Ashley Helmetag - Florida Institute of Technology

Full Name: Ashley Erin Helmetag

Age: 23

# of Jumps: 142+

Favorite Discipline: Freefly

College: Florida Institute of Technology

Major: Aviation Meteorology

Favorite Jump Plane:

I'm pretty comfortable in an otter, but I also like a skyvan if it has some benches in it.

What first brought you to the sport of skydiving?

I grew up down the street from Skydive Cross Keys in New Jersey. I was always facinated with anything aviation or skydiving; so much so that when I was about 5 or 6 years old I used to jump off my 2 ft raised back porch with an umbrella and pretend I was like the jumpers I saw coming down. When I was 11 one of them landed in a tree just in front of my house, and I'll never forget my father grabbing me by the shoulders and turning me towards the dude in the tree and very sternly saying, "And you STILL want to do that???!!!" And my response? "Uh-huh, where do I sign up?" I went to the dropzone when I was 13 to make a jump and they said come back on your 18th birthday. So, I made my first jump on my 18th, and here I am. It's almost as if I've wanted to do this since I was born.

If you were given $1 million to spend ONLY on skydiving, which discipline would you choose, or what directions would you go with it?

I definitely want to put my best foot forward with all diciplines, but currently I would just put some money into jumping enough to be a safe freeflyer. I want to have enough money that allows me to jump often enough so I have an efficient learning curve to better myself in both headdown and sit. Honestly, I don't care what dicipline I do as long as I can jump as much as I want. I hate being the poor college kid who can do one jump here or there and can't establish a learning curve.

What is your favorite characteristic of the skydiving community?

I don't know what it is about the skydiving community, and maybe this goes with the whole 'fate' thing and wanting to skydive all my life, but as soon as I got on a dropzone and started jumping I felt like I fit. Everybody has that certain pizzaz to their personalities. I think it's that one screw loose that we all have in common that makes us take joy and see beauty in doing what we do. I guess I just like that weird, sometimes undescribable connection, and unspoken understanding of one another just from the common bond of doing what we do no matter how little or how much you jump.

What bit of advice, or encouragement, would you give to a person looking to make their first skydive?

Do a tandem! I always suggest this to kids going through our university club for their first jump. I think tandems let you take in the experience with ease, especially for that person out to make only 1 jump. Tandems allow you to stop, take a deep breath, etch the feelings and visuals throughout the experience into your mind without worrying about all that stuff that stresses you out on your first AFF. If you're gong-ho set to get your license and you want to go AFF right off the bat, then go on with your bad self! :) Another bit of advice I always share with people from my personal experience on a first jump is to take a deep breath and relish that second in the doorway right before you exit for your first time. I wish I could relive that moment on my first jump when my mind was racing and couldn't comprehend what the hell this was going to feel like... it was the most amazing feeling in the world.

If you could give a shout out to another collegiate skydiver, who would it be and why?

Well, I have to hand it to Ben for putting the collegiate site together and being a rock for lots of other collegians and their clubs to lean on when needed. I just experienced my first (beer, I know!!) collegiate nationals this past December and finally got to meet other collegiate jumpers. All of you guys are awesome!!!!! It was great to experience that bond that I spoke of earlier that exists in the regular skydiving community, but is particularly special between fellow collegians who are going through the same hardships and triumphs through school. I do have to mention the U-CONN guys and say it was great meeting you guys at collegiates and partying with you at Zhills for new years.