Vermont Skydiving Adventures

The McGregor Family

WEST ADDISON, Vt. – You may occasionally hear about husbands and wives or sisters and brothers who skydive together. But at a small drop zone nestled between the Green Mountains of Vermont and Lake Champlain, eight people, representing three generations of the same family, all took that first big step out of an airplane on a sunny Sunday in June.

Jim McGregor of Hinesburg, Vermont has been a regular at Vermont Skydiving Adventures (VSA) in West Addison, Vermont for seven years, but he wasn’t the first McGregor to skydive. His sister, Sheila McGregor, took her first skydive, a static line jump, on her 18th birthday in honor of a brother who had died in an auto accident. She has done several static line jumps since.

Jim and Sheila’s father, Ralph McGregor, decided to celebrate his 70th birthday in 1996 by doing a tandem jump. He has since done eight static line jumps. Jim himself began jumping the following year and has been skydiving ever since.

On Sunday, June 20, Ralph was planning to do another static line jump at VSA. Jim had given his niece, Melanie McGregor, a jump for her high school graduation and now that she was 18, she was ready to go. A few other family members had expressed an interest in finding out what it was all about, and Jim realized that he had an event on his hands.

"I had nine people ready to go, but one decided she had to study instead," Jim said. In addition to himself, his father Ralph and his niece Melanie, his brother Allan found himself talked into a static line along with Sheila, who had a few static line jumps under her belt. Kurt Fischer, Jim’s brother-in-law, decided to try the first AFF course along with his son, Erik and Jim’s daughter, Jenn McGregor. Jim’s sister Pat Fischer came along to watch, but she elected to stay on the ground.

The family lives Hinesburg, Charlotte and Montpelier Vermont, except for Jenn who traveled from Boston for her first jump.

After training on the ground with first jump course instructor Ellen Morris for several hours, it finally came time to jump. Ralph, the oldest at 78, wandered around the drop zone in his jumpsuit and his straw hat, waiting his turn. His granddaughter, 18-year-old Melanie, was prepared for her static line jump along with the rest of the jumping McGregors.

Ralph McGregor lands at the drop zone

"None of them hesitated to get out of the plane and they all followed commands," Morris said. "They all had nice, clean exits, good canopies and they all made it back to the drop zone."

"No one chickened out!" Jim said after everyone reached the ground. "Melanie was the most excited and said it was awesome. She and Erik want to try again, and Erik already wants to try a smaller parachute." He said his father was a bit shaken up when he had trouble reaching his steering toggles, but he finally found them and had a fine landing.

"Allan loved watching a hawk circling below him while he was under canopy," Jim said.

Drop zone owner Ole Thomsen said it isn’t too common to see that many family members or generations skydive.

"I remember a grandma and grandpa who jumped with their grandkid once, but I don’t think there was anyone there from the middle generation," he said. "Multiple people jumping like this from the same family is on the rare side."

Thomsen said it’s always fun having a large group at the drop zone.

"The energy level is higher with a large group," he said. "It was a good day, the AFF students passed and the static lines all landed fine."