World beneath their feet

Sitting inside an aircraft that is soaring into the skies gives many a jitter. But imagine standing and performing on an aircraft, thousands of feet above ground level. This is exactly what ‘Scandinavian Airshow Skycat Wingwalkers’ Anna Ljugsberg and Victoria Smars, have been doing at the ‘Aero India 2017’.

 They have been grabbing a lot of attention and the two beautiful women are soaking in every moment. Both Anna and Victoria are professionally trained skydivers, which is also a prerequisite to join the team.

Explaining their act, Anna says, “During the flight, we climb and pose on the wings of the aircraft and perform various formations like ‘lazy cat’ and ‘super cat’ when the pilot is making aerobatic manoeuvres like loops and barrel rolls.” Victoria pitches in “It’s exciting because we see the people looking on with amazement and then we know that our job is done.”

Victoria joined the team after she was offered the job. “I was asked if I wanted to join the team and I didn’t have any seconds thoughts. I just grabbed the offer,” says Victoria. Anna joined after she saw the videos of the performance. “I wanted to be up and do the same thing,” she says. 

They get mixed reactions from spectators. “Some people think we are crazy, others think it’s a lot of fun,” says Anna. “There are a few others who are also jealous. But we have a lot of young girls who have evinced an interest to join the team after they saw our performance,” adds Victoria.

The aircraft always flies at 2000 ft. Have Anna and Victoria experienced fear when performing stunts in such high altitudes? “I don’t know what it is like to fear or get scared of. It’s exciting and extremely thrilling to go so high in the skies,” says Anna to which Victoria adds, “Our pilots are very experienced and the mechanics who work on the aircraft are good too. So we have no reason to fear because we know that we are in good hands.”

The ladies work out regularly and watch what they eat to stay fit. “We keep ourselves active to make sure that our energy levels don’t drop,” says Victoria.