Man breaks Kentucky skydive jumping record with 100 jumps in one day
By Addie Meiners
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ELIZABETHTOWN, Kentucky (WLKY) — UPDATE: Bratcher completed his goal of 100 jumps in a day Monday night with his last jump at 9:10 p.m.
Many people list skydiving as an experience they want to have once in their lifetime.
For Mike Bratcher, a retired Air Force veteran and skydiving instructor, it’s an experience he’s had almost 4,000 times. So, what’s 100 more?
The 59-year-old skydiving instructor at Skydive Kentucky decided that for his 60th birthday, he would skydive 60 consecutive times — until he learned what the Kentucky state record is for consecutive skydives in one day.
And as of Monday night, Bratcher accomplished his goal, jumping 100 times in one day, setting a new Kentucky record.
“I saw that it was 80, and I thought, well, I’m not gonna get that close and not go for the record,” Bratcher said.
So the goal was raised to 100 consecutive jumps.
“I’m not going to be direct at 80 or just get 81 to beat it, and so I just come up with a round number of 100,” Bratcher said.
The crew started around 6:30 a.m. Monday, and planned to wrap up that evening before sunset.
In order to make that time, Bratcher has to complete a cycle of going up in the plane, jumping out, landing, and getting back in the plane to do it all over again, about every seven minutes. The 182 Cessna plane he’ll be jumping from will only go around 2,100 feet to make the cycle faster.
All of this excitement takes a crew.
Led by his fellow skydiving instructor Josh Kingrey and his wife, there’s a crew of about 50 more friends and family who helped Bratcher with the record attempt.
“We currently have about 20 of us on the ground right now, and we have a number of about 30 to 35 people volunteering throughout the day, cycling in and out,” Kingrey said. “So it’s really a community effort.”
A community effort that Bratcher said he’s thankful for.
Bratcher will also be jumping for more than the chance to add his name to the history books.
He started a GoFundMe to help offset the cost of the jumps and to buy 100 teddy bears to donate.
With every jump, a teddy bear jumped with him. He will then donate the bears to the Elizabethtown Police Department for their annual “Shop with a Cop” charity event.
The rest of the money raised will be donated to the Radcliff Disabled American Veterans organization.
To donate to the GoFundMe account, visit this link: gofundme.com/f/cover-cost-of-aircraft-for-100-skydives-in-a-day?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
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