“The first company we opened was in Harbor Springs and that was in 2001,” Kurtz said. “That was open for a couple of years before (we started) the one in San Diego. Then in 2003 we started the one that was going to open up all the companies. That was the one we started down in Lansing.”

The different locations serve as a way to give people a one-on-one experience.

“If you have a really big drop zone you lose track of the people that you’re dealing with,” Kurtz said. “So if you have small locations, you can focus on the students and the people you’re working with. It’s a (much) nicer atmosphere.”

Kurtz has taken a variety of ages for their first skydiving experiences. Prices at Capital City Skydiving range anywhere from $190 to $230 depending on student and military discounts as well as whether the skydiver wants to purchase a video.

“We try to keep prices low enough to give people a reasonable deal and also provide safety and fun,” Kurtz said.

While psychology and physiology junior Michael Diskin isn’t planning on going to Capital City Skydiving, he does plan on taking on a skydiving adventure. This will be his third attempt to skydive after the last two times fell through.

“I have actually been planning it for a while,” Diskin said. “My friend is going skydiving and I asked if I could join his group and it looks like it’s going to work out this time.”

Although Kurtz wasn’t scared the first time he jumped with an instructor, he was scared the first time he went by himself. “It was scary, but it was really fun too,” Kurtz said. “Skydiving, once you’re jumping on your own, it’s like flying. You don’t really get the sense of falling. If you push your legs out, you move forward. If you pull them in, you move back. You can roll over, you can turn, you can go up and down.”

It wasn’t until after several jumps that skydiving finally sank in for Kurtz.

“I don’t know if it was the 13th, but I realized what I was doing all of the sudden,” Kurtz said. “I trusted the guy I was with and then all of the sudden I was like, ‘whoa, I’m doing this by myself now.’ I was kind of nervous.

“When you go to the drop zone on your first jump, the people make you feel comfortable and they know what they’re doing, or at least at our place they do. It gives you a good feeling so you can kind of trust them. But once you’ve learned everything you’re supposed to learn, then you go out on your own, you really have to rely on yourself.”

After making sure the airplanes are safe and pilots are certified, and once skydivers are in the air, it’s up to the airport to monitor other incoming flights.

“We make sure that they’re announcing they are dropping people out of the airplane so that we know how many parachutes are coming down each time, so that the other aircraft in the area are aware that there’s two canopies or one canopy coming down, whatever it is,” said Dennis Bowdoin, Maple Grove Airport manager.

“Then, we have to post what’s called a NOTAM, which is a notice to airmen so that other airplanes flying in and around the vicinity are aware that skydiving is taking place.”

Kurtz became certified to be a tandem instructor after completing 500 jumps.

“Tandem is when you strap someone to the front of you,” Kurtz said. “You have to go through a class where they train you to operate the equipment.

Even after 12 years of skydiving, Kurtz still enjoys the activity whether it’s for work or for recreation.

“Now, I prefer to jump with students, but sometimes some of the other instructors and myself will go up and jump together,” Kurtz said. “It’s more fun to jump with people, whether it’s students or it’s other people who have their own parachute.”