Big Island resident sets new tandem skydiving record for Hawaii

Damon Tucker and his friend Mike Zagorski are about to go on the ride of their lives.

They’re taking tandem skydiving to a new level, or rather a new height.

"The Skydive Hawaii people said this is the first time they’ve ever took a tandem people up to this elevation, 21,000 feet. Normally the tandem jumps in Hawaii are done between 12,000-13,000 feet, so they brought us almost twice as high as they normally do," said Damon Tucker, a Big Island resident.

21,000 feet equals about 4 miles.

The temperature up here — 27 degrees below zero!

"I was so cold I thought I was going to freeze I was literally frozen," said Tucker.

And before he knew it, it was time.

"And next thing you knew I was jumping out and doing somersaults outside the back of the airplane. It was crazy I mean it was crazy," said Tucker. "What’s going through your mind is you hope that chute is going to open. You’re dropping so fast and realize you’re in a really dangerous predicament."

"We dropped out about a minute and a half of free fall, then they pulled the chute and then we floated about five minutes down," said Tucker. "Between being nervous and between being scared I was making sure I was having a good time and that was the really important thing.

And before he knew it, they were back on the ground. Mission accomplished.

"I did it I survived, I made it. I was happy to be on the ground," said Tucker.

And we asked Damon if he’d do it again, he said "definitely, most definitely!"

See the original article at: KHON2 Local News

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