The Hindu : The skydiving couple

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 26, 2003

National

National

The skydiving couple

By Shakeel M. Rasheed

Photo: K.R. Deepak

Rajiv Ashok and Rashmi Singh after a happy landing.

Visakhapatnam Nov. 25 . For this couple, nothing less than stepping off an aircraft in flight is exciting enough.

Lieutenant Rashmi Singh and Lieutenant Commander Rajiv Ashok, united in wedlock, have a soaring desire to fly high. Both embarked on careers in the Navy, met and married and found themselves sharing a passion for skydiving.

Lt. Rashmi and Lt. Cdr. Rajiv constitute a couple engaged in what surely is the fastest non-mechanical sport.

Says Lt. Rashmi: "Even before we met, we had independently chased the same dream of being able to skydive. We fell in love and got married in 1999 during our posting in Kochi."

Their occupations differ. She is an air traffic controller on INS Dega in Visakhapatnam, while he is a combat diver plumbing the depths of the sea.

"It's a big help being involved in the same sport. We reflect on our jumps, counsel each other, pick on any chinks and try to come out the best the next time," said one of them, evidently speaking for both.

The two had first volunteered for skydiving in 2001 at Gorakhpur. Upon graduating after six weeks of training, they were in sync, leaping off from the same flight, an Mi-8 helicopter.

Lt. Rashmi recalls the fear that engulfed her just before the big moment. The aircraft crossed the drop zone and had to turn around and make a re-run as she dithered. Then she stepped into nothingness at 6,000 feet, heading earthward at 17 feet a second.

From the initial five static line jumps — during which the parachute opens automatically — she, along with her husband, had to account for free fall, deploying the canopy on their own.

Recalling her maiden free fall, she says: "There was an uncanny sense of calm when we were knitting up on the ground, but fear crept over me once we boarded the aircraft. I cherish every moment of that free fall with Rajiv alongside, hurtling towards the ground at 200 to 400 feet per second and getting stable before deploying the parachute.''

Having jumped off a variety of aircraft, Mi-8, Mi-17, Mi 17-1V, An-32, Avro, Sea King 42 and Sea King 42-A, the couple have now graduated to staging skydiving demonstrations and acrobatics. They have participated in important events, including the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Indian Air Force held in Thiruvananthapuram.

Says Lt. Cdr Rajiv: "We would next like to get into free flying, canopy relative work (stacking up the chutes in air), relative work (joining hands in formations during free fall) and sky surfing. This would need a training stint abroad." Rajiv has so far logged 110 skydives to Rashmi's 130.

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