"I wonder what it feels like to fly!" -- that's a thought almost all of us have had during our lifetime. Unfortunately, not too many people are brave or stupid enough to say, "I want to fly." Call it whatever you want: crazy, courageous, idiotic... but I wanted to fly! And thanks to my brother (who "flew" 3 weeks earlier) and one of my friends who accompanied me on this "trip", I was brave/insane enough to actually do it!

The photographs below tell the story of my flight.... there is no ending to this story; this is merely "Chapter 1"....

That's the plane which took us up to about 14,000 feet... and there was only one way to come down!

The "Before" picture: Thumbs-up!!!

A nervous smile, on the ride up...... (there were about 10 or 11 of us crammed in that plane)

... followed by a horrified glance looking out...

The leap: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That's me in the bottom, in the fetal position.... terrified out of my mind!

Stabilized....

Refusing to let go of my harness, as if somehow that will help!!!

Once I let go and put my arms out.... from here on out, I had the time of my life! (this must have been about 3-4 seconds into the jump)

"Wow... nice mountains on the horizon! Don't look down... Don't look down... Don't look down... Don't look down..."

"YEAHHH!!!!! THIS IS FANTASTIC!"

"WOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooow!!!"

"Ok, I'm doing it... I'm actually flying!"

"Oh, there's the airport!"

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.................."

It was a gorgeous day out -- bright and sunny, perfect for flying!

"Smile for the birdie!"

Thumbs-up, again!

The time of my life....

"Simon says... cover your eyes!"

Flyyyyyyyyyyyiiiiiiiiiingggggggggg.........

Aaaah, the feeling of 120 miles-per-hour winds pulling your cheeks upward....

... and upward....

The end of the freefall.... down to about 5,000 feet here, roughly 50-60 seconds into the flight, just before the parachute opened

Coming in for a landing...........

Lower...

Lower...

TOUCHDOWN! (not exactly as how I was supposed to do it, but at that point I really did not care!)

My friend Nitin and I: "Loved every second of it!"

Hearts are beating normally again...

Just outside the runway

With our instructors and tandem partners...

The plane on the ground again, refueling for the next bunch of lunatics....

So, are YOU crazy enough to do it? You wanna fly? Are you in the San Francisco bay area? Click here for the place we went to... Otherwise, I'm sure there are similar companies in your area that can be found on the web...

Chapter 2 in my story of flight.............

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