For Spencer Labunski, the prospect of jumping from an airplane with only a parachute to guarantee a safe landing does not seem absurd.

The senior political science major is a certified skydiver at the Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Rochelle. Labunski has over 80 jumps under his belt in two years and has worked with people who made nearly 20,000 jumps. Labunski loves the thrill of his job.

“I saw there was a job available and was hired within two days,” Labunski said. “There’s just no feeling in the world, no other humanly possible high like it. Can you imagine reaching between 120 and 260 miles per hour in a dive towards the earth?”

Labunski said occasionally he’ll be set to jump off a plane with someone who is shaking and white as a sheet. In those cases he talks to them and calms them but he doesn’t force them to jump. He said he only highly suggests it.

“Everyone always asks what are the odds of something wrong happening,” said tandem skydriver Dan Kluge. “Each year in the world fatalities or injuries are extremely low. Last year I believe there were only 16 fatalities out of millions of jumps worldwide.”

Kluge has jumped around 4,000 times in the last 10 years. He said as an instructor, he can train people on the basics of skydiving without burdening them with an overload of information or responsibility.

Labunski said he was not quite confident enough yet to take anyone up. He said hurting himself was one thing but it was a big to have someone trusting him with their life.

Labunski said personally the worst case he’s seen happen was when someone turned too low when diving, picked up speed and smacked into the ground—they broke both legs. Unfortunately, some people get cocky and try a maneuver close to the ground, he said.

“People think skydivers are absolutely crazy and have a death wish,” said Michael Wood, chief operations officer for the Chicagoland Skydiving Center. Wood is also Tandem skydiver, FAA Rigger, Commercial, IFR and a Multi-Engine Pilot. “I try to explain to them but they just can’t relate it to their everyday life because it’s not like anything else you’ve ever experience. There are so many beautiful things in the sky that you just can’t see on the ground.”

Wood said skydiving is a like a leap of faith that roughly lasts a minute. The dive goes by so fast that the Chicagoland Skydiving Center offers air video and pictures for purchase so people could remember their experiences.