The Lunatic Fringe Podcast

Growing up in Australia in a very supportive environment, Emma Thomson had always been encouraged to explore her interests, and after the gift of a tandem skydive on her 18th birthday jumping had most certainly become one of them; yet it wasn't until she found herself at a destination skydiving center with her boyfriend wingsuit carving around her and her tandem instructor that she realized there may be more to skydiving than d...

Aviation entered the life of Chris Kleinhenz at a very early age. having been aimed toward flight to focus his drive an attention, it was a series of fortuitous meetings, flight opportunities and the generosity of aircraft owners that helped him along the way. Add to that working hard to become a member of the US Air Force Academy skydiving team, and there was no doubt that airborne is where he preferred to be. Aviation and flying ...

Once again, a skydiving career wasn't born from the first exit, but the first freefall.  Argentina's static line course wasn't one that grabbed Juan Mayer, it was one that scared the hell out of him. Even after 52 jumps in a "kind of" AFF course and after freefall had shown him more of what our world may have to offer, it wasn't until a trip to Deland that he really saw the full picture.  Having now traveled...

It is with sincere sadness that we say goodbye to another legend in our sport. Jarno Cordia was above all else a generous soul and an incredibly talented individual and we were lucky enough to spend a little time talking with him about what he truly loved, We at the Lunatic Fringe would like to honor him and his legacy with a re-release of Jarno sharing his journey in his own words at the beginning of 2021.

BSBD Jarno.

From a young...

Even for charity it was a hard no. She'd managed to do what a lot of English people did when they wanted to skydive back then, and raised money for a charity jump; but after a less than idea ride on a round followed by an "assertive" landing, Maxine Tate had gotten her fill. Right up until she got her first taste of freefall about a dozen years and a high powered career later. Now, World record holder, Proud member of t...

It's a huge Lunatic theme. Skydiving was not the plan. For Nicole Scappatura it wasn't even an idea. She just answered an add for a job that neglected to say it was for a dropzone. For Omar Mohammad, it went against pretty much everything he was busy training for, which was to be the guy up at the front of the aircraft, not the meat missile jumping out the back. With both of them honing their skills with some of the worlds ...

Absolutely horrible. Having passed on the idea of a tandem and gone straight to AFF, Jamie Webster's instructors told him upon landing from his first jump that perhaps skydiving just might not be for him. Luckily, Jamie isn't exactly the type to take no for an answer, and from jump number two on things started looking up. Thousands up jumps later, and years of experience as instructor behind him he's solidly proved thos...

All in from the get go. Something undefinable was telling her it was time for a change, and it was just a "random tandem" that shot her off in on a new trajectory that would change everything. Booking her second jump just after landing from her first, Jocelyn Villavicencio knew right then and there that skydiving was her future. Jumping became her singular focus and goal, and it's been her drive and determination, her e...

With her drive and passion for ballet slowly fading, Tijana Milacic found herself living in Serbia and wondering what comes next. For a time it was a successful career in the hospitality industry in the bustling city of Dubai, but as can happen, even this was not meeting her expectations, and she was all but ready to move on, until... It was a coworkers suggestion to make a "safe" and easy AFF skydive over the desert sands ...

Sometimes it's not always about the long game... Like many of us working skydivers, Ben Milham-Marks dove head first into the wonderful world of skydiving, and worked his way from the bottom up. From professional packer even before he was a licensed jumper, to an AFF instructor with only 400 or so jumps, then on to tandems and the traveling road show that can be a professional jumpers life, Ben pretty much covered it all; but a...

Back in the can for a great one on one episode with the one and only Mr. Pablo Hernandez, it's a more personal chat about his beginnings in the sport (which happen to be one of the most interesting origin stories I have yet to hear), what it's like to take on so many different roles in skydiving, and what it's like being considered an OG jumper when the beginning seemed like it wasn't that long ago… Lunatic Fringe t...

In our second of two episodes, we pass on a little more knowledge, passion and joy from the one and only Mr. Tom Noonan.

"It's never goodbye, its only see you next time" - T.N

It's the return of Mr. Tom Noonan to talk a whole lot about safety!  At a time when more skydivers are less current than they've ever been, Tom has great information, tips and advice on everything from canopy choices and getting back int...

In memory of one of skydivings most generous and the anniversary of his passing. He was one of the sports most avid cheerleaders, motivators, teachers and first and foremost, passionate jumpers. Please, take a step back in time to relive with us here at Lunatic Fringe a little of the positivity and joy for our sport brought to us each and every day by Mr. Tom Noonan.

"It's never goodbye. It's only until next time." ...

It honestly could have gone either way. A gift of a tandem skydive when he was only 14 years old, the experience proved to be overloading to say the least and Max Manow found himself torn between absolutely loving the experience and wanting to throw up. Luckily, skydiving and eventually many aspects of the airports world became his driving passion. Through part luck and part personal drive, Max worked his way from the bottom up, go...

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...

Guy Manos might not be a name a lot of newer jumpers are familiar with, but there is absolutely no doubt they are intimately familiar with his work. A University of Miami film-school graduate, a world skydiving champion, stuntman, screenwriter and director, Guy was one of the earliest pioneers of what the film industry now calls “pre-vis” --- the jumping off point, for all the CineLogic innovations, of which he is the technical mas...