A work colleague had the crazy idea of trying out skydiving, out at Shek Kong airbase. We ended up parachuting on seven different occasions. It was a single static-line parachute approach. The feeling and adrenalin was out of this world.

For me, the most nerve-wracking moments were towards the end of the plane's rapid ascent which was achieved by tighter circles to climb high quickly and there was no door in the plane where we had to jump out. Secondly, when it came to my turn to jump we had to hold an upper bar underneath the wing, shimmy across until I was fully out of the plane and stable, then when given the all clear, let go to begin the jump! During the jump itself, the free fall and floating was an amazing feeling.

For landing you have to pull the cord of the chute at the right time about five metres above the ground, goldilocks style, so you slow enough to not hit the ground too hard but not so much you are too high and free fall five or more metres. Following the handover on 30 June 1997, the Shek Kong Airbase and being able to parachute was shut down.