and I turned to the left inbound to the airport. It was ok. I was going to land in four minutes. When I arrived on the ground, I grinned. I had done it.
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