MONCTON – Miramichi’s Amanda Peterson chose quite the way to celebrate her 18th birthday. It was her first time ever flying in a plane and she decided to jump out of it.
“One day I was sitting on the couch with my step-dad and he asked what was on my bucket list and I said sky diving and I ended up here.” said Peterson.
At Skydive Moncton, based out of Notre Dame, N.B., owners Serge Richard and wife Louise have been helping daredevils realize their dreams of skydiving since 2002. The couple took their first leap out a of a plane back in 1999.
They were so captivated by the extreme sport, they decided to buy Skydive Moncton.
“Some people compare it to a spiritual experience, Richard said. “People don’t believe me when I say this but it is relaxing and will relieve the most stress of the day instantly.”
That’s a little hard to believe, but it could explain why the club has been around for decades.
Skydive Moncton is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.
The club was started back in 1978 by a small handful of New Brunswick thrill-seekers.
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“It was very bare bones. A lot of military gear was used back then, leftover gear because there was not a lot of commercially available gear.” he said.
But since then, Richard said the equipment has become more reliable and tandem jumping has also grown in popularity.
Now, four to five hundred new jumpers get suited up to jump here every year, he said.
But just how safe is this sport? Richard claims it’s safer than most.
“There was a study made on different activities and it was one of the top 10 safest sports that you could possibly do.”
In the past 10 years, there was one fatal accident. But, it was an experienced jumper practicing a risky maneuver. Richard said injuries to tandem jumpers are rare.
“Just in my recollection I can count two broken ankles in the last 10 years.” he said.
All risks aside, Global New Brunswick’s own Laura Brown could not pass up the chance to check skydiving off of her bucket list.
WATCH: Global’s Laura Brown takes the plunge
As she plunked herself into the plane, she wondered what is it that makes people actually want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?
Richard said it’s all about the rush.
“It’s the fun seekers the adrenalin junkies, people that just want to push the limits and feel alive.”
Brown found out first-hand what that experience isl ike after taking her first tandem jump.
“It is like an out of body experience. You don’t even think about the fact that you are jumping out of a plane,” she said after her jump. “You are, like, I have to do this cause I am strapped to someone and they are going to go anyway. So, I got to go! Then, as soon as you get out you look around and see the fact that you are falling into New Brunswick. It’s amazing. It’s so great, exactly what I wanted it to be.”
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