On April 28, Steve Boyd, owner of Skydive Spaceland just south of Houston, Texas, celebrated the 40th anniversary of his first skydive. With his entire family present at Skydive Spaceland, he chose to spend some time in the air with his two sons Eric and Stephen (who also help run the drop zone) and several of the Spaceland staff on a 12-person skydive.
Boyd, whose first jump was a static-line jump from a Cessna 182 jumpmastered by his father Darnell Boyd, has been a drop zone owner/operator since the 1990s. His current drop zone, Skydive Spaceland, was built from the ground up solely for skydiving on a 130-acre private airfield and opened in March of 2000. Skydive Spaceland has since hosted several state and national record skydives, and successful United States Parachute Association National Skydiving Championships, National Collegiate Parachuting Championships, and National Skydiving Championships of Canopy Piloting.
“The sport has changed so much, from old military-style gear to much safer, more comfortable gear; from our devil-may-care barnstorming days to today’s much stronger focus on safe skydiving practices, and from ‘facilities’ with an outhouse and a shed to today’s modern skydiving resorts,” said Boyd. “Yet through all its evolutionary changes, skydiving has continued to be an extremely social sport with a small-community, close-knit feel.
“I have been very blessed to be a part of it all,” said Boyd.
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