Sky’s the limit for record-breaker Maddy

WHEN she gets on a plane, the only thing that worries Maddy Heath Kelly is that she might still be on it when it lands!

The Exeter girl is one of the best skydivers around, and has just broken multiple world records during an incredible series of dives over Holland.

As she reveals, some top skydivers do have a fear of heights, they get more nervous closer to the ground than up in the clouds, and if a small plane has to land with its skydiver passengers still on board, it can be a decidedly-dodgy landing.

“I have skydiving friends who are scared of heights,” Maddy admits.

“They say you are so high in the sky when you do this that your brain can’t really process what you’re looking at.

“Up there, it’s just like a patchwork quilt, but it is actually scarier jumping out at a lower altitude, when you can see animals, cars and people.

“Most of us, though, are fine once you get out that door on the plane. It’s just that initial leap of faith!

“I’ve only met one or two people who did this and hated it.

“Most, once they’ve skydived, love it.

“Skydivers, however, absolutely hate landing in planes.

“That’s a bit of a fear of ours, and it seems really unnatural to us.

“We had a jump the other day, but the conditions were so bad, so cloudy, that we couldn’t jump and had to come back down in the plane.

“Everyone was terrified! These are special planes, and it can be a bit dangerous, landing with a whole load of people.”

But none of this has prevented this amazing young woman from going back up, again and again, to break all those records recently.

Maddy, a psychiatric nurse, has no sponsorship and pays for all her skydiving out of her salary.

Her latest feat saw 46 female skydivers from 15 different European nations make a sequence of butterfly formations, flap the “wings” and set a dozen new records in 10 jumps.

England, Scotland, Ukraine, Russia, Holland and the other nations had women dive from three planes at 17,000 feet, meeting each other on the way down at speeds of 120mph.

“We’d gone over with the aim of breaking one European record,” Maddy says of the event, set up by Women On Wings, the female skydiving group.

“When we got down, the organisers were crying with joy.

“They told us that the shapes we’d just made had never been done anywhere in the world by a group of women that size.

“We kept going up again, with a bigger group, so we kept breaking records!

“We also managed to do four different shapes in the one jump, which again has never been done before.

“I’ve never been on a jump with such a talented group of women.

“Next year, we are planning to break more records, when we will do dives involving 120 women!”

How on Earth, pardon the pun, does such a large group of people keep a cool head and get themselves into the right part of complicated formations and shapes, up among the clouds?

And do they get nervous in case they bump into each other, or the cameraman gets in the way, or they land in a river or on top of another person, or halfway up a tree?

“A lot of us know each other already, because some are in national teams or are world champions,” Maddy reveals.

“There were eight British women on that event, so we know each other.

“It is all very well planned, obviously. Before I even left Britain, I had an email with a picture of the butterfly showing exactly where I would be on it.

“You know what exit you’ll have from the plane, whether you’ll be one of the first or last to jump, even what colour of jumpsuit you’ll need for the formation.

“They slot you into position depending on what your best abilities are.

“If you are a very strong flier, they’ll put you in the middle, because it is hard work there to keep the formation steady.

“We are all holding it together, but the people in the middle have 40-odd others pulling at them.

“The tension can become unbearable and sometimes, the formation breaks.”

So is it terrifying, seeing the Earth coming towards you ultra-fast?

“You’re falling at about 120mph, and as you are going so fast, you don’t really need to worry about wind blowing you about!” Maddy laughs.

“It can be hard work, especially the butterfly, as it’s quite a flimsy formation.

“Letting go and making another shape is hard, too. There are two or three cameramen there, too, usually.

“Then we split up and get apart, starting at around 6,000 feet.

“Landing is the most-dangerous time, but you can speed it up or slow it down, to keep out of each other’s way.”

Surely we should see skydiving added to the Olympics?

“I think it should be,” Maddy agrees. “It’s quite a good spectator sport when there are clear skies. We had loads of people on the ground watching.”

Who knows? Perhaps Maddy Heath Kelly could be there, adding to our next huge haul of gold medals at Olympics of the future.

A woman with her dedication and skill deserves it.

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