Hello and welcome to your next Wild Weekend, I'm your host Byron Goggin.
Now, if you're not a commercial pilot, but have always wanted to experience the sensation
of flight, boy do we have a show for you.
Everyone talks about it as a must do in their lifetime, but few follow through.
We'll take you skydiving with some first timers and show you what you are potentially missing
out on.
Once I got out, it was just brilliant, the free fall was like amazing.
Then, if free flight isn't for you, we add a motor and take you on the safest form of
flight known to man.
Basically rudders to turn and throttle up and down.
Also, we'll tell you a story of inspiration that may motivate you into never giving up
on a dream.
If you want to do something bad enough, it's been my experience that you can come up with
ways to overcome just about anything.
So buckle up tight and don't fly away for this edition of your next Wild Weekend.
I'm Byron Goggin and I'm a photojournalist.
For years I've been traveling around the beautiful state of Michigan in search of exciting outdoor
adventures for you and your family to enjoy.
What you're about to see is a collection of fantastic outdoor activities that you can
enjoy on your next Wild Weekend.
Skydiving is a sport that almost everyone wants to try at some point in their life.
For some reason, skydiving is viewed as a very dangerous and risky sport.
It's almost a rite of passage for some extremists.
Contrary to that belief, the sport of skydiving and its technology makes it no more dangerous
than any other sport.
We take you to Central Michigan Skydivers and show you how easy it is and how safe it is
to take that first giant step into excitement.
I've been skydiving for just about 20 years.
Next thing you know, we're getting on the plane and I'm gonna go, God, what have I done?
And then got hooked.
Going up, it looked like fun, so it was something I was always going to do and eventually started.
There's training programs that make it safe and make it more fun.
That's why we're doing more fun things in the air right now because it's the best time
to get into it.
Ninety-ninety-five percent of first jumps in this country nowadays are done as tandem
skydives.
It minimizes the amount of training.
The student fills up waivers, signs their life away, and then gets briefed on the jump,
takes 15 minutes, 20 minutes.
What's going to happen today, we're going to go two miles up in the air, that's between
10,000 and 11,000 feet, okay, we're going to fall about a mile.
This is the one I said you all be using, this is the parachute that you're going to be using.
It's made for two people, right on top of the reserve flap.
You've got this little computer, it's called an AAD, an automatic activating device.
It'll cut these two closing loops and outcomes of reserve, okay, it's just a safety precaution.
The most important thing here is lift your legs up as high as possible.
If you can wrap your legs around your ears, I'm one happy camper, not for my part, for
your part.
Why?
Because I want to touch the ground first.
If you touch the ground first part of your body, second part of your body, the gaze is
behind you.
You're going to be eating dirt, and I'm just going to laugh at you, okay, any questions?
Oh, I expect to have a great dive, and lots of smiles, lots of memories.
I've wanted to do skydiving just for the rush of it, you know, it's a once in a lifetime
experience, you know, not everybody can say that they've been skydiving before.
Tell me a little bit about packing a chute, how important is it, how important a task
is this?
Okay, it's not too important, but you do want them to open.
This one here is the reserve parachute, which is the important one, the first one, it don't
matter, you have two, it's all good.
This piece of material here in the middle, this is your opening device, it's called a
slider.
Basically it's parked into the canopy, once you open up it slides all the way down the
lines down to the rig, and it's above your shoulders then.
It makes for a smooth, slow opening.
Now these are really what they call airfoils, you pile them just like a plane, you're really
flying your parachute.
We're going to have a good time today, I'm going to see you up there just a little bit.
They get equipment on, and they go to the plane with the instructor.
The instructor is wearing the two parachutes, main and reserve, and his bike, and when the
plane gets to altitude the student harness is going to be hooked tightly to the instructor
harness, and then both people leave the plane as a unit.
In that scenario the instructor is taking care of all the details, so the student doesn't
need to know a whole lot.
It's good to have some nerves, I mean it is real, you are jumping from a plane, it is
a risk sport, it's as real as you're going to get it when you open the door a few miles
up and throw yourself out.
It's just the facial expressions they have when they're going out the door for the first
time.
You ever get those shots of the guy hanging on and won't let go?
Absolutely, okay one of the funniest I ever saw, now that I think of it, somebody decided
they didn't want to go in the door of the plane, this was not here, and the instructor
coaxed, controlled, the guy didn't want to go, and they started to go anyway and the
guy changed his mind and reached back in the plane, grabbed the whole exit bar, and pulled
both him and the instructor back in the plane and then proceeded to beat the snot out of
the instructor.
That's really not wanting to go.
No, he said, I told you I didn't want to go.
Coming up next, our first timers actually plunge into the great blue yonder.
Also, stick with us, if skydiving is too extreme, we might have the perfect alternative.
The best handling independent rear suspended ATV currently available, ATV of the year,
one of the best big board quads of all time.
It's in a class by itself, even with all the accolades, the king quads speaks for itself.
The king is here.
Hey what are you doing next weekend?
We'll make it something different and get off the couch and into the outdoors.
Your next wild weekend explores real adventures that you and your family can enjoy together.
We'll show you how and where to get involved.
Your host Byron Goggin will rope you in as he takes you rock climbing, mountain biking,
kayaking, hot air ballooning, scuba diving, and a host of sports you have never heard
of.
Whether you're a beginner or an expert with outdoor activities will preview where you
want to be on your next wild weekend.
There's probably two types of people.
Some people that would never ever jump from a plane, they think why would you do that?
And then there's other people that think oh yeah, it looks interesting, looks fun, nowadays
with the media it's much more in the public eye that yes you can skydive, it's available,
it's something that people do.
So there's part of the population that will jump.
8,000 feet, the days will say we've got about four minutes left, turn around, you squat.
That's when I start looking out, okay, we're just going to say ready, set, as soon as we
go off you arch, okay.
As soon as you step out, you get your feet on the platform, it tells you you're ready,
ready, you kind of rock, you do a somersault forward and you actually free fall just so
fast for just a second before he throws off a little shoot to stabilize your body and
make, I think he said you're only going like 120 or something a little better than that
when you're falling.
And then you just fall and wave and look around and have such a blast and as soon as he throws
a shoot, it's quiet.
You can hear everything, you fall through his clouds and point out landmarks and central
Michigan over there and what a good time, pull one handle all the way down, you can spin
around and do loops and oh, I had a blast.
Well, I'd say 99% of the people feel just overwhelmed.
And that's why I like skydiving, that's why I like taking in our feet on the end, hand
over hand, because man, he's basically like eating breakfast in the morning.
Someone just said, hey, we're going to skydive around the gashir, all right, whatever.
And then next thing you know, we're getting on the plane, and then I go, God, what have
I done?
And then got hooked.
It was fun and scary, but it was more fun than scary, so stuck with it.
I looked out the door and I saw the ground and it was like, whoa, and I'm kind of spawning
a little bit, but then I just closed my eyes as I was jumping out.
Once I got out, it was just brilliant, the free fall was like amazing.
I was a bit scared going up, because when you jump out, it doesn't feel like you're
falling at all.
It just feels like the wind is holding me up, except next thing you know, you're like
kind of halfway down from the plane.
It is a safe sport and there's hundreds of thousands of jumps each year.
So advice, if you want to do anything in life, do it now, don't wait.
I even had my mom go up with me, no one.
She loved it, she thought it was great, and I let her push me out of the plane, so she
thought that was kind of fun too.
You'd better get out here and do it, it was a blast.
It's okay for mom, it's okay for everybody else.
Now don't go away because we take parachuting a step further by adding an engine.
Also, an incredible story of overcoming the odds and not giving up, even when everyone
says no.
Didn't get enough of the story you were interested in today?
Check out the wildweekntv.com website.
There are links to every story that we cover on this program.
So if you're dying for more information, you can find it on wildweekntv.com.
There are additional links to sites like travel.michigan.org that will tell you what is going on around
the state of Michigan.
You can also find out great toys that will make your Wild Weekend more memorable.
Know more before you go at wildweekntv.com.
The best handling independent rear suspended ATV currently available, ATV of the year,
one of the best big board quads of all time.
It's in a class by itself.
Even with all the accolades, the king quad speaks for itself.
The king is here.
Hello and welcome back to your next Wild Weekend.
I'm your host Byron Goggin.
Now if you find skydiving to be a little bit too extreme, we found something that's a little
bit more subdued.
Now it still involves a parachute, but some consider it to be the safest form of flight.
Tower of Parachutes is about the funnest sport that you can ever do because it gives you
the freedom of flight and that very few men in this earth have experienced over the years.
Flying this style of aircraft gives you the freedom to just fly high, fly low, fly slow,
and there's nothing like it.
It's hard to explain unless you get into one of the seats and experience it for yourself.
Tower of Parachutes are really a pretty simple invention.
It's basically a big go-kart or buggy with a giant fan to propel it through the air.
It's attached to a parachute and it's quite simply the safest form of flight.
You're flying along and you have an engine out, which is probably one of the most dangerous
parts of flying because we're on a parachute and the sheet has so much drag, you get to
float down to the ground and you still have complete control of the aircraft so you can
steer it to a nice open field and still land softly without creating any damage to you,
the plane of course, or you know, with bringing you and your passenger down safely too.
The sport of power parachuting is growing quickly.
The Eagles Nest in Marine City, Michigan is one of many power parachuting clubs across
the country.
Monthly, members get together to discuss new aviation rules or changes and to plan new
places or adventures to try in the future.
Places like this one are finding themselves overwhelmed with membership.
All about seven years ago, there was three of us flying and they thought we started clubs
and we started officially formed a club with five members at that point and since then
it's grown to about 30 members over the last six years, you might say, and we meet once
a month just to share flying stories, winter months when we can't fly, we have classes
so we all keep current on the laws and regulations of power parachuting.
But more than this, clubs like the Eagles Nest are called on for search operations because
the shoots can fly solo.
They're the ultimate vehicle for detecting lost items from the air.
Two years ago when the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up on reentry over Texas, NASA was looking
for some help trying to locate the missing debris and so the word went out to the power
parachuting organizations looking for help.
So a few of us from my club volunteered, we went down to Texas and were assigned certain
grids to fly outside of the helicopter areas looking for lightweight parts that might have
got hung up in trees where the helicopters, if they fly over they'll disturb it and throw
that debris back into the woods.
So we flew missions for, well I was down here for a week, low level missions over some pretty
rough terrain spotting parts, locating them, marking with GPS, taking pictures of them
and turning the cameras to the FEMA people in the evening.
Now the only thing that these guys like more than flying exciting missions for NASA is
quite simply giving people who have never experienced the sensation of flight first
time rides.
For basically the cost of fuel, anyone can fly along and really it's not as scary as
what you may think.
My son's 13 years old and had the time of his life.
A lot of people are afraid of heights and when they get into a powered parachute it's a lot
different than what they think and they really enjoy it.
I myself am afraid of heights if I'm on a roof or something I'm scared but when I get
into a powered parachute you're secured, you're strapped in and it's a lot, it's real comfortable,
it's a lot different than what most people would think.
And to all those who try this flying adventure, it's unbridled excitement that has you hooked
from the first time you lift off.
Everybody, the first time they absolutely had no idea what to expect, it's very exciting,
it's exciting.
I've made 140 landings and takeoffs and every time I'm nearly as excited as my first time.
I took flying lessons years ago but in a cockpit, you know, and being out in the open it's
totally different.
You feel every vibration, that's the fun of it, you feel a breeze in your face, it's
real nice.
It's like nothing else you've ever experienced.
My experience with a helicopter ride was very, made me very ill but this is open air and
refreshing and beautiful and relaxing and just an awesome, peaceful ride.
Buckle up and sit tight because coming up next we'll show you that power shooting is
so simple that just about anyone can give it a try.
Hey, what are you doing next weekend?
We'll make it something different and get off the couch and into the outdoors.
Your next wild weekend explores real adventures that you and your family can enjoy together.
We'll show you how and where to get involved.
Your host Byron Goggin will rope you in as he takes you rock climbing, mountain biking,
kayaking, hot air ballooning, scuba diving and a host of sports you have never heard
of.
Whether you're a beginner or an expert with outdoor activities will preview where you
want to be on your next wild weekend.
Didn't get enough of the story you were interested in today?
Check out the wildweekendtv.com website.
There are links to every story that we cover on this program.
So if you're dying for more information you can find it on wildweekendtv.com.
There are additional links to sites like travel.michigan.org that will tell you what is going on around
the state of Michigan.
You can also find out great toys that will make your wild weekend more memorable.
Find out more before you go at wildweekendtv.com.
The thing about Rick is he is determined.
He learns quickly.
He listens well and just in general he just can adapt without really very little training.
When I first met Rick I was impressed with his intelligence and his willingness to fly.
You know you got guys who say I want to fly and they're a bit apprehensive and they're
perfectly healthy and then they look at a guy like Rick who just you know takes the
bulls by the horn, jumps right into the seat, takes some training and conquers it fearlessly.
There's really nothing special about me at all.
I'm rather ordinary but I do have a desire for living in this world.
Want to make the most of it and Howard Parrish can help you do that.
So if you haven't noticed by now, Rick's missing a little something or is he?
To most people it looks like a disability.
For me it's I'm missing a left arm but it's actually it's actually become a blessing because
I've been able to help a lot of other disabled folks who view me as disabled but after spending
a little bit of time with me it quickly people quickly realize that just missing an arm it's
not a disability or handicap at all.
Clear prop.
Rick's got enthusiasm.
You won't believe it.
I mean he doesn't think missing an arm is a problem at all he just it's no challenge
at all for him.
It's just something he just does automatically.
He can do anything that we can do with one arm that's what he says and I believe it.
I see him pushing these units out of the trailer by himself, hacks all up, puts it in by himself.
He can just do it all.
I'm impressed with that.
There were a couple instructors that were reluctant to take me on as a student.
They didn't see how I was going to handle my steering lines and collapsing the chute
when I bring it down and they really didn't want to get into it.
They were a little bit worried about the liability and what all.
And he did some difficulties when we were landing on the dropping the chute but we were able
to rig up in a special attachment point for him and he's an excellent pilot now and he's
so happy and it makes me happy because here we got a challenged person in the air flying
and enjoying the pretty much what.
The human spirit is a force to be reckoned with.
If the spirit wants to do something bad enough and you have enough outside input trying to
discourage you, if the spirit is strong enough and the will is there, generally you can overcome
the naysayers and accomplish just about what it is you set your mind to do.
I've always said I can do anything I want to do but I've wanted to be a marathon swimmer
but every time I jump in the water to go anywhere I just swim in circles so it torn down me
that marathon swimming isn't going to be in my list of activities.
If I have a round pool I'm fine.
Is it all worth it when you get up there now?
Absolutely.
For me it's the extra kick of having overcome something that I was told was not to be accomplished.
I set my mind to it, I did it and we're up and flying.
So if you still don't happen to understand the allure of power shooting, we'll take you
on a perfect morning flight and show you what you're missing if you're scared to get off
that couch.
The best handling independent rear suspended ATV currently available, ATV of the year,
one of the best big board quads of all time.
It's in a class by itself, even with all the accolades the king quads speaks for itself.
The king is here.
Didn't get enough of the story you were interested in today?
Check out the Wild Weekend TV.com website.
There are links to every story that we cover on this program.
So if you're dying for more information, you can find it on wildweekendtv.com.
There are additional links to sites like travel.michigan.org that will tell you what is going on around
the state of Michigan.
You can also find out great toys that will make your Wild Weekend more memorable.
Know more before you go at wildweekendtv.com.
This is the joy of flying in like early morning flights like this.
The train looks so awesome.
The fog rolls through the tree line and as you can see right now, it's just, just, just
not really gorgeous.
This is what God has made for us and this is the only way to see it in an open powered
parachute.
I mean, look at you love about this sport, flying in a bar of parachutes.
I mean, look at the scenery you get to see.
Right down here to our left, ladies and gentlemen, is a something sailing scooter from the late
1800s.
Just a little bit of the framework is left.
We've got a little moss growing on the top edge of the board.
I don't believe I've ever had a prettier flight than this morning.
I just love giving people flights because the reaction is just always awesome.
They just talk about it, talk about it, and get so excited that that makes my day.
My wife says I get on these emotional highs and I don't come down like one day last week
I gave seven new people a flight in the morning and two in the evening and I couldn't get
to sleep.
I was so excited.
Let's give it Brandon a nice first flight, he'll be excited for a long time.
Flying doesn't get any better than a morning like today.
You get beautiful sunrise, you get the sun gleaming over the water, looks like diamonds.
You get a little bit of fog on the ground which just adds to the atmosphere and that's
the beauty.
You bring your camera up and if you happen to have a passenger with you, you take a student
up so they can experience that, that's what it's about.
When you get down, they've got that big grin on their face, that's what it's about.
And that's what this show is all about.
Having fun and sharing stories with you and your family that you can enjoy on your next
wild weekend.
So until I see you again, this is Byron Goggin and I'll see you on the path less traveled.
Take care everybody.
Bye.
