Reference is made to this posting: North Pole 10 Years – Part 2
We departed Subang International Airport on April 3rd for Moscow via Amsterdam. Upon arrival at the Sheremetyevo International Airport, we were met by officials from the Malaysian Embassy, as well as Pak Zakharov (Svet S Zakharov, Utusan Malaysia’s correspondent in Russia). We were housed at what was the Hotel Rossiya (it was once the biggest hotel in the world with more than 5,000 rooms; it is no longer there) for 2 days before heading out to Volosovo Parachuting Center, near Chekov, south of Moscow. We were met by Anatoly, the only English-speaking person at the drop zone. For a whole week, we were there, and celebrated Eid-al-Adha there as well, eating goulash and smoked salmon….daily (other than the Maggi Mee, rice and sardines we brought along from KL).
We did 3 jumps a day using Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopters piloted by veterans of the Soviet Afghan campaign. The Mi-8 are predecessors of the Mi-17 and Mi-171 that are now in service with the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Services Department. The pilots were cool guys, reading comic books while flying us from zero to 13,000 feet above ground level, and was always on h is way up with another group of skydivers as we land. It was a baptism of fire (ice) for us – with ground temperatures hovering around 15 degrees Celcius BELOW ZERO, average temperature at 13,000 feet was around 41 degrees Celcius below zero. Add windchill factor while freefalling at 196 km/h, you’ll get a three-digit negative figure. After every jump, we’d be warming up our fingers and ears – the pain was excruciating. Imagine doing this 3 times a day for a week.
My teammate, Rizlan, built a snowman outside out little hotel at the dropzone; later that day we all took photos outside for the press.
On the penultimate day, a Sunday, and literally a sunny day, we did two more jumps before tragedy and reality hit us squarely in the face. The guy next to me in the pic below (Sasha, a 8,000-jump veteran, and world no.4) died minutes after this photo was taken due to parachute malfunction. All activities stopped. When the ambulance carried his body off the dropzone, we Malaysians lined up and saluted him. That night, Russians and Malaysians grouped together after dinner at the dropzone’s bar to pay tribute to one of the world’s finest.
The next day, the weather turned gloomy again, and the staff of the dropzone bade us a teary farewell.
SeaDemon Says 