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Timeless flight: 92-year-old Kent man returns to the skies | SLIDESHOW

Published 4:51 pm Wednesday, February 4, 2015

By Ross Coyle

The wind from the tunnel blows Charles Asay’s cheeks high up and apart from his face during his experience at the iFly Indoor Skydiving in Tukwila last Friday. It was the first time in more than 70 years that he had been in a comparable situation.
The wind from the tunnel blows Charles Asay’s cheeks high up and apart from his face during his experience at the iFly Indoor Skydiving in Tukwila last Friday. It was the first time in more than 70 years that he had been in a comparable situation.

At 92, Charles Asay thought his days of free falling from a plane were behind him.

But for his 92nd birthday, his son, Brian Asay, suggested skydiving, but the rest of the family quickly nixed that idea.

However, Aegis Senior Living Center in Kent – Asay’s residence – was able to come up with a solution that was almost as good – indoor skydiving.

Asay returned to the skies last Friday at the iFly Indoor Skydiving in Tukwila.

Flight instructor Douglas Hopson held Asay in place as he maneuvered him around the air chamber. Hopson took time to make sure that every camera got a view of Asay.

The World War II veteran member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment last skydived – if you could call it that – out of a C-47 Skytrain in 1944 over Normandy. At the time, parachutes opened on jumping so very little skydiving was actually involved.

While he started slightly puzzled by why he was at iFly, his attitude turned to curiosity, then wonder and joy as he experienced the free fall for the first time in more than 70 years.

“It wasn’t quite the same as jumping 600 feet,” Asay said of his two one-minute flights at iFly.

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