Laura Hampton is afraid to climb ladders or stand near a window, yet she doesn’t mind leaping out of a plane at 13,000 feet. In fact, she thinks it’s fun.

“It sounds really strange to say that,” she said, but “as soon as I did that first jump it had me hooked. The first time you jump out of a plane, the whole experience, there’s nothing like it in the world.”

It amounts to about eight minutes of heart-pounding excitement for a jumper.

That was 18 years ago. Hampton is now a competitive skydiver and instructor at Skydive Arizona, a skydiving resort in Eloy. She is a certified instructor who coaches skydivers, teaches students, competes nationally and internationally, films tandem jumps and is a member of Arizona Airspeed, a four-way formation skydiving team.

Get a look at her and a lot of other people jumping out of a plane on World Skydiving Day set for Saturday, July 11. To celebrate, skydivers from the area and visitors from across the U.S. and even from abroad will converge on the Eloy facility and starting at 5:30 a.m. the first plane carrying a cargo of skydivers will take off. Hampton said she expects at least 400 jumps will be made from the Eloy facility that day. Not all at once, though. Multiple planes will go up, each holding 20 jumpers.

ALong with skydivers at drop zones around the world, she will be part of an effort to break the current skydive record of more than 30,000 jumps made in a single day. This record was set in 2024. 

Last year, Skydive Arizona was the third busiest jump zone in the world, “which is even more impressive when you consider that we’re only able to jump half the day.”

That’s because of the weather.

Why do they do it? For the thrill of it, of course.

“When you’re on the edge of the plane getting ready to jump, there’s nothing like it,” Hampton said. 

Another aspect of skydiving is the camaraderie she feels with the other skydivers. She knew she had found her “tribe” the first time she jumped.

“I love being part of the sport,” Hampton said. “It’s very accessible, very inclusive. Anywhere you go in the world, … everyone is going to embrace you.”

They call people who skydive alone fun jumpers.

Almost anyone can learn to skydive, even for people who think there are circumstances that might hold them back. According to Hampton, weight could be a barrier based on manufacturer’s equipment recommendations. However, she has worked with people who have had amputations and one time she said she worked with someone who had lost both legs. 

“I’ve worked with people over the years who have had amputations and people who’ve got different abilities,” Hampton said. “We can still work with people and the way we try to do it is we work with people on an individual basis, do some assessment with them.”

She finds work-arounds, she said. Still, there does have to be an element of physical fitness.

“Like any sport, there’s an expectation that you are able to comfortably wear the harness, that you’re able to comfortably move around the plane. Being flexible in freefall is helpful. It’s a way we achieve stability when we’re flying by ourselves. … It’s an advantage if you’re quite sporty but it’s not necessarily going to stop you from trying.”

You don’t have to jump by yourself. There are tandem jumpers, which means you are strapped to an experienced jumper. 

If you can’t make it to this event, but would like to see jumpers in action there will be another opportunity. In October, they’re going to attempt to break another record.

“The world record is to get 100 skydivers building a 100-person formation in the sky above Arizona, which we will hopefully manage to complete,” Hampton said. “Then once we’ve built that formation, we’re going to build a further three formations all within one skydive.”

In between constructing the shapes the skydivers will break apart, then do it again.

Also, look for the skydiving world championships. Who knew? 

Even if you don’t make it for the competitions, Skydive Arizona is a nice place to visit. There’s a restaurant/tavern, an on-site shop, a spectator zone and an indoor skydiving facility. There are also picnic tables and a swimming pool.

“People can make a day of it,” Hampton said.

If, after watching everyone having fun jumping, someone decides he or she would like to try it, Hampton encourages that desire. The jump will only serve to make you stronger.

“It’s very much a belief that if you can jump out of a plane, that’s such an empowering thing to do,” she said. 

Skydive Arizona
WHEN: from about 5:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 11
WHERE: Skydive Arizona, 4900 N. Taylor St., Eloy
INFO: skydiveaz.com