GARY, Ind. (Tribune News Service) — “This is gonna be a cold ride.”

The commander of the U.S. Army Golden Knights, the military branch’s parachute team, wasn’t kidding. Temperatures ranged from hot to scorching hot for the thousands at Gary’s beaches Saturday morning, but it was far chillier 12,500 feet above them as the Army’s parachute demonstration team prepared to jump.

The spectacle was the first of two planned jumps for the team at the Gary Air Show, the two-day event that wraps up Sunday. Along with the Golden Knights, the show also features the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, who perform death-defying feats like flying in formation at more than 500 miles per hour with wing tips just 18 inches apart from each other.

For the Golden Knights, however, it was business as usual Saturday morning. After a meticulous ground inspection, the Bombardier-8-315 twin engines roared and the plane shot down the runway as its nose pointed toward the clear morning sky. An amped crew let out a rehearsed, yet genuine coordinated yell and the aircraft made its ascent to 12,500 feet above Miller Beach, where thousands had already gathered to witness the spectacle.

Repeated wind checks. Dozens of laps to gain altitude. A rising aircraft accompanied by a rising feeling of hypoxia. Oh, and there’s a hole in the plane where there should be a door.

A tiny blue biplane comes into view. It’s being flown by Ed Hamil, who partners with Folds of Honor, an organization that awards educational scholarships to families of fallen or disabled military members and first responders.

Hamil guides his plane closer and closer to the tail of the U.S. Army plane. Later, back on the ground, he says he got within 10 feet of it. It’s all part of the show, and it draws oohs and ahhs from the crowd watching it unfold below.

Then, in coordination with the flight deck, a red jump light turns to green.

Time to fly.

“Standby, I’m going! Ready, set...” the test jumper yells, giving an impressively sharp salute given the circumstances.

Everyone still on board can only assume he said, “Go!” at the end. But by that point, he’s already 100 feet behind and below the plane, freefalling toward the crowd.

He relays the weather report back to the remaining jumpers. Good conditions. Not too much wind, great visibility and an excited throng of people waiting to see them.

The rest of the parachuters funnel out of the plane, practically sucked out by the time they jump. Joining the team on this jump is Gary’s own DJ K Ceasar.

The teamwork required of each member is palpable. The group spends some time before each flight on the tarmac practicing their maneuvers, akin to a football team’s walkthrough. It’s to make sure they’re all on the same page about what the next jump will look like.

One parachuter calls the group his family. Another says the plane was her home away from home.

“Everything we do, we practice before we put it in front of the public,” said Kyle Mead, a staff sergeant with the Army. He’s performed 1,031 jumps as a member of the Golden Knights.

For most members of the team, the thrill of jumping out of a plane more than 10,000 feet above the ground is not their favorite part of the job. It’s the interactions with the awestruck crowd once they safely land that really makes them love what they do.

“We split into the crowd and basically tell our Army stories,” Mead said. “Tell them it’s not what they see in the movies. People don’t actually know what the military does. We’re the voice of the Army. We let people know what it actually is, and how many great opportunities there are within the military.”

Sgt. Sloan Kanat agreed.

“I mean, the jumping is pretty cool, but my favorite part is definitely talking to people and getting to know people after the jump,” she said.

Mead said one common misconception is that everyone in the military goes overseas.

“What they don’t see is the college benefits, getting to go to school free of charge,” Mead said. “Military is basically like a family. We all take care of each other and we’re all super close.”

For the soldiers, the thrill of freefall never gets old, no matter how many jumps they have under their belts already.

“Certain days can be monotonous,” one parachuter said. “But I don’t know, I’ve done my fair share of complaining at other jobs, and then I get here and remember, well, I could be in the field right now and sleeping in the dirt. I could be in the motor pool working on a Humvee. This is not that bad.”

The Golden Knights spend about 240 days out of the year on the road — which, to them, really means in the air — all over the country, where they perform at about 50 airshows each year.

The Gary Air Show continues Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Army Golden Knights again headlining the weekend aviation showcase.

© 2025 The Times (Munster, Ind.).

Visit www.nwitimes.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.