Cheryl Stearns
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  United States
| ||
| Women's Parachuting | ||
| World Championships | ||
 |
2000 Toba, Japan | Overall Individual Style and Accuracy |
Cheryl Stearns (born 14 July 1955[1]) is an American skydiver.
She won the bronze medal in Women's Overall Individual Style and Accuracy at the XXV World Parachuting Championships in Japan in 2000.
Life[edit]
She received her education from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in 1985. She would go onto winning the gold medal in the category "Overall, Women" in 1978 and 1994.[2] She holds the record for the most total parachute jumps made by a woman - 21,000 jumps as of June 14, 2019.[3] She also holds the record for most parachute jumps made in a 24-hour period by a woman - 352 jumps from November 8–9, 1995.[4]
More recently, Stearns was involved in the StratoQuest project, which endeavored to break Joseph Kittinger's long-standing record for the highest altitude parachute jump ever, with a jump from at least 110,000 feet.[5]
Stearns made her first jump in 1971 at the age of 17.[6]
In 1977 she became the first female member of the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army's elite parachute team. She served two three-year tours.[7] She served two active duty hitches with the Golden Knights in her military career.[8] She retired from the army after 29 years of service as a master sergeant.
As of 2015[update] she was an on-call pilot for US Airways.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ "CHERYL A. STEARNS". www.pimaair.org. Pima Air & Space Museum. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
- ^ "FAI World Parachuting Championships". FAI. Archived from the original on 2001-03-05. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- ^ "Skydiving World Records". Freefall University. Archived from the original on 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- ^ "Skydiving World Records". Freefall Addicts. Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- ^ Offman, Craig (August 1, 2001). "Terminal Velocity". Wired – via www.wired.com.
- ^ a b Graff, Michael (January 1, 2015). "Grounded: Cheryl Stearns". Charlotte Magazine. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- ^ "Cheryl Stearns". Women in Sports. Make It Happen. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- ^ Alvarez, Steven (2001-05-15). "US Department of Defense". US Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2019-09-26.