Up with the Golden Knights of the air

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By Mary Louise Speer | Sunday, June 22, 2008 |

High above Davenport Municpal Airport on Saturday, the Golden Knights take to the sky. Members of the Army Parachute Team, clockwise from top left, are Sfc. Will Fleming, Sfc. Jeffrey Schafer and Sgt. Ryan Ray. The Quad-City Air Show continues today. (Elisa Petersen/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

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The U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team are dazzling audiences with hot performances at the 2008 Quad-City Air Show this weekend at the Davenport Municipal Airport.

The show continues today with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, Aeroshell Aerobatic Demonstration team, and many more aerial stars.

The flight for sky divers and a few volunteer ride-alongs begins with briefings on the ground before climbing aboard the C-31A Friendship aircraft. The Golden Knights are stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Participating on the Black Demonstration Team “is the best job in the Army. I wanted to serve in the Army since I was a kid,” said Staff Sgt. Howard “Howie” Sanborn, an airborne infantryman who enlisted in 2000. He’s served two deployments in Iraq.

Sanborn was officially knighted into the Golden Knights after completing his training and he’s enjoying his first season on the team. The toughest part involved learning how to land on target. The team touches down on a 10- by 10-foot target, but they’re actually aiming for a target that’s the size of a medium pizza, he said.

Team members help visitors going up Saturday secure their seat belts and locate the vomit bag just-in-case. “Welcome to Golden Knight Air. It’s going to be a very cold flight,” Sgt. Matthew Acord, a supply specialist, told the crew.

Yes, the doors will remain open until the parachute demonstrators have left the aircraft.

Engines hum as the flight crew wait for the signal to begin the ascent. Guys joke with each other as they slip into black flight suits, but they’re all business when making sure that every strap is fastened and the 27-pound pack is adjusted properly. Everyone wants to reach the ground safely and show what the Army experience is all about.

Team members pull on black caps that resemble the leather helmets worn by early aviators. Each wears an altimeter strapped against their left hip to let them know what altitude they’re at, says team leader Sfc. Jeffrey Schafer, a Blackhawk helicopter crew chief, who’s participating in his eighth season as a Golden Knight.

“A lot of people have the misperception that all we do is parachute. Our job really starts when we hit the ground and talk about public relations,” Schafer said.

Engines rev louder as the plane lifts into the air and the open doors provide a huge frame to gaze at the Iowa scenery. The ground resembles a huge patch of Velcro with spotty vegetation and the flooded Mississippi River seems twice its usual size.

Passengers feel as if they’re climbing up a twister slide. At about 2,000 feet, Schafer and Sanborn release a wind drift indicator and watch its progress. At that height the spectators at the air show resemble multi-colored bits of confetti.

The plane continues to bank and climb to a 12,500-foot target height. Air swooshing through the doors feels colder then an air conditioner and visitors who failed to bring coats are shivering. Blue sky glistens as the aircraft breaks through fluffy bits of clouds and levels out.

Breathing gets more challenging at these levels and the team offers oxygen to anyone who needs it.

Ready. Set. Go!

Sanborn is the first to step out into empty space. The impact takes him backwards for a few seconds before he begins his plummet to the ground, bearing the POW/MIA flag. After reaching terra firma, he narrates the show as the rest of the team exit the aircraft.

“I’m cold,” jokes Staff Sgt. Ben Borger before jumping. Borger, an airborne infantryman, took up sky-diving after being deployed to Iraq from 2004-05.

He joined the Army for adventure and began sky-diving for fun, he said. This is his third season with the Golden Knights and the hardest jumps are into stadiums. “You’re jumping into a place with walls around it,” he said.

The demonstration teams execute several maneuvers while falling at speeds over 120 m.p.h. during their full show. The final movement is the diamond formation with four jumpers maneuvering their bodies closer together to form a diamond in the sky.

The plane swoops over the crowds on a low fly-over and lands with the visitors reluctantly leaving their aerial adventure behind. Passengers Pvt. Jena Balzer and Spc. Gena Balzer-Garcia, twin sisters and Army Reservists, appreciate the unique view into parachuting.

“It was cool to see them as a team and watch them in action,” Balzer-Garcia said.

“I would love to do it. I love risky stuff. I had the choice to go Airborne but I just wanted to come home,” Balzer said, adding she just might change her mind now.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

If you go

The Golden Knights Army Parachute Team and other air acts will participate in the Quad-City Air Show from noon to 5 p.m. today at the Davenport Municipal Airport. Gates open at 8 a.m. Tickets are $25 for an adult (11 and older) weekend pass; $15 in advance and $20 at the gate for a one-day adult pass; $5 in advance and $7 at the gate for youth 6-10. Advance tickets are available at Hy-Vee, Fairway, Slagle’s and Northwest Bank locations. For more information, call (563) 285-7469 or visit QuadCityAirShow.com.