SKYDIVING CLUB DESCENDS UPON AIRPORT

About 20 people from as far away as Sikeston and Marble Hill descended on Cape Girardeau Regional Airport last week for the beginning of a new skydiving club.

And no one yelled "Geronimo."

The group, called Sky Sports, is the first of its kind at the Cape Girardeau airport. All it took to get the group was for the airport to build a small pea-gravel pit, collect some waivers from the jumpers and coordinate the jumps with the control tower.

Bruce Loy, the new airport manager, said he's hoping the parachute club will bring in visitors and increase activity at the airport.

Loy was also trying to work out an arrangement with the group to provide tandem jumps as a promotional item.

The club was formed by Dwight Gates of Cape Girardeau. Gates has been jumping for 23 years and said the only thing the group won't be doing is first-jump training.

"If we get people interested in the sport we're going to send them to Mississippi County Airport and as soon as they get their license they can jump here," Gates said.

The rates for a jump range from $7 for 3,000 feet to $15 for 10,500 feet. The group met around 5 p.m. and continued jumping until dark. Each jump only lasts a few minutes.

From 5,500 feet the gravel pit the jumpers use as a target is an unremarkable brown dot in the midst of the airport's green lawn. But most of the jumpers either landed on or within a few feet of that dot.

Gary Speer, who was originally from Sikeston but now lives in Las Vegas, has known Gates for years. He said Gates made his first jump about two weeks before he did.

"There's a little bit of apprehension in the airplane but once I'm outside the aircraft and into the free-fall environment then it's nothing but enjoyment from that point on," Speer said. "It's a real intoxicating activity."

Gene Benthal of Cape Girardeau said the only way to understand skydiving is to experience it. It's not like floating and it's not like a roller coaster.

"It's peaceful and it's exciting at the same time," Benthal said.

As if throwing themselves out of an airplane 2 miles above the earth wasn't challenging enough, most of the Sky Sports divers said they liked performing acrobatics on the way down.

Eileen Gates, Dwight's wife, said she used to skydive a few years ago and she still jumps in tandem dives with her husband. She said solo diving was too much responsibility.

She said she has never worried about Dwight's safety when he skydives.

"I knew if he's decided to do something he's going to do it in the safest manner," she said.

Eileen Gates said the group has formed a close bond, which might be even tighter than other sport groups because there's an added risk involved. Dwight Gates admits he's risking his life by skydiving, just like he's risking his life driving on the highway -- "more so driving."

The Gates must feel pretty secure in the sport. Their 16-year-old son, Ben, has already logged 85 jumps. They gave him his first parachute when he was 15.

"The first time was a rush," he said.