Our new home is at Hawthorne Field Airport in Kountze, Texas

ADVENTURE: Skydiving club draws adventure-seekers

By TERESA MIOLI

December 2, 2009
Posted: December 2, 2009, 6:47 PM CST  

A trio of licensed jumpers and the adrenaline-seeking novice jumping tandem with them pack the small airplane at Hawthorne Field Airport in Kountze like sardines.

Michelle Judice, who is taking the leap to celebrate her 49th birthday, is pressed against Jeff Patricio who has a camera bolted to the top of his helmet.

Chris Wade, a 57 year old mortgage broker from Beaumont , sits to Judice's right and faces 24-year-old Tyler Mathews, one of the youngest members of the club.

After the pilot takes flight, the skydivers keep an eye on their wrists to track their altitude above sea level on their altimeter watches.

In thirty minutes, the needle will hit 10,000 feet and it's time to jump.

Judice does not look panicked as she hooks up to Wade for their tandem jump. She's excited.

"It's on my bucket list," said Judice, a writing and literature professor at Lamar State College-Port Arthur.

"DOOR!" The pilot gives the signal and Patricio opens the portal, jumps into high-speed winds and hugs the wing of the plane. He wants to get video of Judice as she jumps.

Like a flash, the jumpers are gone with the wind. First Wade and Judice, Patricio follows and finally Mathews dives arms first like Superman.

Members of the Groundrush Skydiving Club load planes in Kountze two to three weekends every month. Club owner Bob Rocke said that to help pay the bills, the club offers tandem skydiving lessons and jumps to members of the public looking for a thrill.

The club also performs demonstration jumps at area events, such as the Fourth of July festivities in downtown Beaumont .

Rocke, a 58-year-old retiree from Houston , started the club and small business about 20 years ago at the Beaumont Municipal Airport . When Hurricane Rita wreaked havoc on the field, the club leased a private airport in Nome for three years before Hurricane Ike blew them away.

Their new drop zone, a place where skydivers can take flight and land, is at the tiny airport in Kountze.

Rocke said that Groundrush is a private club and that in order to jump at the drop zone, members of the public have to sign a waiver that automatically makes them a part of the club.

The club is a group member of the United States Parachute Association.

Not everyone that makes their first jump returns a second time, but the longtime members say they were hooked after they made their first flight.

Patricio, who lives in Beaumont and works at Mobil Oil, said he started skydiving in the late 1980s and has jumped more than 5000 times at drop zones in Texas , California and Florida .

The veteran jumper said he was an adventure-seeker when he was younger and raced Motocross. When asked why he took up skydiving, Patricio gave an answer common among the long-time skydivers at Kountze: "I got bored doing all the other stuff."

Clint Rawls, a 52-year-old computer consultant from Conroe , said he took his first leap more than a year ago.

"It was my son's 18th birthday and we gave him a birthday present and I got hooked and he didn't," Rawls said.

Since that day, Rawls bought a $400 suit and has jumped 53 times.

"Have you ever dreamed that you were flying?" Rawls asked. "You really are flying when you're up there."

In between tandem jumps, members of the club with their skydiving licenses go for solo "fun jumps." Rocke, as he is known by longtime Groundrush members, said the club needs to have three tandem jumps scheduled to finance a jump day.

Novices pay $199 for the tandem jumps. The fees help the club pay for the associated costs, including fuel for the plane and to maintain equipment.

For about five hours starting Sunday morning and into the early afternoon, jumpers dropped from the sky one by one, trailed by blue, red, yellow and white canopies.

Rocke said skydivers travel at 120 mph while in free fall. At 2,500 feet, tandem jumpers pull their chutes and slow to a speed between 12 and 25 mph. The club owner said sport jumpers can build up speed to 300 mph in free fall, but must slow to 120 mph for their chute to work effectively.

The speed of a free fall is so noisy that Rocke explained it's impossible to hear other jumpers speak. He said that dead silence pervades once the parachute opens.

Rawls said that during the free fall, he can move around like he's flying and he doesn't feel like he is falling.

"When you get closer to the ground you'll see the ground coming at you then you know you're falling," Rawls said.

Al Saylor , the Houston-based airplane pilot for the day, said he is also a skydiver and has been jumping for 20 years.

"[Piloting skydivers is] fun because everybody in the airplane except for you has a wild look in their eye," the 49-year-old Saylor said with a smile on his face.

Ask someone why they don't want to jump out of a plane and they might answer with a question, "What if my chute doesn't open?"

Lori Givens and her son Zach Givens learned at Hawthorne Field that it sometimes happens.

In free fall, Mike Nugent, the professionally certified instructor jumping tandem with first-timer Zach Givens, pulled the main chute and realized it was tangled.

Nugent said after chutes are pulled, jumpers perform a control ability check to make sure the chute releases correctly and can be steered. If the chute fails the check, the 18-year skydiver said the jumpers cannot land safely and resort to the backup canopy.

Zach Givens had taken the leap before his mother who had an aerial view of his main chute flying away.

Lori Givens said she was not sure what was happening and her tandem partner informed her there was a problem with Zach's chute.

"Once he told me he was okay and that yellow parachute was them, I was ok," Givens said.

The incident didn't worry the mom and son from Devers too much; they both said they want to jump again.

Patricio said pilots keep in contact with other planes while in flight and issue a warning shortly before the jump to make sure other aircraft is at a safe distance. Before jumpers take the plunge, Patricio said they visually scan the sky for planes.

Rocke and Patricio said skydivers get their reserve chutes tested by an FAA rigger every 180 days and take a safety course every year. There are also multiple chute checks prior to jumps and other precautions taken by the jumpers.

Close to lunchtime on Sunday, 47-year-old Mike Whitley of Beaumont flips hot dog links on a grill for grounded jumpers to enjoy.

"I used to live out by the airport and used to watch [the club] do it every weekend and I got tired of watching them do it so I went out and did a tandem one day when my wife and kids were shopping, Whitley said. "Nobody knew it."

Eighteen years later, the auto parts store owner is still jumping with the club.

"I guess I'm a speed freak. I like to go fast and I like adrenaline," Whitley said.

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