The story of the Heli Hanging Jersey is more about the sensations embedded in the design of the Jersey. When you are hanging on the rope of the Helicopter above the earth, just pause for a second. And enjoy that precise moment when you are just about to let go.
Flying without a back door
Jumping from an MI-8 Helicopter is quite an adventure and an amazing experience. The funny aspect of the MI-8 Helicopter is that for Skydiving Jumps most of the Dropzones will have the rear clamshell doors of the Helicopter removed to give a bigger space for the exit. The funny feeling is when the aircraft is taking off. You are actually flying with no door at the back and you can clearly see the ground getting smaller and smaller. Sometimes you might be lucky and have an amazing view from above the clouds.
Hanging on a rope
© Photo Karura Sports
You may ask yourself: Why a rope? Well, because the rope is the best option when the back of the MI-8 is being removed. This solution lets you take off the back and put it back when needed. You have then the possibility to be hanging yourself before jumping. Besides the amazing fun part, it is also an opportunity for the Cameraman to have a better angle when filming Tandems or Group Jump. He sets himself in place before the others are jumping, then signals the group that he is ready. When the group is initiating their jump, he just let go in synchronization with them.
The Heli Hanging trick and timing
When you decide to hang on the rope before you jump, you need to take the timing into consideration. Depending if you are the first to jump or not, you will need to calculate the time it will take you to climb on the rope. It might look easy, but if you are the first to jump you must pay attention to not climbing too early. Or you might have to wait five minutes hanging in the air before the light goes green. You will find it quite challenging and tiring as you want to make sure not to let go if you don’t want to miss the landing area or get a red card from the DZ.
Once a guy managed to climb to the rope and hang himself upside down by the feet. Quite an impressive performance!!!
Hanging on the rope of an MI-8 Helicopter
© Video Karura Sports
Hanging looking down at your feet above the earth
There is something unique to this type of exit. Once you’ve managed to make all the efforts to climb on the rope, you’ve looked that you are in position and checked with the others that all is fine, and you are ready to jump. You then stop for a second to realize that you are just hanging above the earth, you look down and below your feet, you see the ground. At that moment you can feel in whole your body your heart beating, the little palpitation in your arms and fingers. And then when you made up your mind, all goes quiet in your head and you just let go.
The story behind the design
I did perform a couple of hanging jump and I have to admit that it is not as simple as it looks. At my first attempt, I didn’t grab the rope in the right way. My body was facing outward rather than towards the aircraft and with the weight of the rig, I found it quite challenging to turn around. The best trick for me was to try to reach the rope as far as possible and facing towards the aircraft while climbing out, like this, you don’t need to turn around when hanging in the air.
© Photo Karura Sports
It requires some practice, but once you manage to get the hang of it, it is an amazing sensation. Just to be able to hang like this in the air and look down to the ground and really feel the altitude just before to let go.
The Heli Hanging Jersey design has been made to illustrate this Jump, simply because if you have experienced it, you can for sure relate to the emotions of that instant. The design is in a big format taking almost all the space of the chest in order to make it dramatic. When you wear it and look at it, you are not only relating but also carry with you the emotions of that precise moment.