Justin Kehler was delighted Saturday afternoon that a report of a hang-gliding accident at Allen County Airport was a mistake.
Kehler from Skiatook, Okla., was landing from a jump out of an airplane when a passerby mistook it for a crash and called 911.
Jerry Daniels, Kehler’s pilot, heard by scanner the dispatcher roust an ambulance and rescue unit. A former Highway Patrol trooper and now Eagle Med pilot, Daniels called to explain the situation and the emergency units were turned around.
Daniels keeps his single-engine, four-seat airplane at Allen County Airport.
Kehler, 27, has done about 1,200 jumps and is an instructor at Skydive Airtight Center in Tulsa. He was here through friendship with Jim Daniels, Jerry’s brother. Kehler works as a truck driver and delivers to Ash Grove Cement in Chanute, where Jim Daniels works. The Danielses live in Humboldt.
The mistaken report likely occurred because the three jumps Kehler made Saturday were quick and direct, leaping from Daniels’ plane at 5,000 feet, high enough it was difficult to see. The entire journey, including about 10 seconds of free fall, took less than two minutes.
Jumps from as high as 14,000 feet are common for Kehler, who took his first jump at age 16.
“They’re all different but not bad different,” he said. “After one, you want to go back and do it again.”
Kehler said he plans to swoop onto the infield at the Humboldt Speedway sometime this summer, buoyed by a glide parachute with patriotic markings.
Skydiver creates stir here
