July 19, 2022 A Jumpin' Good Time

The Liberty Gazette

July 19, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

It’s grand fun for us to spin our yarns for our neighbors here in Liberty and for folks around the world who follow this column on our blog. Last month, we celebrated 15 years of dropping words on this page like pilots drop skydivers. Good parachute jumpers know how to maneuver in the wind to land on a spot. They call it “in the peas.” Ask Chad “Jetboy” Hall. When Jetboy gets into something, it’s full-monty. 

It started when a co-worker invited him to Skydive Spaceland. He had done it once before, but this time, the bug bit. That day, he took two tandem jumps, went through ground school, and soloed by sunset. He became so hooked that he made 576 jumps the first year, earning his A, B, C, and D licenses, coach and pro exhibition ratings in that time. In his second year, he fell through the air 513 times. Of those, 200 were mentor jumps, where he helped others with 100 or fewer jumps.

While making a name for himself in the tight-knit skydiving community, he earned certification as an aerial videographer. He nailed the filming of the jump scene in the movie, “Narco Sub” in just one shot.

Other credits include video for George Bush’s funeral and former Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire skydiving. His favorite though is filming tandem jumps (first-timers) and night jumping. He’s won over 40 medals in competition, most of them gold, and is a member of a world record holding team, “POPs,” Pops Over Phorty, the +40 skydivers.

Years ago, when he was flying radio-controlled airplanes, he was so enthusiastic that one guy called him Jetboy to make fun of him. Chad embraced it. He put it on his license plate, it’s his social media handle, it’s embroidered on his canopy (parachute), rig, and gloves. He even got Oakley to etch it into his sunglasses.

Today, he has 2,500 jumps to his credit, and he’s incredibly focused. He could land in a five-gallon bucket, which means landing on the 50-yard line at a football game is no problem. Like when he touched down and delivered the game balls at a school off loop 610. Piercing Hobby’s airspace after a delay for a Boeing 737 made it all the more interesting. You may have seen him as part of the Re/Max team at Wings Over Houston. He’s also one of McNeese University’s “ParaPokes.”

He’s had some close calls, like the time his foot got temporarily stuck while jumping out. That was after the Florida ballot debacle in the 2000 elections, so he put a face to the whole “hanging Chad” thing. 

But skydiving isn’t all this engineer-by-trade has accomplished just in the last ten years. He also earned his private pilot certificate, bought an airplane, and has flown over 1,000 hours. He says that parachuting, that is, canopy flying, is “way more fun than airplane flying. Like a driving Corvette versus pushing your little brother in a cart.”

Wanna try jumping? Check out https://houston.skydivespaceland.com/.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com