Parents refused him to climb Mt Everest, he goes skydiving at 43,000 ft breaking world record!

NewsBharati 31-Jul-2023 15:26:06 PM

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In what can be called an interesting story of an IT professional, Jithin Vijayan has set a Guinness World Record for the longest outdoor freefall (2:47 minutes) with his most recent jump — from Whiteville in Tennessee, USA, on July 1.

With this jump, he also set two Asian records — for exit from the highest altitude (42,431 feet) and the longest fall without a drogue (36,929 feet).

"I had climbed to the Everest base camp in 2022. My plan was to spend a year preparing for the next summit and unfurl the Indian flag atop the world at 29,000ft. But my family did not support me because of the high risk," says the 41-year-old who has made close to 200 jumps in his year-long skydiving career.

Jithin Vijayan, a Kerala techie skydived from an altitude of 42,000+ feet (flights fly at 32,000 feet!) unfurling an Indian National Flag creating Four GUINNESS BOOK World Records on July 1st. Let's appreciate such brave Indians@narendramodi @pinarayivijayan @ianuragthakur pic.twitter.com/0CP25a3vTG
— Ram Mohan Nair (@rammohannair) July 23, 2023

Vijayan now holds the altitude record for a skydive with a banner/flag (42,431ft/12. 9km). He also registered 2. 47 minutes of free fall (time between the jump and the opening of his parachute), beating the previous world record of 2. 3 minutes. In the process, he broke the Asian records for the highest altitude in a skydive and the maximum vertical distance traveled (36,929 ft/11. 25km) without opening the parachute.

The only other sport in which he could have carried a flag that high was skydiving.

Jithin while being accredited as a professional skydiver simultaneously also works as the director of N-Dimensions Solutions Private Limited, an IT company in Ernakulam.

Since his childhood, Jithin had this intense passion to fly. This first led him to Paragliding and from there he switched in to skydiving. He has even acquired A Grade license from Spain. He also trained at skydiving centers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and UK.