This had to be one of the most fun and frightening assignments I’ve ever had. I was doing alright until they made me swing the door open on the jump plane. Even though I wasn’t jumping, they outfitted me with a parachute ‘just in case.’ I love seeing where you end up as a storyteller! I never thought I would be in a jump plane full of people 50 years older than me. Link to the Story

 Free falling: Local group meets to skydive, some for the first time, others into the thousands

On a Saturday with nothing but blue skies, members of the Southeast Missouri Skydiving Club gathered in a hangar at the airport in Cairo, Illinois, to celebrate Don Dorris' 80th birthday. Dorris, a longtime sky diving instructor for the club, even made a jump from 10,000 feet to commemorate the day, which he spent with some of his close friends.

One jumper will make their first dive today, while some club veterans stopped counting after their 2,000th.

Parachutes cover the carpeted floor of the hangar as jumpers fold and wind their colorful gear into backpacks for another jump. Most of the jumpers go into a deep focus as they pack their bags because there is no room for error in this sport. Step by step, they fit an enormous canopy into the small bag that rests on their back.

Divers pile into the jump plane five at a time to get their chance at some free fall. As the plane takes off, the divers power up the cameras mounted to their helmets and occasionally look at their wrist-mounted altimeters. Most jumps take place between 4,000 and 10,000 feet in the air.

Once at their desired altitude and the plane is positioned over the drop zone, the jumper in the front of the aircraft reaches over to open the door. A rush of air fills the cockpit as the door flies open.

While holding onto a support, the first jumper steps out onto a small platform attached to the landing gear. The only thing left to do is jump.

As the divers free fall to earth, they quickly become tiny dots on the horizon, almost disappearing from view, until their neon parachutes seem to explode into place above them. The five jumpers meander through the sky for the next few minutes. They touch down just a few hundred feet from where they took off less than half an hour before.