Sky's the Limit: Freefall Express Skydiving

Owner: Bryan Wolford

Founded: 1995

Address: 14,800 Highway H, Hangar 2, Mount Vernon, MO 65712

Phone: (417) 882-5867 or (800) 598-5867

Fax: (417) 461-0026

Web site: www.freefallexpress.com

E-mail: airwolf725@aol.com

Services/Products: Recreational tandem skydiving and a full line of training and services for skydiving professionals

Employees: 31

Lyn Wolford met her husband, Bryan, on a blind date that led to a bigger leap of faith than she expected.

At the time, Bryan Wolford was a skydiver, and he shared with Lyn his lifelong fascination with aviation and parachutes.

“I told him that if he could run three miles with me at my pace, I would jump out of an airplane with him,” Lyn Wolford recalls. “He ran six miles – faster than me. I lay awake two nights trying to figure out how to break up with him so I didn’t have to jump out of the plane.”

Seven years later, Wolford has 400 jumps under her belt.

Bryan Wolford is the owner of Freefall Express Skydiving, which offers recreational tandem skydiving and a full line of training and services for skydiving professionals. Wolford bought into the 12-year-old business in 1997 and has been the sole owner since 1998.

A thrill a day

In Wolford’s business, just showing up for work is a thrill.

“Every day I get to go to work and jump out of an airplane or fly one,” he says. “It’s never lost its excitement and passion.”

The company draws other thrill-seekers from the region, including Arkansas, St. Louis and Kansas City, Wolford says.

Tera Smith travels from Overland Park, Kan., to jump at Freefall. She’s earned her A license and is working toward her B license, which allows her to make night jumps. She says the 31 employees at Freefall make it worth the trip.

“I like them well enough that I drive down here pretty much every weekend to jump instead of Kansas City,” Smith says. “It’s about two-and-a-half hours with no traffic.”

An extreme rush is what draws people to the sport. Wolford says improved equipment has really made skydiving accessible.

“With the modern parachute, there is basically no impact in skydiving with regard to opening or landing,” Wolford says. “We see a lot of people in their 40s or their 50s even who went through stages of fast cars and fast motorcycles, and they are looking for that thrill.”

In tandem

Tandem skydiving makes up 90 percent of Freefall Express’ business. Wolford declined to disclose revenues but said tandem jumps are $179, including training, which is completed in about 45 minutes.

Tandem jumpers exit the aircraft harnessed to an instructor who opens the chute. The jump counts toward a license from the United States Parachute Association.

Solo jumps make up the next largest block of business, with extended training and group activities accounting for the rest. Solo jumps with instructor-assisted deployment involve a $165 ground-school course, with jumps costing $65 after that.

The journey to a full Class A license allowing unaided solo jumps can cost nearly $2,000, but after that, jumps are $22 each.

The Wolfords say every new skydiver expands the market. That is certainly the case for Trevor Bowers, of Overland Park, who followed Smith into the sport.

“Tera’s my best friend,” Bowers said. “She asked me one day if I would like to go jump out of a plane with her, and I said, ‘Sure.’ I couldn’t imagine any place better. It was very quick. We were actually in free fall for 53 seconds, and it seemed like 10.”

‘Drop zone’ staff

Bryan Wolford has seen steady growth, but the last three or four years have produced an evolution in his staff, resulting in additional and improved instruction services.

Employee Steve Eggers recently received the USPA’s Chelsey H. Judy Safety Award. Wolford also points to the seven accelerated free fall instructors he employees, noting there only 10 total throughout the state.

Teri Mosley would one day like to be on Freefall’s staff. But for now, she trains at Freefall and works as a registered nurse in Lowell, Ark., where she is the only professionally rated female skydiver in the state, according to USPA.

“Bryan and Lyn run a very well organized ‘drop zone’ – very well regulated and safe,” Mosley says. “The people up here are the draw.”

The term “drop zone” was originally military jargon indicating the ground destination of parachuting troops or supplies. Drop zone is now the recreational parachuting term for a skydiving facility, such as Freefall Express Skydiving.

Staffing has reached the critical mass Wolford needs for his big plans at Freefall Express.

“We’re going to take what we have now and grow it into a nationally known, name-brand drop zone,” Wolford says.

Strong promotions will put Freefall Express up against the major drop zones in Arizona, California and Florida, he says. Missouri’s central location is a big plus, but winter weather is the big negative. The company already invites hundreds of parachutists in for special jumps of 10-to-20 person formations.

Wolford has also added a sister drop zone to handle group jumps by appointment at Lake of the Ozarks. Lyn Wolford says Bryan has jumped at some of the most beautiful sites on earth from Hawaii to Mexico, and he ranks Lake of the Ozarks in the same category.