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Love
is in the air
Proposal at 8000 feet
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Jumping
for joy ... Flight Sergeant Shaunn Segon proposes to Flight
Lieutenant Tonia Lucas during her tandem parachute jump
with Warrant Officer 2 Phil Thame.
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The presentation of a ring on the ground sealed the engaging
moment.
Photos by PTE Matt Hawkins and CPL Pete Gammie.
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Proposing
to someone has never been easy, especially when you only give yourself
eight seconds to do it.
Flight Sergeant Shaunn Segon’s recent proposal to his girlfriend
in mid-air went down like a parachute – but that was how he
planned it.
Competing at the ADF Parachuting Titles at Wagga, FSGT Segon proposed
to his girlfriend, Flight Lieutenant Tonia Lucas, on the last day
of competition.
An
AMTDU loadmaster at RAAF Base Richmond, FSGT Segon has completed
more than 2300 jumps and wanted to do something different.
“I really wanted to surprise her but was quite worried as
it was the last day of competition – the aircraft could have
broken down or bad weather could have cancelled the flight,”
he said.
FLTLT Lucas was going to Wagga by train the night before, but
delayed timetables and bushfires threatened to derail the surprise
proposal. At 4.30 on the Friday morning the train eventually arrived
in Wagga with the couple scheduled to board the Caribou at 6.30am.
FLTLT Lucas, a medical officer at RAAF Base Glenbrook, had only
jumped once before.
The couple jumped at 10,000 feet and at 8000 feet, still in free
fall, FSGT Segon showed her his handmade sign featuring the words
“will you marry me!”
With frantic nodding and the double thumbs up, FLTLT Lucas said
yes.
“It was unbelievable – I saw him jump out and come toward
me and thought ‘what has he got in his hands?’When I
saw it, all I wanted to do was get to the ground and talk to him
– we had not even discussed it,” she said.
After landing, FSGT Segon dropped to one knee and proposed again,
this time with the engagement ring.
“... but my legs were still like jelly and I could hardly
stand,” FLTLT Lucas said.
A veteran of 14 consecutive ADF Parachuting Titles, FSGT Segon
had to spend most of the day in the air and not with his new fiancee.
“I just wandered around in a daze all day showing off the
ring,” FLTLT Lucas said.
FSGT Segon finished the competition with strong placings –
second in the Canopy Relative Work team event involving canopy
rotations, and sixth in the Swoop Accuracy category which requires
landing on a frisbee.
The couple, who met two years ago in Queensland on Op Abseil,
plan to marry in 2004.
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