TORRANCE : Sky-Diving Pen Pals Visit Pupils--by Car

The pen pals of a class of first-graders at South Bay Junior Academy decided to drop in for a visit. But Federal Aviation Administration officials wouldn’t permit it.

The pen pals are the Sky Hawks, Canadian parachutists who perform sky-diving demonstrations throughout Canada and the United States. After corresponding with the children for several months, the sky divers wanted to jump from a plane and land on the school grounds, but could not get a permit to do so.

Instead, the parachutists arrived by car recently to demonstrate their equipment and give autographs to the eager youngsters.

The children tugged at the men’s jumpsuits, asked questions such as, “Did you ever land on anyone’s house?” and oohed and aahed over a videotape of their visitors’ sky-diving show.

Dropping toward the ground at 120 m.p.h., the divers join hands and form intricate formations, with smoke grenades strapped to their feet leaving colorful trails through the sky.

First-grade teacher Deborah Reedy heard about the diving team after she placed an ad for pen pals in a teachers magazine. Her students wrote letters to the team, asking them about their favorite colors and whether they saw snakes in Canada.

“When we received those letters, we were really surprised,” Capt. Eric Perey said.

In response, the sky divers offered to appear in person as a side trip from their training area in Riverside. The group spends several weeks each year in California before the weather warms up enough to jump in Canada.

Perey said they plan to come back next year and hope their message will come by air mail. By then, they may be able to persuade aviation officials to let them parachute onto the schoolyard.