Skydive DeLand

One of the things I like to do on my lunch hour is to go over to DeLand Municipal Airport and watch the skydivers.  Of course, usually when I go over there with my camera, nobody is skydiving.  When they are, I don’t have my camera.  Yesterday, however, not only did I have my camera and a sky full of skydivers, but I had a brilliantly blue sky for a backdrop, with just a few clouds here and there.

Now, have no fear, I have no interest in actually doing this myself.  My courage is for wildlife, not for manmade dangers like this one.  I just love to watch them come down.

In the few months I’ve been here, I have learned to tell the beginners from the more serious skydivers, the pleasure-seekers from the professionals.  The beginners tend to come down slowly, just drifting through the sky.

Sometimes the professionals do that at first, but then they do this:

When they turn sideways like that, they plummet toward the ground with unbelievable speed.

*****

Just when it looks like they’ll splat, they right themselves again to slow their fall.

And hit the ground running.

You might think that once they’re on the ground, it’s all over, but in reality, they still have a lot to do.  The chutes must be gathered up and carried in to be repacked so they can do it all over again.

I saw their shirts before they went up, so I know that this group is a para-rescue team.  They seem to really like their jobs, which is a good thing, because otherwise, they’d have to send sissies like me up there to rescue people.

Tags: airplane, airport, clouds, Deland FL, DeLand Municipal Airport, Florida, para-rescue, parachute, photography, photos, running, sky, Skydive DeLand, skydivers, skydiving

• February 12, 2013
• Airports
• 1 Comment