In line with the motto ‘Warisan Darah Perwira’ (Inheritance of The Blood of Warriors), commandoes from the Royal Malaysia Police VAT69 team are never afraid to face any challenge.

Any task, especially when it is a matter of life and death, can surely be handled perfectly with the commandos’ experience and skills.

A VAT 69 commando, Sergeant Shahril Afiza Zahari or better known as ‘Janggut’, said one of the skills required to accurately determine a skydiver’s jump is to be sensitive to the altitude, weather including wind and to have much experience.

“A lot of experience, I mean these people have made hundreds of jumps and are sensitive to the altitude so that they can land exactly on target.

“Also, these people must be good at ‘reading’ the strength of the wind so that it does not exceed a speed of 30 knots to perform precision landing jumps to the target set,” he told Bernama when met at a skydiving demonstration in Padang Tekah here recently.

Shahril Afiza is among the six commandos from the Royal Malaysia Police VAT69 team who will put on a special parachute jump performance with the Jalur Gemilang flag, making it the highlight of this year’s celebrations at Dataran Putrajaya on Aug 31.

“If the skydiver cannot correctly assess the wind conditions when landing, he may break limbs or suffer serious injuries due to the wrong landing method,” he said.

He said if the weather is cloudy or rainy during the demonstration, the parachute performance will not continue as the skydivers will be exposed to lightning and thunder.

Also, every VAT 69 commando involved in skydiving must know how to control the movement of the parachute rope and what kind of wind is required for landing.

With regard to areas with many obstacles such as tall buildings, Shahril Afiza said the divers need to have specific knowledge about a place like Kuala Lumpur or Putrajaya.

“Alhamdulillah, as long as I have been engaged in precise skydiving, I have never experienced a situation where I have crashed into a building or where the parachute did not open during a jump from 4,000 metres,” he said.

Shahril Afiza, who has 19 years of experience and has already completed 600 dives, said he has never felt dizzy and no longer has a fear of heights.

According to him, skydivers need to be calm when they are in the air and enjoy the beauty of Malaysia from above.

“As for safety, skydivers do not have to worry because they have two parachutes, the first or main parachute ready to be used and the second is a reserve parachute.

“The second parachute is a reserve parachute that automatically opens at the set altitude if the main parachute does not open or inflate,” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency