Travel expert sheds light on preparation for the solar eclipse
Lee Abbamonte discusses how Americans are preparing to travel for the upcoming solar eclipse on ‘Your World.’
A group of 30 skydivers are coming together to get the best possible view of the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 — literally in the sky.
Jason Berger, co-owner of Skydive the Falls located nine miles north of Niagara Falls in Youngstown, New York, decided to take on this celestial-sized challenge after one of his friends, Stephen Hatz, did an eclipse jump in Oregon several years ago and then wanted to do it again for the next eclipse, Berger told Fox News Digital.
When Berger realized this year's April 8th eclipse would be reaching totality directly over his skydiving center, he started to come up with ways to make this dream a reality.
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About nine months ago, the co-founder and his team started to plan out their solar eclipse event that would literally reach new heights.
"Nature's giving us the special event, which is the eclipse … How do we go ahead and make it extreme and make it one step better than the rest? Make it a little bit cooler?" Berger told Fox Television stations.
Skydive the Falls is giving a group of people the ultimate viewing of the April 8th solar eclipse — in the sky. (Skydive the Falls)
There will be three airplanes and only a select few skydivers — traveling from all over the U.S., including Texas and even California to be there — joining in on the celestial jump on April 8, he shared.
For the skydivers, it's all about the timing of the jump — and it has to be perfect, they said.
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"We're going to jump one minute prior to totality, so we can enjoy totality in full under our parachutes," Berger said.
To avoid any congestion in the sky, the planes will be arranged so that they're not on top of each other.
The skydivers will freefall while wearing their eclipse glasses.
"We also have different sized parachutes that will open at different altitudes as well, to keep the separation for safety as well," he continued.
The skydivers will then freefall while wearing their eclipse glasses. After that, they will deploy their parachutes and land on the ground, Fox 35 reported.
"We will have our glasses on us, so when the parachute opens, it's much quieter, it's much safer."
Tickets for the epic plunge went live in January — and sold out in seven minutes.
Most of the skydivers taking part in the jump on April 8 are licensed professionals — but a few lucky first timers will have the chance to enjoy the celestial event as well. (Skydive the Falls)
Most lucky individuals who grabbed a spot are licensed skydivers who have done thousands of jumps.
"We did open up a few select, first-timer slots and those first timers will be in tandem with — for example, one of them will be with me, as well as a couple of our other 10 instructors who are highly, highly skilled," Berger noted.
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"This is something that we do every day, and it'll be really great to share it with somebody for the first time as well."
Those taking part in the jump won't forget a solar eclipse viewing party like this — thousands of feet up in the air.
All skydivers will have safety glasses on them, which they will promptly put on once their parachute has been deployed. (Skydive the Falls; ROB KERR/AFP via Getty Images)
Berger has had his fair share of skydiving stories, he said, but this will be a new experience even for him.
"There's not much left in the skydiving world that I have not done, and this is one of them," he said.
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"For me, it keeps everything exciting and keeps everything alive … So for me, it's just another check-off of the logbook."
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