The Lunatic Fringe Podcast

It started with an accident onboard a commercial airliner over Austrailia, or at least the catalyst did.  In an event that will forever be a part of Simon Colmer, part of learning to get past it was a bucket list that happened to include skydiving; yet for someone scared of heights dealing with the after effects of a traumatic experience onboard an airplane, it was one that took a bit of time to get around to.  Now, splitting his l...

Kēbē Round 2!

It wasn't just skydiving that drew Kēbē in to the sport, it was skysurfing. He knew from the moment he saw a board strapped to another's feet while cruising through the sky that he was all about it. Admittedly having gone about things at an accelerated (and proper sketchy) rate, his return to life with the board after years of competition, drive and determination have led him to come up with a training program designe...

it's kind of an unbelievable list of accomplishments and stunts. X-Games Skysurfing World Champion. Super Bowl Halftime winning Pepsi Commercial  pulling stunts with a goose. First ever to skydive from an exploding aircraft. First ever parachute on fire in flight... The list goes on and on.  Yet if you had asked a young Troy Hartman what he thought he was going to be when he grew up, there was only one answer. Pilot. Unfortunately,...

It wasn't just skydiving that drew Kēbē in to the sport, it was skysurfing. He knew from the moment he saw a board strapped to another's feet while cruising through the sky that he was all about it. Admittedly having gone about things at an accelerated (and proper sketchy) rate, his return to life with the board after years of competition, drive and determination have led him to come up with a training program designed to help thos...

It's kind of an unbelievable list of accomplishments and stunts. X-Games Skysurfing World Champion. Super Bowl Halftime winning Pepsi Commercial  pulling stunts with a goose. First ever to skydive from an exploding aircraft. First ever parachute on fire in flight... The list goes on and on.  Yet if you had asked a young Troy Hartman what he thought he was going to be when he grew up, there was only one answer. Pilot. Unfortunately,...

Joined by Alberto, Emma, Olga and Victoria, this second remote Himalayan podcast is a bunch of skydivers most decidedly not skydiving! Recorded after more than two weeks on the mountain, having attempted scaling the 6,100 meter mountain known as Island Peak, situated a rocks throw from Mount Everest, the team recounts this most amazing adventure over a few drinks in the heart of the climbers and tourists district of Thamel, in Kath...

Personally I'm a hell of a fan of a good cliché, and I'm willing to bet Tracy Bohm is too. She met, jumped with, stalked, moved away with and eventually got married to her very first tandem instructor, Mr. Tom Bohm. He quickly instilled in her the same passion for skydiving that he had, and they went about making a hell of a life together both in the sky and on the ground. And then everything changed. Voted the number one Load Orga...

Like so many before him, that first skydive was more on a whim than anything else. Ending up at an operation not too far from his grandparents home, Alberto Avalis may have seen parachutes in the sky before, but it wasn't until after that first jump that he knew. Working a construction job to pay for his new habit, it wasn't all that long before he knew that skydiving was the life for him. Now, after earning all the ratings and wor...

You might think that the transition from a working risk management professional to a working skydiver might be a pretty over the top choice, and you'd be right; but to Dave Cicciarelli it was one of the easiest choices he ever made. With roots in skydiving that stretch back to the late 80's, and a career that kicked off properly when he went to work managing the AFP program for Roger Nelson, Dave's career has gone from Illinois, to...

From skateboarding to rock climbing, Simon Whittle touched all the bases when it came to his beginnings in extreme sports, but the real hook came when his UK parents bought him his introduction into the world of skydiving in the form of a static line course. The UK being what it is, it took Simon a very long time to start racking up any real jump experience, but where the sky failed, the tunnel filled the gap. Working his way throu...

For most people, making the decision to start a static line course is an accomplishment all on its own, but for some, you aren’t showing real dedication to pursuing a new experience until you’ve driven across multiple African countries to start it! Just ask Erin Shutes, who did exactly that. Working around the world in the field of epidemiology and doing her best to help those most in need,  it became clear to Erin that finding a...

Gorazd Lah, AKA Nitka (and fellow Fuckinasshole) took a very European, and more specifically an Eastern European path in skydiving. Starting out on round parachutes then moving quickly into the world of Style and Accuracy, Gorazd managed to put his tough as nails upbringing and exterior to work for him as he became a champion in his chosen disciplines. Yet...  There's a lot more behind this born again hipster than you might think! ...

Working hard at an incredibly demanding job, Andreas Mosling was looking for a way to entertain himself on vacation without killing himself in party mode, so at the almost offhand suggestion of a colleague he booked himself a trip to Sebastian, Florida and signed up for AFF. He completed the entire course in one day. The next day he basically doubled his jump numbers, and by the time he left Florida he was well on his way to his B ...

Back in the can to talk about his continuing adventures in all things airsports, paragliding, and more, the one and only Jason Moledzki!

Skydiving beginnings aren't always blue skies and sunshine as Jason Moledzki can tell you. Sometimes the drive to make that first jump can come from a truly dark place, but it was a place that Jason found the drive and determination to escape through his love of skydiving and BASE. A multiple worl...

The son of a world traveling diplomat, it was perhaps a childhood filled with fairly constant change and a need to adapt that made it easy for Max Lesziak. Easy to decide as he was about to tackle a fairly intense college environment that he should perhaps take a break for... well, for a while. It may have had something to do with the fact that he had the tendency to get bored easily, or it may have been yet again, that first skydi...

It's been 4 years since we said goodbye to one of the greatest in his field, and it's well worth looking back at just a few of the stories and experiences of the one and only Jarno Cordia.

From a young age he was drawn to air sports, and skydiving in particular, but having an uncle who'd broken his back landing a round years before, it would have been easy for Jarno Cordia to watch his dreams of flying stay nothing more than childh...

Pulling no punches has been Alix Raymond’s style, as anyone who knows her can tell you, and her time on the Lunatic Fringe with our returning host Mr. Zej Mski is absolutely no exception. Finishing our her term soon as the Southeast Regional Director for the USPA, she's got more than a few words to say on the sport of skydiving, the USPA as an organization with all its pitfalls and upswings, it's new leadership and more.  As a full...