University Daily Kansan / Friday, October 5, 1990
Lifestyles
11
READY, SET JUMP
For flyers, skydiving provides better view than window seat
It's not easy clinging to an airplane that's going 75 miles an hour.
I hung by my freezing hands from a wing strut on the Cava, 3,500 feet above Harrisonville. Mo. As the wind peeled back my eyelids, I looked inside the plane at instructor Dave Walker to await his final command. through the wind and the root of the engine, Walker yelled, "Go, So I did."
I took hold of the red steering handles, or toggles, suspended above my shoulders and yanked several times, until I saw each section of the square parachute flare out. Then I looked around.
It was suddenly very quiet. The plane had gone. I felt something pull behind me, heard something above me, and looked up to see a yellow and black tangle flapping against the bluest sky I'd ever seen.
When I was younger, I demanded the window seat each time my family took vacations by plane. But parachuting gave me the best seat in the car.
My legs dangled through the harness, feeling as if they weren't there at all. I pivoted around by pulling one all and saw more fields and more
ponds. And there was the plane, a white speck returning to the airport.
An instructor on the ground gave instructions to me via a radio tied to my harness. He said I could play around a little. So I did four full turns, two in each direction, and then was told to steer toward the airport.
By then I was only a few hundred feet above the ground. I hadn't felt as if I'd moved down at all. But the closer I got to the ground, the more I noticed my descent. I had to watch for trees and power lines.
As I pivoted around to get ready to land, I realized how tired my arms were. Pulling those tongues took me to the brink of endurance than I anticipated.
Twenty feet above the ground, the instructor told me to flame the chute, or put on the brakes. I pulled the toggles to my waist but couldn't force them the rest of the way down. I hit the ground going too fast to safely remain standing, so I slid into the grass and watched the parachute crumple down beside me. The trip had taken less than seven minutes.
I stood to gather my chute and walk to the hanger. I shouted across the room to the instructor standing there. "Here, can I go again? That was great!"
Bob Pudenz of Overland Park hangs from the wing strut of the plane before letting go on his first static-line parachute jump.
Weekend sport attracts variety of people
F or increasing numbers of people, including many TU and also became the first university to begin weekend warmer.
New equipment, safety features and training have made skydiving not quite as risky. Skydivers no longer hammer into the ground with round, military-style parachutes, but virtually tipee out of their landings using new, square chutes equipped with brakes.
Three schools — Horizon Skydiving School in Harrisonville, Mo.; Missouri River Valley Skydivers in Lexington, Mo.; and Mid-America Skyspots in Garnett — have collectively attracted hundreds of KU students to skydiving. But the majority of the patrons are ordinary people who want a little adventure. They range from homemakers to stockbrokers, postal service workers and veterinarians.
Each location offers training courses that last
only a few hours, giving the opportunity to jump later in the day. Also offered are tandem programs for those who prefer to have an experienced instructor along for the ride.
Prices vary at each school but usually run between $120 and $150 for first jumpers (that includes training and equipment rental). For secondary students, the cost is much better but don't have equipment, the fee is about $30.
Missouri River Valley Skydivers, the largest facility in the Midwest, takes more than 40 people a day on jumps. Of those people, about 15 are first-time jumpers.
Mike Myhne, MRVS owner and a veterian skydiver who has jumped more than 4,130 times, said the most frustrating part of training new people was dealing with the bad rap skydiving had received. The public usually read about the sport only after a mishap, he said.
First-time jumpers are instructed how to fall correctly from the plane, how to steer and stop a parachute, how to land and the all-important course of training training courses that culminate in first jumps.
Dana Sarevelli, owner and manager of Horizons Skydiving School, said he began skydiving in 1982 to conquer his fear of heights. Emergency procedures are stressed throughout training
"It's got to be in your subconscious about it to deal with emergencies, which is why we had them."
In addition, first-time jumpers are told ahead of time that it's normal to get a case of the willies when they arrive.
"This is the way it works," Horizons instructor Dave Walker told a class of about 25 people one
See SKYDIVE, p. 12
Stories by Courtney Eblen Photos by Keith Thorpe
During his first jump, Ken Leffert, Springfield, Mo., floats 3,000 feet above the Missouri countryside.
Chris Hall of Lee's Summit. Mo.. packs his parachute after a jump.
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