San Marcos native is set to compete in Wingsuit Flying at World Championships
Danny White has always been about pushing the limits.
Which is why the San Marcos native is the perfect choice to represent the United States at the 2023 FAI Wingsuit Flying World Cup taking place in the Czech Republic Aug. 19-25.
“I’ve always been a curious person with a big imagination,” White said. “I grew up in an era with astronauts in the astronaut program, Indiana Jones, A-Team and MacGyver. … But there was a sense of exploration that was instilled in me and my friends. It was never okay to be satisfied with what was in front of you, but rather what was beyond that.”
While skydiving or wingsuit flying wasn’t a passion that White found early on in his life, the limitless flier discovered the sport was going to find him.
“I went out with a co-worker who was interested in doing something crazy,” White said. “I didn’t know I wanted to make a passion out of this until I did it for the first time. … I just went on a whim to try it out and push myself in a way people talk about, but not a whole lot go out there and do. Once I did it, I saw that, no pun intended, there was a whole world out there that I hadn’t yet experienced. As soon as I finished my first tandem jump, I decided to sign up and get my license.'
Now hooked on skydiving, White soon discovered the high-flying hobby was becoming a passion.
“It took me eight jumps out of the required 25 jumps to get my license, to realize that this was something I loved to do,” White said. 'I got hooked realizing that once you jumped out of that plane, you are experiencing things that you can’t feel when you are on the ground. There was a freedom, an inspiration and a sense of imagination and curiosity that led me to pursue it further.”
But it wasn’t enough to just skydive.
For White, it was now taking the next step further in pushing his limits, while also chasing a childhood dream.
“That led me to pursue wingsuiting,” White said. “The big difference for me was that I always wanted to be a pilot and had an interest in being an astronaut. The concept of flying versus falling was something that I latched onto. I saw wingsuiting as an opportunity to do that.”
As one may observe, the differences between the two high flying activities are vast.
“The biggest difference is that with skydiving, you are falling straight down,” White said. “With a wingsuit, you can fly forward or up. Anything you can see a bird doing, with the exception of landing, we can do it in the sky.”
Nearly a year after starting skydiving on a suggestion of a friend, White was on the quest to be a wingsuit flier.
“You need 200 jumps minimum to pursue wingsuiting,” White said. “I put in the jumps that had me jumping out of an airplane and falling down to earth. As soon as I hit 200, I signed up for wingsuiting.”
Needless to say, White easily became a professional.
“It was a natural thing for me,” White said. “I picked it up pretty quickly and progressed pretty rapidly, to where I was competing and flying on the most difficult high risk suits that are made for people.”
While White makes wingsuit flying look easy, the expert flier said he must partake in vigorous prep work–both externally, physically and mentally.
“There is quite a bit that goes into it,” White said. “With a normal skydive, you put on your rig and clinch up the required chest and leg straps. Whenever you put on a wing suit, you are stepping into a giant custom-made suit designed for you. Then there is the mental and physical preparation.”
As described, wingsuit flying is not a sport for the faint of heart.
“Because we are able to cover so much ground and fly at speeds normal skydivers can’t fly at, we have to be concerned about everything,” White said. “What are the winds doing, what are the flight patterns, where the plane is putting us out, adjusting our body to the thermal updrafts, the aerodynamic forces being exerted on our bodies. … The consequences of not doing this is as bad as you can imagine.”
During wingsuit flying competition, the competitors compete in multiple events.
“There are three categories,” White said. “There is time, distance and speed. Considering this is a vertical window, you jump out of the plane and as soon as you cross the first barrier, the time starts. Once you cross the second barrier, the time ends. In between the barriers, you want to see how slow you can fall within the time frame.”
As White explained, the fliers take different strategies when competing the individual stages.
“The person who wins is the one who spends the most amount of time within that window,” White said. “The person who wins the distance is the one who can fly the furthest horizontally, until they cross the lower boundary. For speed, it’s about who can have the fastest horizontal speed until they hit the bottom boundary. There are three jumps for each category, so you can make the proper adjustments. The competition is about who can do the best out of the three categories.”
'In the Czech Republic, I’ll be jumping out of an airplane I’ve never jumped out of before,” White said. “Another aspect is jumping in a place I’m unfamiliar with. I’ve jumped in San Marcos hundreds of times and I know Dallas pretty well. But I’ve never been to the Czech Republic before, so I have no idea what it looks like.”
But White said he is undeterred.
“I’m going to do my best to pull it on Google Maps and find my point,” White said. “As I’m jumping out of the plane, I spot that point which is about four miles away, at an altitude of 14,000 feet. I just fly as close to that point in a straight line, which could be the hardest part of this whole thing.”
While White will be representing the U.S. during the World Cup, he said he is also proud to represent San Marcos, as well.
“It’s a huge honor for me,” White said. “I’m very proud to represent San Marcos. I still have family there, so a lot of these qualities that were instilled in me through the education system there, the Boy Scouts, and the various camps in the area. San Marcos is the place that believes in doing more than what you are given. It’s an honor and a privilege to take what was instilled in me and the lessons I learned from all of the mentors that I had that are from San Marcos. To take that and apply it to something that represents the U.S.”
coltonbmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
