Prince Saud turned to look at us.

“Listen! Follow my lead and stick to me, the last thing we want is you wondering next to the helicopter’s rotor”. He said

I looked back at Fahad Ayyad, What’s Up photographer

“Fahad, think gears of war when you take this shot”

Once we reached the Navy fighter helicopter, following the elite Navy Special Forces. Prince Saud look back at me

“Are you afraid of heights?” He said grinning

“No!” I instantly replied

“What are you waiting for? Hop in!”

Dear reader I can tell that you’re a bit confused, so let me rewind the events leading to this point in time. What’s Up Jeddah was conducting an interview with both their royal highnesses prince Sultan bin Khalid Al Faisal and Prince Saud bin Khaled Al Faisal  about the Sixth Jeddah International Championship for Skydiving.

What’s Up Jeddah: How many contests are present here at the event?

HRH Prince Saud bin Khalid Al Faisal Competing teams are graded on two contests, accuracy jumping and relative work jumping.

WUJ: Would your highness elaborate on the meaning of the two types?

Prince Saud: Contenders for the accuracy contest jump from about 4000 feet and try to land with their pointy special shoes on a target as small as a coin on a pad laid on the ground.

WUJ: So is that a real coin placed on the pad over there?

Prince Saud: Not really the pad has sensors to calculate the exact touch point of each contender.

WUJ: What about the other type, relative work, what does that mean?

Prince Saud: Each team gets to altitudes between 10 to 12 thousand feet, then they jump, each team has to perform a certain set of moves together before reaching 3000 feet, the more moves they perform the better the score gets. Most teams are fast performing such moves, and the way they perform it is quite impressive.

WUJ: How long have you been skydiving and who inspired you to get into that?

Prince Saud: I have been jumping since 1994, my elder brother is with the Navy Special Forces and one day he took me without prior knowledge to do my first skydiving training.

WUJ: Prince Sultan, will we see professional skydiving training here in Saudi Arabia for civilians?

HRH Prince Sultan bin Khaled Al Faisal: Well by the end of the year we will have a running club both for aviation and parachuting, the investor has been granted all the needed permits, we are just waiting to get permits for the special aircrafts the investor is buying.

WUJ: Where will the club be located?

Prince Sultan: We have already got a permit from the General Authority of Civil Aviation to designate a Drop Zone, a runway. The aviation club will be located in Durat Al Aroos.

WUJ: For the time being can the applicants or students obtain a flying licenses through the club or the training school in Riyadh?

Prince Sultan: Students and trainees can apply for licenses ranging from private license till commercial license once the club in Jeddah or the school in Riyadh opens its doors.

WUJ: Back to you Prince Saud, what would a skydiver say once they jump off the plane? We always see them saying Geronimo, or is that hollywood?

Prince Saud: Well it depends on the skydiver, everyone has something he or she likes to say before the jump, but if it is a group that is jumping we usually say “Ready… Set… Go!” to give the signal to the rest of the group. So yeah it’s mostly hollywood.

WUJ: We can see a massive scale of preparations here at the Sixth Jeddah International Championship for Skydiving, who is behind all this effort?

Prince Saud: All you see is a voluntary work from different departments, that came together to make this first event happen. The land has been donated by the owner to run the event on it, the fire department provided us with their support and Fire Engines, the Army and Navy sent us helicopters to lift jumping teams up. So we thank everyone who took part in making this event a reality.

WUJ: Lets say we are interested in skydiving and want to learn, how long would it take some one who is totally green to start jumping on his own?

Prince Saud: Back in my days it was a series of seven jumps to get to jump on your own, nowadays it’s around twelve jumps that you have to pass. Each jump concludes a training course, where you have to do certain tasks. so you either pass or repeat the whole course again. After you pass you are clear to master jump yourself, though you don’t get the license yet.

WUJ: What would it take to get it then?

Prince Saud: You have to finish ground school which is mostly about safety and standard practices, then you need between 20 to 25 other jumps before you qualify, plus you have to learn how to pack your own parachute, and how to land on a certain spot, after that you will qualify for one of four licenses, A, B, C, or D license. the D license being the highest level. One thing you should always remember, once your airborne your on your own, and your life depends on that.

WUJ: How long does it take you to reach the ground?

Prince Saud: If you jump from 12,000 feet which is the average since anything over 14,000 feet requires an air tank. it would take you about 55 seconds to a minute to reach 3,000 feet where you need to open your parachute, now it all depends on the way you dive whether it is flat, head down, or feet down. Once you open your parachute it could take you between 3 to 4 minutes to reach the ground depending on your altitude and parachute type.

WUJ: And what is the speed of this fall?

Prince Saud: If you are flat terminal velocity would get you up to a speed of 220 Km/h if you’re head down or leg down it could reach 350 Km/h.

WUJ: Can we get the honor of taking a shot of you and your team boarding the helicopter?

***

Prince Saud turned to look at us.

“Listen! Follow my lead and stick to me, the last thing we want is you wondering next to the helicopter’s rotor”…

What’s Up Jeddah would like to thank both their Royal Highnesses Prince Sultan, Prince Saud, and the Royal Saudi Navy for an unforgettable hour and a half flying over Jeddah in a fighter helicopter.