Fall from the sky Smile! Thrill ride of a lifetime is caught on camera thanks to skydiver pro.
At 80 miles per hour, the airplane’s door opens. Professional skydiver Whitney Harder climbs out onto the wing first, then holds on and waits.
Next out is a tandem of jumpers, student and instructor, tethered together. Seconds later, people watching from the ground see two tiny specks in the sky. They seem to float in slow motion.
In 45 seconds, the jumpers float down 10,000 feet to a grassy field below.
Whitney pirouettes a few times in finale and then lands on her feet — gracefully, like a ballerina en pointe.
After more than 6,000 jumps over 17 years, Whitney makes skydiving appear effortless, artful. For professional exhibition jumps, she has learned to steer her body into tight, confined spaces, over crowds of people, while diving fast and close to the ground. She has jumped into Ems games and the OSU stadium. She has flown as a Christmas elf. And once, as Elvis.
But today, Whitney is at work as the video manager for Eugene Skydivers, a busy outfitter in Creswell. During tandem jumps, she leaps ahead, pivoting her camera — attached to her helmet — to capture the expression on the skydiver’s face.