By Stephen Kindland
Staff writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS -- Mary Lou Hildreth, the plucky, motorcycle-riding mayor of Keystone Heights, can add skydiving to her resume now that she has jumped from "a perfectly good airplane" with a U.S. Army soldier strapped to her back.
Hildreth was one of a dozen Florida mayors taking part in a tandem parachute jump with the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team at Homestead Air Reserve Base on Saturday, Feb. 27. The event – the largest of its kind for a group of mayoral officials -- was held to show support of active, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers and their families.
Hildreth said she vacillated about making the trip to South Florida, but her adventurous spirit won out at the last minute.
"I guess I’m crazy enough to drive six hours to jump out of a perfectly good airplane," she said. "I’m afraid of heights. I can’t even stand outside on a hotel balcony.
"But they say it’s a life-changing experience, and if you have a fear of heights you won’t anymore," Hildreth said. "Just strap me to the hottest solider and I’m good to go."
Her Golden Knight turned out to be Staff Sgt. Joseph Jones, a veteran of more than 4,000 jumps who took her through the pre-jump process a couple of times as their UB-18 twin-engine plane made its climb.
"The scariest part was going toward that door," Hildreth said. "I almost had a panic attack. My palms were literally sweating.
"You have to kind of duck-walk to the door with a soldier strapped to your back," she said. "I was the first out. Looking 15,000 feet down – oh my God – it was awesome. The next thing I knew we were in a free fall. It was absolutely fantastic.
"We were spinning around and it was unbelievable," she said "Then he hits the cord and we shoot back up and start floating back down again.
"I could see from the ocean to the Everglades," she said, her words coming faster. "From 15,000 feet up you can see everything. Totally awesome."
Hildreth was one of only three tandems to skydive on Saturday because of a storm front that moved in shortly after her jump.
Once on the ground, however, the feisty redhead who was torn between spending the day riding her Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe with friends or jumping out of a perfectly good airplane remembered why she chose the latter.
Hildreth and 13 other Florida mayors took part in a more somber ceremony, where they signed U.S. Army community covenants to formally express their support of the U.S. military.
"The Golden Knights are a great group," Hildreth said. "It was an honor to be able to support them and all of our troops. It was a great, great day."
The Golden Knights was formed in 1959 as a Strategic Army Corps sport parachute team whose initial purpose was to compete in the communist-dominated sport of free-fall parachuting. Since then, the Golden Knights have performed for audiences throughout the world.
March 4th 2010 - 9:46PM