TAMPA, Fla. — It’s an incredible challenge with a heartfelt purpose.
The Alpha 5 Project and the team behind it are working to set the world record for the highest HALO formation skydive. HALO stands for high altitude, low opening.
Four veteran and active-duty U.S. Air Force Pararescue Specialists (PJs) along with astronaut Larry Connor, who is funding this mission, will jump from a hot air balloon at roughly 35,000 feet — the average cruising altitude for commercial airlines.
In mid-July, the team met up on the Space Coast to practice over several days for the mission on the horizon.
“We’re doing something that really has never been done before. So, we’re jumping in altitudes that require oxygen, extreme cold,” CMSgt. Brandon Daughtery said.
Alpha 5 Project team members have spent more than a year and a half planning logistics, training, adjusting and doing it again.
“It takes an army to do something like this. You see the five of us out front because we’re kind of the face of what’s going on and you know the pinnacle of the operation, but it takes a group of highly professional, highly educated people to have the same focus that makes this successful,” CMSgt.(Ret) Jimmy Petrolia said.
Behind the scenes, support crews are packing chutes and making sure lines are straight for the smoothest opening. Each jumper has a clear role and while they all have years of experience, these practices help them learn to jump together as the Alpha 5 team.
Every detail must be precise.
“At those very, very high altitudes, any small minor correction you make with your hand, or your pinky, or your foot is going to really throw you off. So, we have to all be really good fliers. First, we have to be stable fliers, we have to be safe. And then we all have to be able to come together and connect,” Daughtery said.
To break the existing world record, a specially designed hot air balloon will take them up to 35,000 feet. They’ll have to wear full oxygen equipment and will have both a balloon pilot and an O2 tech on hand. From there, they’ll step off and come together to link arms and form a five-person formation. The team will then separate and land.
While that is the mission, the purpose is more personal.
The Alpha 5 project will honor fallen warriors by raising $1 million and awareness for the non-profit, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, headquartered in Tampa.
SOWF honors fallen Special Operations personnel by providing educational assistance for their children from preschool to college. The mindset is “cradle to career” as the opportunities not only prepare children for college but ready them to achieve success beyond.
“I’ve been deployed quite a bit and I always wonder what would happen if I didn’t make it home from combat?” Daughtery said. “I can tell you knowing there’s charities like this incredible organization out there makes me rest better. It helps me go into combat with confidence knowing my family will be taken care of.”
The jump window for the team is between mid-September and mid-October in Roswell, New Mexico.
To learn more about the Alpha 5 Project and SOWF, click here.
10 Tampa Bay Anchor Courtney Robinson is the daughter of a fallen member of special operations and received financial assistance from the Special Operations Warrior Foundation while at UNC-Chapel Hill.