PARACHUTE JUMPER Shital MahajanRane from the city has become the first woman in the country to take a birdman suit jump.

Time: 23.9.2010  |  Author: The Birdman  |  Comments are closed

PARACHUTE JUMPER Shital MahajanRane from the city has become the first woman in the country to take a birdman suit jump.

Mahajan completed the historic venture at Empuriabrava in Spain on September 19 when she jumped off 13,000 feet wearing a birdman suit, a specially designed outfit that enables the jumper to fly like a bird. The birdlike flight that took place during her fall between 13,000 feet and 4,000 feet came as a perfect birthday gift for Shital who also celebrated her 28 th birthday on the same day.

“ I jumped from an aircraft at 13,000 feet wearing the suit and flew like a bird with wings till 4,000 feet. Then I opened the parachute and did the normal landing. It is one of the most adventurous feat in which I exactly flew like a bird,” Shital MahajanRane said in a note shared with her brother Harshal Mahajan.

Sharing the conversation he had with his daughter immediately after the jump, Kamlakar Mahajan, Shital’s father said, “In all the earlier jumps, she had to be bothered about the timing for opening the parachute. This time however, she could experience the fall. The experience is beyond words she told me.” The speed of a normal free fall jump goes up to 193 kmph but after wearing the wingsuit the speed of free fall reduces by 81 to 97 kph enabling one to fly horizontally through the clouds at 113 to 145 kmph. “This suit nearly triples the time of flying in the air before opening the parachute. So it gives the feeling of flying like a bird in free sky. Thought the stint was scheduled to take place at 4 pm IST, it was only by 8 pm IST that the jump was complete and Shital spent about 100120 seconds floating in the air like bird.

She was accompanied by Jari Kuosma, founder and owner of Birdman Inc, world’s first company to produce wing suits for

skydivers,” added Harshal Mahajan. In 2008, she created another record when she got married to Vaibhav Rane in a hot air balloon at a height of 700 feet, the first Indian wedding in a hot air balloon.
The birdman suit jump followed after a twoyear maternity break.
Shital who underwent a caesarian operation during her pregnancy was planning the venture for the past two months. “The doctors were completely against the breathtaking stunt but then she was clear that if she did not do it, somebody else would. And that is the reason she decided to do it immediately,” added Harshal Mahajan.

Shital who was accompanied by her husband and her two 15 month old twinsVaishnav and Rishabh, has to her credit, a 2400 feet jump on the north pole in minus 37 degrees Celsius in 2004, a free fall parachute jump over White Continent of Antarctica on December 16 2006 from 11,600 feet in minus 38 degrees Celsiusthat made her the only person to have individually completed the venture.

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