Comment: Congress should ensure thrill of skydiving remains

By Jessie Farrington / For The Herald

Each year, approximately 500,000 people in the U.S. take the adventure of a lifetime and try skydiving.

Washington is home to five drop zones — including Harvey Field in Snohomish — each hosting thousands of these tandem skydives per year. Tandem skydiving — where you’re attached to an experienced skydiving instructor for your jump — has maintained an excellent safety rate. In fact, 2023 was the safest year ever for U.S. skydiving.

Yet, local skydiving centers are under attack.

Legislation that is unnecessary and potentially damaging to skydiving is working its way through Congress right now. The proposed Air Tour and Sport Parachuting Safety Act, currently tucked away within the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization act, threatens Washington’s skydiving industry. It incorrectly calls into question the state’s long-standing safety record under the current FAA regulations and could negatively impact our economy, if passed.

The proposed legislation, despite its name, fails to provide any tangible safety improvements for both skydivers and the general public. Rather, this attempt adds costly and burdensome maintenance requirements to skydiving aircraft nationwide.

If passed, the cost of taking a jump would drastically increase, forcing many drop zones out of business entirely. Smaller drop zones, many of which have been family-owned and operated for generations, would be hit particularly hard. It’s not just the one-time thrill-seekers who would lose out; instructors, pilots, support staff and local economies all benefit from these businesses. These centers are at the heart of our state’s skydiving culture.

Take our skydiving drop zone, for example. Kapowsin Air Sports in Shelton was incorporated in 1979 by my husband Jeff and myself; my father had run the predecessor drop zone for several years earlier (Thun Field Skydivers since 1964). Today, my husband, our adult children and I run the largest skydiving center in the Northwest. We operate four jump aircraft. On a good weather weekend, there are upward of 25 people who work flying, instructing students and packing parachutes. On those good days, over 450 jumps will be made in a single day. We are hoping to leave a viable business not only to our children but also to our grandchildren.

Fortunately, there’s hope. On Feb. 8, the Senate Commerce Committee held the long-awaited markup of the Senate’s draft Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Bill. Unfortunately, an amendment by Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., to strike the skydiving act was not adopted. With the current FAA authorization again extended and scheduled to expire on May 10, the House and Senate will soon convene a conference committee to reconcile their respective drafts.

The U.S. Parachute Association submitted a joint letter to the committee signed by seven other aviation associations, including the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and Experimental Aircraft Association, expressing deep concerns that the proposed requirements are not scalable and do not support a data-driven approach to enhancing safety for these segments of aviation.

For many of us, skydiving is an activity we tuck safely away on a bucket list. Or something we leave to reckless adrenaline junkies. But the skydiving community in Washington is a tight-knit family bound together by a shared love for the thrill of freefall and the joy of soaring 14,000 feet above the ground.

The extension to May 10 gives skydivers, general aviation supporters and people like you the opportunity to take action and contact your legislators and urge them to support Sen. Budd’s motion to strike Section 315. By opposing this legislation, together, we can ensure that the skies over Washington remain open for generations of skydivers to come.

Jessie Farrington, co-owner of Skydive Kapowsin, is a second-generation skydiver. Her father, a WWII fighter pilot, got her started when she was 15. Today, the family includes 13 skydivers. Farrington, 74, holds many world records in skydiving as well as gold medals in competition. She has no intention of stopping her recreational skydiving any time soon.