Almost every guy in the last century from childhood dreamed of heaven: someone wanted to become a pilot and fly a plane, someone wanted to soar even higher – into space, and some wanted to step into the sky and feel like a bird under the parachute canopy. Perhaps pilots and astronauts of today’s young people are not so popular profession, but skydiving in our time as well beckon lovers of heights, adventurers, thrill seekers

The idea of a parachute, that means for safe descent from a considerable height, there was in the past, known in ancient inhabitants of Africa, China, Southeast Asia on holidays organized demonstration jumps with umbrellas. However, the first technical project of the parachute appeared at the end of the XV century, the authorship of which is attributed to the great Leonardo da Vinci.
The rapid development of aeronautics prompted the creation of a special device for a successful descent from a person. Several additions and improvements – and voila: at the end of the XVIII century in France there is almost a modern parachute. It took 200 years for the Americans to gather and carry out the first jump from the plane. It is clear that at first the parachute business had a purely practical application, and only then became extreme sports.
It was possible to jump with a parachute once and in Zhytomyr. At the airport “Smokivka” from spring to autumn 2011 functioned aviation sports center, where every weekend and on holidays desperate daredevils conquered the sky. The initiators of the creation of the center were enthusiasts – NGO “Kupol” together with the airline “Aviatik”.
“We were the first and the only ones who managed to organize parachute jumping in our city. A lot of people came to us who wanted to make a jump: athletes, military, lovers, parachutists-beginners. Altogether, for the season of the center, about a thousand people have made one of their most cherished dreams – jumped with a parachute “, – says Oleh Uminskyi, the head of the” Kupol”.
The former paratrooper, behind which, he says, just merely 50 jumps in the smallest details remember his debut in open skies “The first jump – a fabulous experience! A certain psychological barrier through which it is necessary to pass! For the first time, he jumped on March 31, 1994 to serve in the army. The jump was very long-awaited! Apparently, for about six months, he was constantly tolerated: there was no weather, then the helicopter broke, then the fuel was over. So when that day came, I was sure that I would not open my parachute (Smiling – ed.note). But I am a platoon commander, I have to jump and take a step … After – an incredible sense of flight, a flurry of unforgettable emotions and adrenaline and 800 meters to the ground … When the parachute opened, I felt the happiest, because I stayed alive. ”
4-hour training, thorough medical examination, appropriate equipment and only then on board an aircraft – such a program was waiting for visitors to the aerospace and sports center. It’s enough for those who want to conquer altitude even today: they call every week and show a desire to jump. But experts know: the organization of jumps – it’s not quite cheap. What the plane itself is worth is! And now the center stopped working. The question about the cause has a completely banal answer: lack of funding.
But the dream … Maybe someone who has not yet come to life will give Zhytomyr a chance in the future to resume parachute jumps.

Translated by Aliona Matushevich