Hannibal- Hannibal's Airport will soon have yet another attraction to offer residents and visitors.
The fixed base operator Barron Aviation plans to offer skydiving as a new service at the airport.
You'll recall the soaring and glider ride service began earlier this year.
Owner Mike Barron says he already has certifications from the F-A-A and the U.S. Parachute Association to begin skydiving operations.
Tonight the city council will finalize the process of getting skydiving waivers in place for insurance purposes.
Barron says right now no area airport offers the service, so Hannibal's airport will meet a nitch for folks all over the region...not to mention bringing in revenue for the area.
Mike Barron said, "Typically people will drive hundreds of miles just as they do for soaring. We've already with soaring drawn people from as far away as Kansas City to do this so it will bring out a lot of people to the area and many times they'll stay the weekend or for four days at least."
Barron says skydiving could begin at the airport as soon as this weekend.
Courses will also be available for folks wanting to get their certification.
The name of the skydiving operation will be "Rapid Descent Skydiving".
Tandem Jump will be $200 per jump and the Accelerated Free Fall (AFF) Jumps start at $300 for the first and gradually reduce in cost as the student progresses. The reason for this is due to the ground instruction required for the first several jumps. It takes between 7-9 jumps to get to "student" status and a minimum of 25 jumps to get an "A" license which is the first of several licenses a person can achieve.
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