Clippings re Sheridan Peterson and Boeing Employees Skydivers ('This Man Jumps From Airplanes for Kicks')

Elation, Freedom':

This Man Jumps From Airplanes for 'Kicks'

Here we have a man who jumps out of airplanes for fun. He falls at 120 miles an hour. He glides like a bird. He blossoms out with a parachute. He lands with a bump. He's always a little fearful before each jump, but he thinks that's OK. His name is Sheri- dan Peterson, former Montana smoke jumper, now a Boeing Employees Skydiver.

Skydiving is fun, but . . . let's let Sheridan describe it. "When [guess: jumping] I'm a little uncertain, however, I've built up my self con- fidence. I still have a little fear, but I feel if you don't feel a tinge of fear you might become a little careless."

WHAT'S IT LIKE?

Well, what's skydiving like? What kind of attitude does one have when jumping out of an air- plane? Why is it fun?

You really have no sensation of dropping . . . it's like floating on a river of air. The farther you fall the firmer the air feels," Peterson explains.

"There are many reasons why people skydive," Peterson said. "It's simply a sport with unlimited challenge. It's a sensation of free- dom when you're sailing through space at 120 to 130 miles an hour. Some enjoy the excitement of fear —it makes all the other problems one might have seem trivial. It's a release. There also is a feeling of elation when the chute opens.

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SHERIDAN Peterson, skydiver, strikes typical high altitude in-flight pose.

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● F[illegible]ER SMOKE JUMPER "I first started jumping as a smoke jumper in Montana," said Peterson. "It was in the early 50s when I was a student at the University of Missouri. At the time I was quite interested in being a writer and I was looking for new experience—broadening my base of knowledge.

"I read an article about smoke-jumping in a magazine and sent in my application. Two years later I was accepted. We were employed by the U.S. Forest Service to contain fires in isolated areas in Montana.

"My first jump was quite an experience," Peterson recalls. "At 2,500 feet I knew I was going to jump. I wanted to, yet I didn't. Then my instructor gave me a heavy pat and out I went . . . my eyes were closed. In fact, my eyes were closed during the first five jumps."

Peterson did his first free fall in 1953. He wished he hadn't. He jumped out and tumbled head over heels "for quite a distance." Peterson then pulled the ripcord and nothing happened. Finally, in desperation, the smokejumper-turned-skydiver, "threw" the ripcord. The parachute blossomed, but Peterson didn't know how to guide it.

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● NEAR ACCIDENT "I just barely missed some power lines," Peterson said, "but my chute didn't. There I was suspended from the lines. This taught me the dangers of unsupervised jumping."

What's the difference between skydiving and regular parachuting? Peterson says when a regular parachutist jumps his chute is opened automatically by a static line connected to an airplane. When a skydiver jumps, he releases the parachute himself, thereby allowing him time to "sail" through the atmosphere.

Peterson didn't skydive again until last February. As a newspaper reporter, he did the jump to get a story for the Tri-City Herald. (He's now a technical editor in Org. 2-5000.) When Peterson came to work for Boeing last May he helped organize the Boeing Employees Skydiving Club. Now he jumps almost every Sunday. (The club has a 60-acre pasture near Kent.)

Peterson maintains there's a lot of interest in skydiving. He said he received more than 100 telephone calls about the club when a skydiving article appeared in The Boeing News. Sheridan has 13 sky dives to his credit.

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● TESTS REQUIRED When one wants to be a skydiver, one has to go through supervised testing period. First there's short delays — then the delays (from airplane to release of parachute) get longer. Then there are licensing phases. And, all club jumps are supervised by a safety officer. Then—if the main parachute fails, skydivers always have an auxiliary one. Consequently skydiving is quite safe, maintains Sheridan Peterson.

So, all you seekers of "freedom," "new experience," "adventure," "release"—just call Sheridan Peterson at Ext. 5-2234 and sign up for the club. The minimum age is 18; the maximum age is a little vague — around retirement age, Peterson comments.

There's only one minor drawback. If you're married, keep an eye on your wife. "Wives," says Peterson, "are considered by many to be the greatest obstacle to skydiving. There seems to be one way out of this problem — get more women interested in the sport."

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Skydiver Places in Sunnyside Tourney

Paul M. Clifford, Boeing Employee Skydivers' president, placed third in the style event at the second annual Central Washington Skydiving tour- nament at Sunnyside last Saturday and Sunday.

Clifford, a professional exhibitionist with more than 270 delay-falls, made a figure eight and a back roll in less than 15 seconds from 4,000 feet. Rainy weather imposed the low-altitude regulation on the stunt jumpers who ordinarily fall from 7,200 feet.

Six other Boeing employees participated in the contest. David Lithgow, Ralph Mulvihill and Clif- ford competed in the senior spot jumping, team jumping, and style jumps. Those competing in the junior event were Jack Simmons, Jim O'Brien, Sheridan Peterson and Peter Thomas.

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