By Nathan Prewett
PINSON — If you were in Pinson yesterday and you saw several yellow parachutes spiraling in the air, one of those belonged to Pinson Valley High School Assistant Principal Russ Cofield, who volunteered to take part of the “Leap Frogs” parachute demonstrations.
An announcer gave details on the Navy SEALs parachuting operations before the plane was sighted and Cofield made the jump at around 12:15 p.m.
Taking off from the Birmingham Airport, Cofield jumped with several U.S. Navy SEALs. Not long after he landed, Cofield was greeted by his daughters and niece, as well as applause from the hundreds of students watching from the bleachers.
“We hooked up with the Air Force in a C-130,” he said. “They flew us over and we jumped.”
This was actually not his first time parachuting from a plane, he said. He had jumped with the Army five years ago before yesterday’s demonstration at PVHS. The school was chosen by Jefferson County to participate in the demonstration, and Cofield volunteered.
“Just excited,” he said in reply to if he was still scared in his second experience. “There’s something different about being in a C-130 and you’re 10,000 feet in the air and when that back door opens, you just see the whole world from a different perspective. But having done it before, I think some of the nervousness got out of my system and it was just a great opportunity to get to do it again.
I thought then it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I can’t believe I got to do it twice.”
See below for more photos and a video of the event.