Page 7 - Volume 15 Number 9

SEPTEMBER 2021
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 5
The roll-up door retracted upward as sunlight beamed through the opening. Beacon steady; green. Go, go, go! Thousands of feet of air; around a minute of free fall followed by a graceful drifting back to reality. Another takeoff in an aircraft followed by a biped landing.
Jumping out of “perfectly good airplanes” is something that happens every day across the country. Whether it be tandem with an instructor or any other freestyle solo work, adrenaline junkies enthusiastically hurl themselves from many types of aircraft. Among those aircraft are Beechcraft King Airs, specifically model 90s and a few 200s, flown for skydiver transport.
Skydive KC uses a 1977 King Air E90. Owner Chris Hall is Skydive KC’s sole pilot. Having been around the skydiving industry since the early 1970s, he has decades
of experience, including 23 years as a “drop zone” owner. His skydiving and aviation careers have been linear, intersecting at times. Seeing his dad jump on the weekends back when the industry was “really casual,” Hall awaited the chance to free fall himself and seized the opportunity while in high school once he turned 18. At the same time, he had interests in pursuing a career as a professional pilot, but ultimately opted not to. He continued skydiving as a hobby on the weekends. Being in the Midwest, operations are “seasonal and on