The Lunatic Fringe Podcast

In this, his first ever opportunity to take over the hot seat, Ray Kubiak sits down to chat about all things air, whether it be tunnel flying, skydiving, or the world of aviation as seen through an airline pilot eyes with the one and only Rusty Lewis.  To say that Rusty Lewis has a few irons in the fire is a dramatic understatement. Professional airline pilot, S&TA for the International Bodyflight...

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Cody McMains may not have known he was destined for an "extreme" lifestyle, but apparently he mother did.  Having followed the L.A. dream with a fair amount of success, but without the happiness that he expected to come with it, a well timed chance comment by a close friend set him on a completely different path.  Finding himself in the strangest of livi...

One year almost to the day of the release of not only one of my personal favorite episodes, but of the most popular, it is also soon to be the one year anniversary of the passing of the one and only, Moe Viletto. He's the skydiving icon that most of the younger jumpers will have never heard of, even though there's little doubt they've seen him in action. For as sad as we are that we don't have Moe...

Back before the hanger. Back before the smiley face that greeted every jumper and spectator. Back before The Tiki Bar, the swoop pond, the back deck or the Maxi Pad in the ghetto, there was a little dropzone in the middle of nowhere New Jersey called CrossKeys started by a guy named John. As far as CK people go, Bert Navarrete and just a handful of others are about as OG as you can get. Having bee...

For Monica it was pretty easy to get started. For Alejandro, not so much. As the Niece of one of the few intrepid skydivers in Mexico at the time, Monica watched her uncle Tony jump throughout her entire childhood, so when given the opportunity to take that first leap, she didn't hesitate. For Alejandro it was quite a bit different. Not knowing how, but knowing he wanted to fly, he spent his child...

Growing up watching his mom huck herself out of airplanes in California, not only making over a thousand jumps on rounds, but earning herself a California State Championship, there was simply no way that Billy Sharman wasn't going to at least try one jump.  Of course, as seems to be the case, with a first wonderful experience at Skydance in Davis, CA and a little salesmanship from Ray Ferrell, Bil...

Simply Badass. there really isn't any other way to put it.  Starting her skydiving career as a twenty-something in 1968 Kansas, at the insistence of her friend, Alice Hicks and a few intrepid friends spent a day jumping off picnic benches to perfect their PLF techniques, and then just went and did it.  With a bit of a reputation as a "sidespinner", Alice didn't have the chance to jump with too man...

Back in the can to talk all things air sports, travel, artwork and Barney?  Well, one thing you most certainly have say is that Mr. Regan Tetlow has made the rounds to say the least! From bar tender and pub owner, to the meet and greet face man at Skydive Emporia Brava. From randomly being asked to announcing a swoop event on the beach to becoming the voice behind some of the largest skydiving eve...

20 years is a long time for any profession, but especially when its one as physically demanding as working with concrete. Having made his first tandem skydive years back, Grey Milner thought it was just about the most amazing thing he’d ever experienced and was ready to go all in, but as it has a way of doing, life got in the way. It wasn’t until recently that he found himself back in the air on t...

Back in the can for another addition of Lunatic Fringe, Jarrett Martin and his father Brett take the opportunity to sit down and talk with me about what it's like handing skydiving down from generation to generation.  having dealt with injury and loss first hand, yet pushing through to continue to compete and excel in our sport, both Brett and Jarrett understand the drive and determination our spo...

At an age when most kids are still learning to tie their shoelaces unassisted, Zack Rosser was tossing on his kid sized climbing harness so his father could take him up on a tandem paraglide session; and before he was old enough to know he had choices available to him, he'd already made his. With paragliding not as accessible in his area in Australia, his father took him out to the local DZ when h...

From a very early age, Dave Singer knew exactly what he wanted, which was exactly what most other 8 year olds do. A sewing machine... wait, what? Okay, so Dave may not have taken the more traveled road, but it the path that he was absolutely sure he was suppose to be on. From military jumper and rigger, to civilian camera flyer and eventually on to the Mecca of the times for cutting edge skydiving...

Having taken up skydiving as a way to fill the void left by the challenges and disappointments that come with a racing career, Matt Jaskol found more than just a sport, he found the community and "Family" atmosphere that racing never gave him. From his first jumps 7 years ago during his on again, off again career as a professional race car driver to the once in a lifetime opportunity to be the ver...

Third generation skydivers, brothers Marcos and Franco were literally born for aviation. Through luck, both good and bad, their grandfather and father built the family airfield and operation literally from the ground up, and these two brothers took to it like ducks to water, although not as quickly as one might think. With Business and Medicine the original goals, it was conscious decision to chan...

From skateboarding to rock climbing, Simon Whittle touched all the bases when it came to his beginnings in extreme sports, but the real hook came when his UK parents bought him his introduction into the world of skydiving in the form of a static line course. The UK being what it is, it took Simon a very long time to start racking up any real jump experience, but where the sky failed, the tunnel fi...

Ray Kubiak, an OG tunnel Ninja, "retired" skydiver and all-around air sports badass sits down for a proper discussion about all things windy tubes, Las Vegas, bad places to stick your head and apparently good places to stick your junk. Join in on the Lunatic fun with Ray both here and on YouTube as we cover old times and new on Lunatic Fringe Into the Void with NZ Aerosports!   Music by Zach Kimse...

Self proclaimed "Bad Skydivers" Matt Porter and Courtney Skaar knew they wanted to get into skydiving, and like a lot of jumpers they were aimed toward it by friends that had already crossed over to the Fringe; but when Career Army Officer Matt and Clinical Psychologist Courtney came across Mr. Brian Casserly during their first boogie, both freshly "Stamped" A License newbies, they received the fu...

He was the first of many guests on Lunatic Fringe, Sharing his amazing journey from his static line beginning to world champion swoop freestyle competitor, and now he is the first Lunatic to join us on YouTube.  Recapping some of his incredible stories, as well as touching on many we've never spoken of before, this is another entertaining and informative chat with Mr. David "Junior" Ludvik.

Pulling no punches has been Alix Raymond’s style, as anyone who knows her can tell you, and her time on the Lunatic Fringe with our returning host Mr. Zej Mski is absolutely no exception. Finishing our her term soon as the Southeast Regional Director for the USPA, she's got more than a few words to say on the sport of skydiving, the USPA as an organization with all its pitfalls and upswings, it's...

Vegas born and raised, Blane Moler was bound to go big in one way or another. With his brothers A.J. and Brian paving the way, he began his 30 plus year career in the sport of skydiving as a packer, bus driver and occasional target for big brother A.J's dirty biker style temper, not being allowed to really start to earn his chops as a working jumper until he'd been well past his D license; which b...

Both hard charging full fledged Red Bull Athletes, Dani Roman and Sebastian Alvarez have more than a few things in common. They both knew that skydiving was for them at a very young age, and they were both willing to take proper life-changing risks to follow their passion. From tossing it all and traveling across the planet to try and get a job in a country where he didn't speak the language, to w...

Dabble may be the word that Scott Callantine uses to describe his varied interests in the sport, but the truth of the matter is he's hit it from pretty much all angles. Huge into wingsuits, he was pulled that way as a pilot, but he's competed in 4way and 8way, flown CRW, hucked tandems, worked as an instructor... Now he sits down to welcome back our returning host Mr, Zej Mski to let people in on...

First jump fears aside, both Brandon Johnson and Debi Brown took to skydiving pretty much from go, although from very different angles.  Brandon's military background would leave you to believe that it stemmed from that profession, but as it turned out, the military lifestyle was what was getting in the way, right up until it wasn't anymore. Debi Brown on the other hand was well and deeply entrenc...

Back in the can to talk all things nylon are Julien Peelman, Chris Stewart and first timer Chris Snell who are quite literally the ABC's of canopy development, design and production for New Zealand Aerosports. From concept to the production of Proto types to test jumping, we sit down to chat about exactly what it takes to put together the industries leading wings that help keep the lunatic fringe...

DK Live! The one and only Mr. Danny Koon has got to be one of the most upbeat, positive-vibe skydivers on the planet, and this after having spent more than half his life in the sport, 25 years to be exact. Starting out in what could only be considered one of the most challenging places to learn, the high desert of Las Vegas, Danny got his start almost completely by accident. From scrubbing toilets...