SUN CITY – Imagine the most beautiful sunny day you could ever behold. A brilliant blue sky is overhead. The sun softly warms your skin while a light breeze plays with your hair. You close your eyes and let yourself melt into a sublime sense of peace.
Suddenly, the wind begins to roar, your body feels weightless, and your heart threatens to jump out of your chest. Though terrified, you will yourself to open your eyes and realize you’re freefalling from 13,000 miles up with a parachute strapped to your back. Congratulations, you are skydiving.
Sun City resident Lyle Emory always wanted to feel the rush of skydiving. While vacationing recently in Florida, Emory took the plunge in the wild blue yonder. (Photos provided)
Lyle Emory, N.15, always wanted to feel that rush.
“It’s always something that I thought would be neat to do,” he said.
On a recent trip to Florida, Emory saw an ad in the paper about skydiving, “and I thought, ‘Hey, there’s my chance.’” Once his wife heard about his plans to jump out of a plane, she started trying to convince others to talk him out of it. Unfortunately, her plan backfired because now so many people knew that Emory was going to jump that he felt as if he couldn’t back out.
Once at the skydiving company in Florida, Emory watched a safety video and signed a mountain of paperwork.
“I may have signed away the house and grandkids for all I know…. I didn’t read all of the fine print,” he quipped.
The video explained what Emory and his tandem jump partner would do and what would happen once in the plane. Once they reached the optimum jump altitude, the professional tandem jump skydiver would hook up to Emory, the door would open, and they would jump.
On embarking the plane, Emory mentioned feeling nervous but excited at first. With every passing minute that the plane ascended, the nervousness grew as the earth became smaller and smaller.
“Once that door opens up and he says, ‘Okay, we are going now…’ then I was scared,” Emory said.
As Emory and his partner stepped into space, the wind roared past their ears, making conversation impossible. They jumped out at 13,000 feet and free fell for 8,000 feet at 120 miles per hour.
The chute opened, and for the last 5,000 feet, Emory glided gracefully to the earth below.
“It’s a carnival ride . . . once he opened the chute,” Emory said.
Upon landing, Emory took the opportunity to mention the rush he felt to his jump partner.
“I said, ‘Boy, when you jump out of that plane, it [sure is] exciting.’ And he said, ‘It’s exciting every time,’” Emory said. “I think I’ll probably do it again next year.”
