Erie News Now | WICU & WSEE in Erie, PAReporter Skydives for American Lung Association

Reporter Skydives for American Lung Association

You wouldn't think the American Lung Association had a lot in common with skydiving.  If you ask experienced skydiver John Ellison, of Skydive Pennsylvania, you'll get a better idea of how they're connected, "nothing's better than clean air and we all need it, and we're falling through it every day."

Sarah Steele, the Development Manager for the ALA, agrees, "we want to make a big, bold statement for the American Lung Association, and people definitely use their lungs when they're jumping out of that plane."

On Saturday morning Reporter Vanessa Herring was joined by others raising awareness about lung disease by skydiving.  The group met at Skydive Pennsylvania, in Grove City.

Ellison explains how the groups tandem jumps worked, "it's 20 minutes of instruction, you watch a video, they tell you some safety stuff, and we go get in the plane and go."

Up we went, to a cool 13,000 feet, packed like sardines, into a tiny aircraft.  Then, despite a little apprehension, it was time to fall out of the plane.  Everyone experienced about a minute of what's called, "free fall."  

"You're falling through the air at 120 miles per hour, there's really no other way to do that," says Ellison, "I have 5500 jumps, I've been doing this 17 years, and it's still very hard to explain."

After about 7 minutes, or so, of floating, everyone made a safe landing back at Skydive Pennsylvania.

The day wasn't just about skydiving, though.  It was a big fundraising event for the American Lung Association. Every jumper had to raise at least $500, with an $18,000 goal for the campaign.  "We raised about eight or nine thousand," says Steele, "we'll see once the day's [Saturday] done, but so far for our first year, it was really exciting."

The money will be used to support the work the American Lung Association is doing right here in our community, "Our money will go toward programs in the Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania region," explains Steele, "it'll also go toward research to make sure the people who have a lung disease, we can find a cure or better treatments for them."

Despite falling short of that $18,000 goal, Steele says she's optimistic about next year, "everyone's just been so excited about this unique event and hopefully next year it'll be bigger and better."

Donations are still being accepted.  You can donate at www.lunginfo.org/skydivepitt.  Click on Vanessa's name to make a pledge.

 If you'd like more information about Skydive Pennsylvania, visit their website at www.skydivepa.com  They're open Wednesday through Sunday.  Reservations are preferred.