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Skydiving team to jump at two festivals on same day

A skydiver with Team Fastrax lands with a U.S. Flag in the park behind the Middletown Community Center during the 2010 Census Portrait of America Regional Road Tour Tuesday Jan. 5, 2010. The skydiving team will perform at both the Dayton Air Show and Ohio Challenge this year.

Staff photo by Pat Auckerman A skydiver with Team Fastrax lands with a U.S. Flag in the park behind the Middletown Community Center during the 2010 Census Portrait of America Regional Road Tour Tuesday Jan. 5, 2010. The skydiving team will perform at both the Dayton Air Show and Ohio Challenge this year.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer Updated 3:26 PM Thursday, February 25, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — Team Fastrax, the skydiving group based in Middletown, will perform for the first time at the Dayton Air Show this year — which is the same weekend as the MidFirst Ohio Challenge.

Despite the logistical challenge, David Strobel, one of the team members, says Team Fastrax still plans to appear at both events. The Ohio Challenge runs July 16-18, the Dayton Air Show runs July 17 and 18.

“We will be very busy,” Strobel said. “This is unusual, but it’s nothing we can’t handle. We have experienced people who know how to jump, pack and jump again.”

The group has already worked out its routine for the Dayton show. On July 16, before the show itself, the team will practice and do tandem jumps with VIP’s.

On Saturday, July 17, Team Fastrax will perform in the opening ceremonies, jumping with seven to 10 flags, including the 7,800 square foot American flag. Later on that same day, the team will perform its standard 20-minute show, including high performance jumps in which the skydivers fall at speeds of around 50 miles per hour.

There will also be formation jumps, with groups of two to four skydivers hooked together, and a routine called the downplane, in which skydivers turn and point their parachutes straight downward. That 20-minute show will repeat in Dayton on Sunday, July 18, Strobel said.

“We have about 20 jumpers who can make it here and are fairly local. All jumpers are involved in both events,he said.

The team will travel both via plane and a ground crew in a van. The van is needed because the plane sometimes cannot go to where the skydivers land.

Ann Mort, the publicist for the Ohio Challenge, said, “We will be very happy to work with them. They’ve been good for our event.”

Mort also noted that people often attend both the Dayton Air Show and the Ohio Challenge in the same year.

“We do very slow travel, they do very fast travel at the Air Show,” she said.

Team Fastrax, which was previously based in Lebanon, moved its operations to Middletown late last year.

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