t Photographs
by
Ten Ivy
ing yet extremely relaxing.”
Former NU wrestler, Ryan Tobin,
picked up sky diving this summer
because he had some free time. Fie
has made 1 1 jumps and is now a
weekend regular at Crete.
‘T do as many different things as I
can, Tobin said. “I am a sports
enthusiast, but this one tops them
all.”
Meanwhile, Anderson said he
went skydiving with a group of
friends when he graduated from UNL
and, during the past four years, he has
become addicted.
Anderson said he likes the friend
liness of fellow sky divers.
You can go about anywhere in
the country and people will walk up
to you and introduce themselves,”
Anderson said.
No fear
While the sport of sky diving may
sound dangerous, modern technology
has made it one of the safest sports
for people of all ages, Janousek said.
In 39 years, the Lincoln Sport and
Parachute Club has only had one
fatality, which occurred in 1974.
Janousek said there were close to
25 sky diving fatalities per year in the
United States, but that number comes
out of nearly 3 million sky dives.
“Usually 80 per cent are because
of bad decision-making or human
error,” Janousek said.
Even if the main parachute does
n’t open, there is an emergency chute.
Dave Schwartz, vice president of
Lincoln Sport Parachute Club, expe
rienced a failure by his main para
chute only once.
“You always prepare for each
jump like your chute is going to fail,”
said Schwartz. “When it happened, I
just reacted and didn’t think about it.
When you get on the ground you have
more time to worry.”
And if a person passes out or gets
knocked out, there is an electric mon
itor that automatically opens the
parachute at 1,000 feet.
Jumpers also carry altimeters so
they know when to open the para
chutes.
These pieces of equipment are
just two of the things that Janousek
said have improved safety.
Rectangular parachutes are anoth
er improvement. They handle better,
have more reliable openings and are
easier to land than round ones,
Janousek said.
“It’s night and day difference,” he
said.
The rectangular parachutes also
have made for a smoother jump.
Contrary to popular belief, sky diving
doesn’t jerk the body too much,
Janousek said.
“It’s like a sudden deceleration to
a stop sign,” he said. “You notice it,
but it’s not enough to be uncomfort
able.”
" Up, Up and Away...
Once people get up enough guts
to sky dive, they still have a certain
step-by-step process to go through
before they can become licensed sky
divers,
First* to get a license, a potential
diver must be age 19 or older.
Both the Lincoln Sport and
Parachute Club and Crete Skydiving
Center also require jumpers to make
five static-line or tandem jumps with
an experienced sky diving instructor.
And nearly every sky diver said
the second jump was the worst, but
after that, each jump got easier.
“The second one, you know what
is going to happen and wonder why
you are doing it again,” said Mike
Blacksher, president of Lincoln Sport
Parachute Club and a 24-year veteran
of the sport.
Once sky divers make five jumps,
they can become licensed and then
are able to make free-fall dives on
their own.
Then the diver must choose a
group to jump with.
Janousek said the difference
between the two local sky diving
groups is that Lincoln Sport
Parachute Club is a club and Crete
Skydiving Center is a business.
While Crete Skydiving Center
may be a business, Rob Ator, a pilot
and drop zone instructor at Crete
Skydiving Center, said the goal of
their business was to create a club
atmosphere.
“It comes down to a matter of
preference for where you want to
jump,” Ator said.
The Crete Skydiving Center
charges $180 for tandem skydives,
$155 for a static-line course and each
static-line jump after is $50. Free fall
rates for students are $40 per jump.
Once licensed, rates are $27 for free
fall or formation jumps.
All prices include gear rental.
Rates at the Lincoln Sport and
Parachute Club for non-members are
$ 140 for the first static-line jump and
six-hour training course.
Each additional static-line jump is
$40. Once licensed, each free fall
jump is $28. All prices include gear
rental.
Wherever sky divers decide to
jump, one thing is guaranteed,
Anderson said. Jumps will always be
exciting.
“My adrenaline still really gets
pumping when the door opens,”
Photos
(counter clockwise from top left)
LONNIE ANDERSON OF LINCOLN
clings to the airplane wing before
making his free-fall jump from
3,000 feet Saturday at the Crete
Municipal Airport.
ANDERSON, left, and the rest of his
jumping group prepare for take-off.
Pilot Rob Ator is a prof essional pftot
who also likes skydiving.
ANDERSON REPACKS his parachute
after his first skydive Saturday
morning. Skydivers can pack their
own parachutes, but the emer
gency parachute must be packed
by a certified rigger.
BOB BROCKMAN PACKS up his para
chute after landing. It takes an
experienced skydiver about eight
to 10 minutes to repack a para
chute.
