by Gary Holden | D-31444 | Cincinnati, Ohio
This adventure all started around my 60th birthday, in March 2009, while talking with my co-worker, Abby, who has the same birthday as I do (though I’m 30 years older). We were trying to come up with something special to do. I mentioned that I would like to jump out of an airplane before I got too old to do it. Abby said that she had always wanted to do it, too, and we made a pact: I would do it if she would. So in June, we made our first tandem skydives. I was hooked! Then we made two more, one in July and one in August. In September, we started the AFF program at Start Skydiving in Middletown, Ohio, but ran out of good weather before the end of the season and had to finish the following year. more »
Jen Sharp is passionate about skydiving, education and the internet. Sharp holds multiple USPA instructional ratings, owns Skydive Kansas in Osage City and has developed several skydiving websites, including 
Nicole Smith, D-32007, recently accomplished the mission of jumping in all 50 states. The accomplishment is all the more impressive since she completed her journey a little more than a year after a serious car accident required her to undergo eight months of grueling rehabilitation. Smith shares details of her skydiving odyssey, which has inspired countless people to make the most of life, on her blog at 
Luis Prinetto, D-30217, is well known on the boogie circuit as a freefly organizer. He was on the 138-Way World Record for Largest Head-Down Formation in 2012, as well as the three previous head-down world records. When he’s not on the road, he spends his time flying at Skydive Sebastian in Florida, where he’s launched his canopy and freefly training school, Fly4Life.