Griffin falls for skydiving experience

Liza Poskin, Associate Editor • November 12, 2010

Many new freedoms and opportunities arise to teenagers on their eighteenth birthdays: the right to vote, buy a lottery ticket, get a tattoo and, oh, jump out of a plane.

What many adults have on their “bucket lists,” Kyle Griffin, senior, has already crossed off of his. In early August, just a month after his eighteenth birthday, Griffin went skydiving for the first time at Archway Skydiving Center in Vandalia, Ill.

“I’ve always wanted to do it,” Griffin said. “When I turned 18, I finally could.”

Griffin chose the Accelerated Freefall jump, which is approximately a one-minute freefall of 14,000 feet with an instructor hanging on at each side. After 8,000 feet of freefall, Griffin pulled his own parachute.

“We were nervous,” Karen Griffin, Kyle’s mother, said. “But that’s just his personality. When he sets his mind to something, he does it.”

Karen Griffin said Kyle is a risk-taker, but doesn’t get it from her.

“I wouldn’t dive off the high dive,” Karen Griffin said.

Kyle Griffin said the best part about skydiving was the freefall experience.

“It’s a rush as soon as you leave the plane,” Griffin said. “You feel weightless when you’re dropping.”

Before jumping, Griffin attended a six hour class of required training where he learned aircraft procedures, exit technique, freefall body position, parachute deployment, emergency procedure and canopy control and landing techniques.

Griffin forked over $269 for his first jump, but the cost hasn’t impeded his urge to skydive. Griffin said he went skydiving a second time and even prepaid for two more jumps.

“I love it,” Griffin said.

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