50 year journey from a backyard clothes line to indoor skydiving for adrenaline junkie Sandy Brooks

From the time she was a kid playing on the Hills hoist in her Ryde backyard, Sandy Brooks always wanted to fly. Now, around half a century on, she does.

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From when she was a kid growing up in Ryde, Sandy Brooks wanted to fly.

She jumped off rooftops in a few ill fated attempts to soar high.

She hung onto her mum’s clothes line and swung because it was fun.

It took 50 odd years for Brooks to fly for real and now she’s addicted.

She’d almost given up on her dream when she saw a TV show about a new sport she’d never even heard of before. Indoor skydiving.

Now, at age 56, Is flying high on a regular basis and loving it.

”I just love it”. Indoor Skydiving competitor Sandy Brooks is addicted to the new sport. Pic: Troy Snook.

“I’m hooked,” she said.

“I googled it and found there was one about to open in Penrith and a month later I went out to have a try and I just took to it.

“It’s ridiculous, it’s like jumping out of an plane, which I did after a I thought after a year, just not as scary.”

Flights indoors simulate the 50 seconds of free fall you would have prior to pulling your parachute after jumping out of a plane.

Appealing for Brooks is the fact the sport suits people of all ages, fitness and abilities.

“I wasn’t certain if I should do it at first,” she said.

Competitors at the Indoor Skydiving competition in the AA Formation Skydiving 4-Way event.

“Sure there are people, super slim and super fit, but I don’t care and I just love it.

“I was a kid who swung off the washing line and jumped off the roof and tried to fly all the time. This is a hell of a lot safer.”

The radiographer, who now lives and works in Sydney’s west, competes in the vertical formation discipline with partner Pete Pellegrini, a leg amputee.

“That’s where you fly on your belly and fly on your back and then standing up in the wind,” she said.

“Our name is three feet under. I’m not dead, I’m not six feel under, I’m only half way, so we call ourself three feet under.”