Brent Marty decided to tackle his fear of heights for a good cause.
Marty, Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre’s director of music and education, agreed to skydive if a bid of $1,000 could be reached. Jr. Civic parent and Civic Guild member Angela Wagner had bought the skydive gift certificate and offered a starting bid of $1,000 at a fundraiser to see Marty do the jump.
“We initially raised $2,000 at our fundraiser in June, and our Facebook initiative related to the jump itself is getting close to $1,000,” Marty said. “We hope to exceed that. The video is getting a lot of attention from my friends and family who can’t believe I did it.”
The Carmel resident jumped out of the plane Aug. 24 at 13,000 feet on a tandem drive with a Skydive Indy instructor.
“The experienced instructors and staff at Skydive Indianapolis (based in Frankfort) were top-notch and made everything smooth and easy to understand,” Marty said. “The experience itself was, for me, exhilarating. It did help to be doing a tandem dive with an instructor strapped on my back and in control. I’m not sure I would have taken that last step out of the plane on my own.”
Marty said he is fine inside tall buildings and isn’t afraid of being on airplanes.
“But if I’m outdoors, like on a roof of a skyscraper or the edge of a canyon, etc., I get very weak in the knees,” he said.
Marty doesn’t foresee doing it again in the near future but would consider another dive for a good cause.
“Now that I know what to expect, I would be a little more comfortable,” he said. “It would have to be another tandem dive, though.”
