How Skydiving Changed My Life

When I was 16 years old and working as a summer camp waiter in New Hampshire, I was commandeered off a road one day to help fight a forest fire. That day, I saw smoke jumpers jumping in to fight the fire. I thought it was so neat that each summer during college I applied to the smoke jumping school in Missoula, Montana, but, sadly, was never accepted.

After college I went on to play amateur football, ice hockey, lacrosse and baseball and... Read More

How Skydiving Changed My Life

I began this wild and wonderful sport of skydiving like most, by taking a trip to the local DZ on a dare; I experienced the thrill of freefall with a tandem jump. A month later, I made one more tandem and was hooked. My good friend, Angel, and I decided to continue the thrill and step it up a notch by wearing our own rigs. After a year of AFF and accumulating enough jumps, we were skydivers! I felt confident enough in my skydiving skills to invite... Read More

How Skydiving Changed My Life

It was the summer of 2006 in southeastern Michigan. I was barely 23 years old, growing my destination wedding photography biz and in the midst of being a serial dater attempting to find someone who could keep up with my passion for extreme sports. Every date I had was atypical and centered on adventure. Trying to not repeat anything, it was only a matter of time before one of my dates included skydiving.

My date and I met at the local drop... Read More

How Skydiving Changed My Life

As a young U.S. Army specialist fourth class, sitting at my desk in Bad Tolz, Germany, I heard the drone of an L-20 (de Havilland Beaver) high overhead. It was February 1960 and pleasantly mild for a February day in southern Germany. I looked out the window, spotted an aircraft and watched in horror as a body fell out of the airplane! Speechless and affixed to my chair, I was amazed as a bunch of stuff came streaming out above it, and—to my surprise... Read More

How Skydiving Changed My Life

I spent my young life hearing about skydiving from time to time—my father, Gary Fletcher, C-2100, filled my head with stories. I always kind-of wondered what it would be like, but never really gave it serious thought. Then I grew up and moved away from home.

In 1998, my parents asked me to move back and work in the family business. Since my life had slowly been going down a bad path, and I needed to get back on track, I did. In 1999, when... Read More

How Skydiving Changed My Life

As I stood on the podium, flashbulbs burst and applause washed over me like a warm wave. Blissfully dazed, I bowed my head and shoulders so the silver medal could be hung around my neck. I couldn't help the cheesy, overused, but oh-so-accurate line from running through my head: "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore ..."

Ten years earlier I was married and had a stable job. I had a pleasant but rather unexciting life and can still... Read More

How Skydiving Changed My Life

It was March 15, 2007, my 42nd birthday, and my fiancee and I had just ended our seven-year-long relationship the day before. To say I was feeling a little down was an understatement. My friend Rich invited me over to his place to have a beer and just hang out. When I arrived, I noticed a photo that was placed on his TV; it was of a bi-plane flying upside down, and Rich was hanging under it with a big grin on his face. I could not believe that... Read More

How Skydiving Changed My Life

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you stop looking for something you really want or need, it finds you? Skydiving did that for me in two ways. I found myself and I found my soul mate: two things in life that had eluded me for a long time.

I went for my first tandem when I was 21, and I was instantly hooked. I had never flown in a plane before, so the experience was even more exciting. I can still remember that first plane ride,... Read More

How Skydiving Changed My Life

In 1993 I lost my 17-year-old son to a tragic accident—a parent's worst nightmare. The next couple of years were spent in a fog, a journey through pain. I moved through life in sort of an auto-pilot mode. I continued my work as a cardiac rehab nurse; I was a wife and a mother to my daughter, but I wasn't there—not really.

Sometime after the first two years following the accident, I began to think about who he was, this boy I had lost. He... Read More