Land of the free fallers

By Chris Reber

The Morning Call

July 03, 2008

• Original The Morning Call article: Land of the free fallers 

Fourth of July traditions are relatively standard -- fireworks, barbecues, Sousa marches.

But over the last 30 years, Lehigh Valley residents have come to know a distinctly Allentonian tradition that's grown up alongside sparklers and the Marine band: the annual jump by the Lehigh Valley Parachute Club.

And over those three decades, only one person has jumped into J. Birney Crum stadium every year. On Friday, Jeff Buss of Catasauqua will pack his chute to jump into the stadium again.

''It's a pretty neat jump at night, over the stadium. This stadium, it's just lit up like a green postage stamp,'' Buss said. ''Once you let go, you're gone.''

While a teammate will carry the group's 10- by 20-foot American flag, Buss will carry the traditional black Prisoner of War flag to remember his fellow war veterans. Buss started sky diving shortly after a tour of duty in Vietnam.

''I was just looking for excitement,'' Buss said.

A lot has changed since then -- planes, chutes, and certainly the jumpers.

When Buss started, military surplus parachutes were the norm. With today's technology, jumpers can maneuver easily even while gliding horizontally at 25 miles per hour.

''That old army surplus stuff, that was horrible, you would just thunder into the ground....I used to be tall,'' the diminutive Buss joked.

Over 30 years of jumps, the Parachute Team has become much like a family, and Buss is its de facto father figure. The team's leader, Ken Bangham of Allentown learned how to sky-dive from Buss in the late 1970s. It was around that time that the group got together, jumping from a small airport near Slatington.

Buss had his log books stolen 10 years ago, but he estimates his current jump total to be in the 4,000 range. Still, all that experience doesn't take away from the exhilaration of flight, he said.

''There is no gravity. You're just in 3D space,'' Buss said. ''Then everybody pulls off and flies down.''

At first, the group did a few demonstration jumps, but it was mostly a recreational group. In 1978, the club decided to jump into the stadium for the first time.

''It was pretty scary, until we realized we could do this pretty easily, and make it look good,'' Buss said.

Bangham, the team leader, had tried to hide his sky diving from his parents for years. The secret was spoiled by a front-page photo in The Morning Call.

Over the years, the sky-divers added a small American flag. In recent years, the team has been jumping with a big flag, which the team sewed out of parachute remnants. At this point the jump is second nature.

''Well, if you're going to trust your life to somebody, you have to be a pretty tight group,'' Buss said.

These parachutists are not your average thrill seekers. In order to jump into the stadium, you need a Professional Exhibition Rating. With requirements that include a minimum 500 jumps and at least 10 jumps within a 10 meter circle, it's a rare distinction.

Team members agreed every Fourth of July jump is a wonder.

''I force myself to take a moment to just look around, hear the sound of the city and the sound of the crowd,'' Jim Kresovitch of Germansville said. ''The closest thing would be like floating over the city in a balloon.''

The team can jump from as high as 14,000 feet without supplemental oxygen. But on Friday they'll jump from 4,000 feet, so the crowd can see them better.

''You want people to see you,'' Buss said. ''If you jump at 10,000 feet you're just little specks. We free-fall maybe 10 seconds, then you open the chute.''

All of Buss' colleagues from the 1978 jump have left the team for other pursuits, and he said he'll soon give up the July Fourth event, too. But with local jumpers in their 70s, he won't give up the sport.

''Thirty years,'' Buss said. ''I'm starting to think, that's too long.

''I did the flag jump so many times, now it's time for somebody else to do it.''

chris.reber@mcall.com 610-820-6586

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