Taking Flight

The rain in the tri-state area finally stopped and there was perfect weather Sunday for jumping out of airplanes. And that's what the fans at Yankee Stadium were treated to - the United States Army's Golden Knights parachute team performed on Military Day at the ballpark.



They landed with a variety of banners - including one with the Yankees' logo on it.



There was very little wind to impede their progress towards making a perfect landing.



It's amazing how accurate they can be. Of course, if they're miss the entire field, they're probably not going to be on the team very long. But watching them swoop into the stadium was impressive. I wanted to get at least one shot where the letters, YANKEE STADIUM were in the picture so there would be no doubt where this is.

This shot makes the skydiver look closer to the Yankee Stadium sign than he really is (and all of the jumpers are men). This is the product of a super-zoom lens which compresses things in the distance to make them appears larger and thus closer to anything in the foreground.

Here, you can see the target landing area. A little patch of grass in short center-field where those three people are standing around a target flag.

Most of the players stayed inside their clubhouses during the jump. But a few--including the starting pitchers -- witnessed the parachute jump which - no matter how many times you see one - still leaves you with a feeling of, "I should try that ... one of these days!."