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With 200 skydives under his belt, Detective Inspector Mark Duncan is a high-flyer in the diving domain, putting his "knees to the breeze" whenever he finds the time. The Sha Tin Divisional Criminal Investigation Department officer recently took part in the 1999 World Free Fall Convention at Quincy, Illinois in the United States, the world's biggest skydiving spectacular with 5,500 participants from 54 countries making about 69,000 jumps in 10 days. The August dive-bomb carnival also saw some 33 units of blood donated by jumpers and more than US$12,000 raised for charity. DIP Duncan jumped from a variety of aircraft during the carnival including helicopters, biplanes and even a Boeing 727 jet. The highlight, however, was a restored World War II B-24J Liberator bomber which carried sport jumpers for the first time in history at the convention. Divers leaped from its huge bomb bay doors! "I am glad I overcame my initial fears when I started jumping, as 200 jumps later, I have a much wider choice of skydiving activities to take part in which are immensely satisfying. But obviously, you need to maintain a lot of respect for the sport," he said. "Skydiving is a fantastic leveller of people with those from all walks of life getting into it and developing a close bond. You must really commit yourself as there is little room for error. Safety culture in the sport is taken extremely seriously - absolutely paramount. It really opens your eyes to what is important in life, and what is not." While capturing stills from several hours of video footage taken from his helmet camera, DIP Duncan told OffBeat he even bumped into an "Old Friend"of the Force who was also diving at the event. "It is amazing who you bump into at these things. I'm sitting on this plane at 15,000 feet in Illinois with the tailgate coming down and suddenly I meet a former senior officer of the Hong Kong Police!" Who's the mystery jumper? Watch this space!
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