It’s never too late to make your dreams come true: Novosibirsk resident Vladimir Aksyuchets jumped with a parachute at the age of 75. And he’s not going to stop there: he planned the next jump for his anniversary—his 80th birthday.
Ekaterina Karpenko
Vladimir Aksyuchets dreamed of becoming a pilot since childhood. He graduated from the Irkutsk Aviation School, then worked for many years as a flight mechanic at Severny Airport. With age, he became deaf in one ear and retired. But the thirst for flight did not go away. Once in the chronicles, a pensioner read that Budyonny jumped with a parachute even at the age of 80. The thought arose: maybe I should also take a step into the air?
I arrived at the Mochishche airfield and inquired about the cost of the jump. The girl manager named the amount 11,000 rubles. “Impressive figure“, thought the Novosibirsk resident and tried to negotiate a 50% discount. The employee promised to discuss this with the business owner.
“After some time they call me and say: if this restless grandfather passes the commission, he will fly for free. That’s it, I passed the pre-flight inspection. And here is my first jump. It feels like a bird is sitting inside you, and then, when the parachute opens, it’s a little different,” says Vladimir Aksyuchets.
Video: personal archive of Vladimir Aksyuchets
The debut jump was from a height of 3000 meters, 1500 of them were free fall.
To the question “Was it scary?” the pensioner replies: “At this age, it’s not scary to jump even without a parachute.”
He immediately explains: over the years of work I have seen a lot of fans of flying, but then I was responsible for other people, and when I was only responsible for my own life, it was no longer so scary.
Now Vladimir Aksyuchets is 77 years old. He intends to make his next jump on the anniversary. She also wants to take her niece’s husband with her for company, so that she has someone to discuss her impressions with.
Tags: Novosibirsk pensioner preparing parachute jump #80th birthday Novosibirsk
