They can jump out of a plane, open their parachutes at 3,000 feet without blinking an eye and travel back to earth at speeds in excess of 60 mph.
They are the members of the famed U.S. Army Parachute Team, more commonly known as the Golden Knights, and they performed their mission, conducting parachute demonstrations, on May 6 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in south central New Jersey.
“I’ve been jumping for 26 years, but this is my 12th year with the Army parachute team and this is my 15th year serving with the Army,” said Golden Knight Eric Heinsheimer. “As a member of the Golden Knights, we jump every day. It’s my fulltime job.”
Heinsheimer spoke after completing an 8:45 a.m. jump at the Lakehurst portion of the new Joint Base McGuire-Dix- Lakehurst.
Heinsheimer said the Golden Knights travel around the country showcasing what the Army can do.
“We generally do five to 10 jumps per day,” he said.
The Golden Knights are composed of about 80 to 90 personnel, including 45 jumpers. The remaining members of the team are pilot support and administration.
“The planes we jump from are the DAC- 6 De Havilland Twin Otter or the Fokker F27 Friendship,” Heinsheimer said. “We just made the last jump this morning from a Twin Otter.”
Originally, the Fokker was a Germanbuilt aircraft, he said.
“Basically, the parachute team is comprised of several different sections,” Heinsheimer said. “We have two demonstration teams [the Black team and the Gold team] that travel the country performing aerial demonstrations in support of Army recruiting.”
The event at Lakehurst was sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Army Recruiting Battalion.
“There are also two competition teams,” Heinsheimer said. “One of those teams will be going to Russia in a few months to compete against a world-class group of folks. We also have a style and accuracy team that jumps out of a plane and tries to land on a target the size of a dime.”
There is also a tandem section, and that group was at Lakehurst.
“Tandem means the parachute is built for two,” Heinsheimer explained. “We have an extra-large parachute, which is worn by the instructor. The passenger wears a harness, and once in the airplane, they are strapped together and both jump out of the plane at the same time.”
Formed in 1959 as the Strategic Army Command Parachute Team, the unit was created by “airborne soldiers” from various military units with the intent to compete during the Cold War effort. The new U.S. All-Army team swept the international competition circuit in what was then the Soviet dominated sport of skydiving.
In 1961 the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced that the team would become the U.S. Parachute Team and today the Golden Knights are one of three DODauthorized aerial demonstration teams along with the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels.
On hand at the May 6 event at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst were members of the Toms River South High School marching band, led by Jill Milkovitzlovinsosse.
“The kids were very excited to come here to play at Lakehurst,” said Milkovitzlovinsosse. “It is quite an honor to be asked to come. We have 95 students here in the band, and they came to play ‘The Star- Spangled Banner’ as the jumpers came out. We are also going to play several patriotic pieces.”
From Philadelphia, members of the Benjamin Franklin High School Navy ROTC were also on hand to watch the Golden Knights parachute to earth.