For Ed Straub and Bill Snyder, business is plummeting…and they wouldn’t have it any other way. As co-owners of Skydive Inc. in Hastings, Straub and Snyder specialize in doing what some care not to even think about: jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
“I jump out of airplanes for a living,” says Snyder, a veteran of 1,900 jumps. “All I have to do is fall down — gravity does all the work.” To Snyder, this is the ultimate “corner office with a view.”
This season alone, more than 400 first-time jumpers have found their way to Straub and Snyder’s “office,” the only drop zone in West Michigan. At 10,000 feet above the lakes, forests and fields of Hastings, the view is unparalleled. It’s the descent, however, that’s truly unforgettable.
“Skydiving is as close to flying as you’re going to get,” says Snyder. Skydive Inc. offers customers a chance to experience it.
Founded in 2006 in Plainwell, Skydive Inc. this year moved to its present location at the Hastings City Airport, a location formerly operated by Skydive Hastings. A unique and valuable asset to the local economy, it is the only drop zone in metro Grand Rapids and one of only eight Michigan operations licensed by the U.S. Parachute Association (The next closest operation is in Fremont.) Skydive Inc. operates out of an old aircraft hanger, where friends and relatives can watch jumpers glide to earth from the comfort of over-stuffed couches and lounge chairs.
First-time jumpers are harnessed to one of the outfit’s 22 USPA-certified jumpers. And no need to worry about that step out the hatch: In his 15 years as an instructor, Snyder has “never had anyone chicken out.”
On a recent Saturday afternoon at Skydive Inc., staff member Matt Molineau prepped for a jump with Jessica Kenworthy, a college student from Grand Haven. “Before we go, I’m going to inspect this pack, and make sure it’s all kosher,” Molineau explained. “I’m sure you can appreciate that.”
“I do,” said Jessica, smiling and nodding enthusiastically.
Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane
Snyder acknowledges that for some (if not most) people the skydiving experience is dismissed long before take-off. “Why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?” is the common refrain. Snyder – like the rest of his staff – just laughs it off. “There’s no such thing as a perfectly good airplane.”
Skydive Inc. operates its own Cessna 182 aircraft and leases others on busier days. Many of its pilots are graduates or students from Western Michigan University’s highly regarded College of Aviation. “We’re not all a bunch of Mountain Dew commercials waiting to happen,” says Snyder of his crew.
Behind safety, the biggest concern among potential skydivers is the actual feeling of falling through the air at 120 miles per hour. “Everyone thinks that it’s like a rollercoaster where you lose your stomach,” says Snyder. “It’s not. There’s no vertigo sensation or even sense of falling.”
The worst parts of the experience actually tend to be aesthetic. While editing video footage of a jump from earlier in the afternoon (photo and video packages are available), Snyder focused on a young girl whose broad smile is contorted by the rushing wind against her face. “Yeah, 120 miles per hour isn’t the prettiest thing on the skin.”
Sean Fahey, a sophomore at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, went skydiving at Premier Skydiving in Fremont this summer for 18th birthday. He admits to being a little nervous prior to jumping.
“I had no idea what to expect. I was a little nervous on the way up,” he said, “but once I jumped out it was exhilarating.” Like Snyder, Fahey says the stomach doesn’t do somersaults. “It’s not like that. Once you start flipping you don’t even think about that.”
Fahey recommends that first-time jumpers go “tandem” – or with an instructor – so “they’re mostly in control.”
For many, the hardest part of skydiving will happen on the ground. At Skydive Inc., the first tandem jump costs $215, although group and package pricing is available. Prices decrease with each session until divers finish the company’s “Jump School” program, bottoming out at around $60.
Compared to other rights of passage, skydiving is a bargain. The company has even seen an uptick through the economic slide.
“What we’re noticing,” says Molineau, “is that instead of someone blowing $2,000 on Orlando or Jamaica or something, people are thinking, ‘we’re gonna go jump out of an airplane instead.’”
Although colder weather doesn’t necessarily preclude Skydive Inc. from jumping, the company’s season generally runs from early April to late October. Even on the warmest days in August, the temperature runs a chilly 52 degrees Fahrenheit at jump altitude.
Anyone 18 and older can skydive, providing they meet basic health requirements outlined by Skydive Inc.
“Everyone’s got their own reason for it,” says Snyder. “People build it up in their head far differently than what it is…but there’s nothing to compare it to. When they do it, they say, ‘What was I so nervous about?’ There’s really nothing to it.”
Dan Treul is a freelance journalist in Grand Rapids. He is currently attending Aquinas College, where he is the editor of the student newspaper,
The Saint. He is also a contributor for the Huffington Post.
All Photographs courtesy of Skydive, Inc.