COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The U.S. Army parachute team jumped out of a plane to salute healthcare workers at two metro Atlanta hospitals Wednesday.
So far, north Georgia has been treated to multiple flyovers as a thank you to frontline workers in the metro Atlanta area, but Wednesday’s demonstration was a first. The Black Daggers Parachute Team jumped out of a plane over Wellstar Kennestone Hospital at 9:45 a.m. and again over Wellstar East Cobb Health Park at 1 p.m.
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“We’ll have smoke grenades on our feet. We’ll have an American flag, we’ll have the Wellstar flag and we’ll have the Georgia state flag. We’ll be falling about 120 miles per hour and we’ll open our parachutes and hopefully land pinpoint precision on target,” Sgt. Sean O’Toole said in an interview ahead of the jump on Tuesday.
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The big jump is to say thank you and salute healthcare workers who are tirelessly taking care of people fighting COVID-19 during the pandemic.
“It’s absolutely amazing. It’s the best roller coaster ride you can have. Then it tugs at your heartstrings cause you get to land and say thank you to all these amazing healthcare workers,” O’Toole said.
O’Toole says the jump happens from an aircraft at 4,000 feet. The team performed many jumps to prepare for the event.
“We’ve all been in the military for more than 10 years. We’re all senior NCOs in the Army. And then when we join this team we do hundreds, if not thousands of jumps training,” he said.
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