Area man skydives over pyramids
Photo by Bruno Brokken Gainesville High School graduate and Springfield-area resident Herb Laub (under the white parachute) and his buddies enjoyed skydiving over the great pyramids in Egypt recently. Here they form a diamond pattern over the pyramids and the Egyptian landscape.
Photo submitted Herb and Tanea Laub pose for a selfie in front of one of the pyramids.
Photo submitted Herb Laub had an unplanned camel ride in Egypt after he landed off course about a mile and a half away from the target area. Laub had chased down a buddy’s parachute, and was going to have to walk through the desert, but some locals on camels happened by and gave him a ride.
Former Gainesville resident Herb Laub said seeing the pyramids in Egypt wasn’t on his bucket list, but when the avid skydiver and his buddies were reading about an annual skydiving event over the pyramids in Parachutist Magazine, they decided to plan and go.
“It was kind surreal,” Laub, a 1993 Gainesville High School graduate told the Times. “One day my buddies and I are sitting around reading about it in a magazine, and the next thing you know, we’re getting tickets and planning the trip,” Laub said.
So Laub and his wife Tanea made the long trip to Cairo, Egypt, along with his skydiving buddies.
“We left Nov. 4 and spent seven days in Egypt,” Laub said.
Laub said he and his parachuting buddies do canopy formations, and they planned to do a diamond pattern over the pyramids.
“So usually we deploy our chutes as soon as we exit the plane,” Laub explained. “Our parachutes are not supposed to be opened at speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour, but when we came out of the back of the C130 we were going 140 mph, so we waited a few seconds before deploying as we were trying to slow down.”
Laub said in addition to the jumps over the pyramids, he had other “adventures” while in Egypt.
“On our first jump, one of my partners who was jumping with us actually had a mishap and had to cut away his primary parachute,” Laub said. “So I chased it down and ended up landing about a mile and a half away from the target landing area in the middle of the desert.”
“I was going to have to walk a mile and a half back to the drop zone, but these guys came by on camels and gave me a ride,” Laub said laughing. “So I had an unplanned camel ride in the Egyptian desert.”
“Seeing the pyramids was amazing,” Laub said. “I had only ever seen them on television and in movies and such, so to be able to skydive over them was just one of the most memorable experiences ever.”
Laub explained that the event was coordinated through military officials. “There is technically no civilian skydiving allowed in Egypt, so we went through military bases and on military aircraft. It was great.”
The skydiving package included three jumps. “We were able to do the diamond pattern formation over the pyramids,” he said. “That was spectacular.”
Laub has been skydiving for about 24 years and has recorded more than 2,000 jumps. “This one ranks way up there on my favorites.”
In addition to the skydiving, Laub and his wife got to tour the pyramids and check out other parts of the country, including a relaxing getaway at a seaside cottage. ‘It was really nice,” he said.
His wife Tanea, who used to skydive, actually got to experience the air over the pyramids herself. Laub said she was able to skydive over the pyramids from a Russian helicopter.
“She’s usually the one sitting and watching us go, but this time she got in on the action too,” he said.
Laub said when he’s not working or skydiving he likes to spend time at his lake property near Theodosia on Bull Shoals Lake. “We just love it down there on the lake,” he said.