OCEAN CITY — City Council President Pete Madden had a short but unusual perspective of the resort he represents early Saturday afternoon, free falling toward it from 10,500 feet in the air.
He did a tandem parachute jump with Team Fastrax during the annual Airport Festival. The free fall lasted about 45 seconds and then the parachute opened and he was under the canopy for another four or five minutes before landing at the Ocean City Municipal Airport.
“It felt amazing,” Madden said once back on terra firma. It was the second time for him.
“This second one was great because I got to take in all of Ocean City. To see the town and free fall down into it was awesome. Two years ago I got to do it and I guess I got the short straw,” he said, laughing.
“I got the opportunity to do it again this year so I jumped at it,” he added, apparently with no pun intended.
“It’s definitely scary because you’re up there but you’re teamed with Fastrax and they’re amazing,” Madden said. “They make you feel so comfortable. Their process, their standard operating procedures and what you do, you feel like you’re part of the team in the whole show that they’re doing.”
Is this going to become a hobby? “No,” he said, bursting out laughing.
“The coolest part of this is my son (Carter) got to fly up with the pilot. At 12 years old he sat in the co-pilot seat and flew up. I’m looking forward to seeing him when he gets out of the plane,” Madden said.
This was one of “a few thousand” tandem jumps Matt Harvey of Fastrax has done.
He said the top priority is safety and the second to give the person linked to them a great time.
“We take any safety standard and we double it because it’s all about the tandem passenger experience. We want it to be exhilarating,” Harvey said. “We also want it to be beyond safe, as safe as we can possible make it. That’s number one.
“Number two is their experience, making sure that we’re not overdoing it for them, giving them an upset stomach anything like that,” he added. “We want them to have the best experience possible and enjoy the exhilaration of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.”
Harvey and Madden jumped after Team Fastrax did other parachute jumps over the airport, displaying flying participants linked together with massive American flags and two parachutists doing figures in the sky.
On Saturday evening, the team was going to perform a pyrotechnic show over the beach and boardwalk. On Sunday, the resort had an airshow over the boardwalk with precision flyers and other stunt airplanes.
Airport Festival
Saturday’s Airport Festival was packed. Cars were parked lining both sides of Bay Avenue and on side streets as thousands of people visited the municipal airport to look at planes, walk the tarmac, watch the stunts and enjoy food and other activities, including the chance to look inside the airplanes and sit in the Cape May County Mosquito Commission helicopter.
The Booth family of Doylestown, Pa., was sitting by their Cherokee 6-300, talking to spectators about the plane they use to commute to Ocean City, where they have a second home. The plane can fly six passengers comfortably and haul a nice payload.
“We’re from Pennsylvania but we have a house here in Ocean City so we fly back and forth,” Christy Booth said. She added the family enjoys the Airport Festival.
“It’s really great to see everyone out and get to peek behind the curtain of what’s really here, so it’s fun,” she said. “We finally got a nice day for it. A lot of years it rains. It’s fun to be part of the community here.”
She and her husband noted the flight from Doylestown, bypassing the traffic, especially on holiday weekends, is a bonus. “It doesn’t suck,” she said, smiling.
Her husband Warren said his plane is great for moving gear.
“If it fits, it ships. Basically whatever I can stuff in it, the airplane can lift it so it’s known as a good hauler,” he said. “It’s a good camping airplane. I can throw in whatever I can fit. Grills, tents, sleeping bags, bikes, scooters.”
Christy said they do camping trips every year.
“Our long trips, once a year we usually head out to Wisconsin, once a year we head down to central Florida for big aviation events at those two places,” Warren said. “Mainly we use it for our Bucks County-Ocean City express. So it’s a 25-minute flight versus a two-hour drive.”
Their son, Sawyer, 16, a student at Central Bucks West High School, loves flying as well. Although he doesn’t drive, taking the plane back and forth is “quicker. I still have to sit in the car as well so this is a lot more fun.”
In addition to his time in the Boy Scouts — he is almost an Eagle Scout — flying is what he really enjoys.
“I’m technically a student pilot right now. I started flying probably when I was 11 and started pilot training about a year and two months ago,” he said. “I’m really into flying.”
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
