Gary's Sky Diving Page


On Friday, October 1, 1999, Gary being of (questionable) mind, jumped out of an airplane at 12,500 ft above Grove City Airport (in a 45 knot wind, where it was 24 degrees), strapped to someone else, who was wearing a parachute. Gary and his friend Marty (a friend from the Switch) both tandem jumped that day.	Gary took classes jump alone, but decided to tandem jump for his first try.

Gary and Marty practice their arch - needed in freefall to stay level and "belly to earth"	While freefalling at 120 mph, Gary practiced (3 times!) locating and identifying the pilot chute handle, and, at 6000 ft above ground level, pulled the ripcord. After a (very minor) parachute malfunction - end cell closure, where one of the cells (visible at the front of the canopy) on the end isn't fully inflated; was corrected, Gary flew the canopy (following the instructor's commands, of course!) until 1000 ft above ground level. At this point, the instructor, who is the owner of Skydive PA, brought them in for a very gentle landing.
	For more skydive pics, check out www.tommywatson.com. He's the Aussie guy on loan to the Switch who talked Marty, Gary, Mike (MDawg), and Ray (Skippy) into jumping. For more info about skydiving, see Skydive PA's website. For a few pictures of a tandem skydive, follow this link to their page.

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