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Imagine being harnessed to a total stranger six times a day, for six days out of every week.
Consider managing this scenario at 14,000 feet in an aircraft with no seatbelts and designed to be jumped out of.
Now you can begin to picture the average working week for freelance skydiving instructor Andre Hansen.
Originally from New Zealand, Mr Hansen spent his early years experiencing the world with a bird's-eye view.
You have the snap decision 'what the hell am I doing, I need to stop this now' but I think it's just a knee-jerk reaction.
A frequent passenger with his pilot father, it was through the window of an aircraft that he considered an aviation career.
"I used to go up with him when I was really young, flying around," Mr Hansen said.
"I used to love looking out, down and out of the aeroplane, and then I found out you could actually jump out so, being young and stupid, I wanted to try it."
Mr Hansen jumped from a plane for the very first time over the Thames Valley in New Zealand at just 14 years of age, and has not stopped since that day.
Now, 13 years on, he has more than 10,000 jumps under his belt - 8,000 of which have been tandem jumps.
Sky's the limit: 200 kilometres an hour on the job
On any given day, Mr Hansen could have three to 12 customers strapped to him, making for a full 12-hour day of skydiving.
"We land and we grab another rig, another passenger, and get ready to go [again]," he explained.
Mr Hansen said he is typically met with one of two responses when he tells people what he does for a living.
"They're either a little shocked [but] usually happy about it, but you also get the people who would never do it, and they definitely let you know," he said.
With licences to jump in Australia, the United States and New Zealand, Mr Hansen has worked in a number of locations and rates Australia as one of the best places to skydive in the world.
"It's definitely up there. The instructors and what we've got here [in Australia] is just amazing," he said.
America the site of most memorable tandem jump
"I've jumped in America and I thought they were going to be a lot better but here in Australia, we're streets ahead of them."
However, it was America that provided Mr Hansen with his most memorable tandem jump to date after he was roped into a tandem sky-dive with a college basketball team's mascot dressed in an eagle suit.
"He had this massive [eagle] head that was huge," Mr Hansen said.
"So, when we got out of the aeroplane, because of how big everything was, it threw me onto my back.
"I had to fight that and that was pretty interesting!"
Experiencing exhilarating speed with strangers who are new to the sport is one of Mr Hansen's favourite aspects.
Sky-diving is the kind of experience he said very few people regret.
"It's just awe-inspiring and it's not until they jump out of the aeroplane that they realise how good it is," he said.
"They can be nervous, crying [but] it's all about how you deal with them and say, 'it's alright, just hold on here and away we go'.
"When they jump out, you see their mind blowing and it's really good to see."
But diving through the sky, reaching speeds of around 200 kilometres per hour, has not been without the occasional bout of motion sickness for a few of Mr Hansen's customers.
"I wouldn't say it's a daily or weekly occurrence but it happens from time to time - the Lamborgreenie!" he laughed.
"A lot of the reason why people will pass out, or vomit or feel ill is they haven't had anything for breakfast or lunch."
Weather poses most nerve-wracking variable
As a self-confessed adventurer, it was almost guaranteed that Mr Hansen would find a way into the sport.
"If I was a doctor or lawyer or businessman or whatever else - I could have been - I think I'd still be wanting to go to the drop zone on weekends and going for jumps," Mr Hansen said.
Undoubtedly, it is this enthusiasm which propels him out of the plane day after day, but not without a sound foundation of experience and judgement about the environment he enters.
Mr Hansen said the weather posed the most nerve-wracking variable that could spur moments of doubt within him at times.
"It's on a day-by-day basis. If it's really windy and we get the call 'are you happy to jump' and I think no, we'll land the airplane and wait for the wind to stop," he explained.
When asked about the inherent risks of the sport, Mr Hansen said he thought most skydivers maintained an open mind in their philosophy on life and death.
"They've calculated all the risks and what's involved and they're happy with it," he said.
Thirteen years ago, Mr Hansen was confronted with a skydiving accident that forced him to assess his attitudes about the risks involved.
"When I was new to the sport, I had a friend of mine who had a very hard landing," he said.
"The toggles that we use to land our parachute, one actually snapped at a few hundred feet and that sent him into the ground pretty hard right in front of me.
"You have the snap decision 'what the hell am I doing, I need to stop this now' but I think it's just a knee-jerk reaction.
"I've lost two friends in the US and another friend in Switzerland base-jumping. That's pretty tough.
"I look at it as part of doing what we do. It's a very sad part."
'You'll never look at the sky the same'
Despite losing some friends to the sport, Mr Hansen said it had not contributed to a personal fear of death.
"It's not really something I think about or I'm too worried about either. It's pretty safe and straightforward up there," he said.
Mr Hansen said he had never experienced an equipment failure and the reserve parachute was always accessible should there be problems with the first.
"They're [parachutes] designed to open, they're always going to open," he said.
"We make sure everything has been re-routed properly.
"Our pins are all in place, reserve pins in place, our automatic activation device is on and the bridle is clear and free to come out [for the parachute] and we make sure all the three rings of the parachute are sitting nicely."
Mr Hansen said there was only one notable experience where he had felt unsafe due to two parachutes opening instead of the one.
"I was flying around under my parachute and setting up for landing and then my backup parachute decided to come out," he said.
"The customer didn't have any idea what was going on.
"I didn't have time to talk to her about it but I was going to land in the ocean, just off the shore, but [at the] last minute I felt stable enough to land on the beach.
"That was pretty scary for me, having two parachutes [out], because they can tangle; they can get along with each other or not get along with each other."
Looking back on his career to date after 10,000 jumps, Mr Hansen said the adrenaline was still there every time and the fear from his earlier years had subsided.
"You're questioning what you're doing when you're flying in the aeroplane when you're starting out, but you just need to suck it up and start thinking positively [and] power through," he said.
"Once you jump out of the aeroplane, it's like, 'yes, that's why I'm doing it'; that amazing feeling."
Mr Hansen said narrow-mindedness about skydiving was the biggest deterrent to people trying the sport in the first place.
"It's a tough one for a lot of people because they think falling out of an aeroplane is the most dangerous thing in the world when really, it's not," he said.
"It's not all 'fingers crossed and I hope this works'. Technology is out there and it's amazing technology that we have.
"[You] just need to get out there and try it.
"It will open your mind and blow you away. You'll never look at the sky the same."
Topics:
community-and-society,
human-interest,
lifestyle-and-leisure,
sport,
sydney-2000,
switzerland,
united-states,
new-zealand
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