Long Beach man, 84, to be inducted into skydiving hall of fame after 6,500 jumps

Patrick “Pat” Moorehead’s second jump from an airplane was scarier than his first leap.

But the prospect of leaping into the sky was not so frightening to prevent a third jump. Nor a fourth. Nor the thousands of additional jumps that have resulted in Moorehead, an 84-year-old Long Beach resident and retired firefighter, eaing induction into the Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame’s class of 2016 inductees.

“I’ve never seen anybody that didn’t come down without a smile on their face,” Moorehead said of the sport, which in his view caot be completely understood by anyone who hasn’t braved the experience for themselves.

Moorehead is one of six people who are scheduled to be inducted to Skydiving Hall of Fame during ceremonies plaed for early October in Eloy, Arizona. The museum credits Moorehead with more than 6,500 dives over the course of nearly five decades. Those jumps include appearances in commercials, founding the Califoia Aerial Circus Performing Team in 1972 and his time spent as a board member for the United States Parachute Association.

Moorehead’s first jump — and that even more frightening second one — both took place on March 12, 1969. Moorehead was then a veteran firefighter for Veon’s department. He and his fellow firefighters happened to catch a television program on the subject of skydivers jumping over Lake Elsinore while spending some downtime in front of a 10-inch black-and-white set. That was enough to inspire them to try the death-defying sport for themselves.

As Moorehead recalled that date, he spent the moments before his first jump with his mind occupied on making sure he correctly performed every step leading up to the big jump. By the time Moorehead was ready for a second jump, his brain had more freedom to be scared by the prospect of stepping into thin air.

Although Moorehead said none of the other firefighters who joined him that day elected to stay with the sport, his curiosity inspired him to do so. After all, he made those first jumps with the assistance of a static line that automatically pulled his parachute after he leapt.

“I was curious what it was like to pull my own ripcord,” Moorehead said.

Moorehead met that challenge, only to become curious about what it would be like to jump from higher and higher altitudes.

Among the thousands of jumps that followed, Moorehead said two of his favorites include a dive from a blimp over Japan’s National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo and a jump to a 9,500-foot glacier in Switzerland.

Skydiving also introduced Moorehead to his wife, Alicia. She has some 3,500 jumps to her name and the couple met while en route from Long Beach to a skydiving event in Ensenada, Mexico.

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“We took a walk on the beach in Ensenada that night, and we’ve been together ever since,” Moorehead said.

Moorehead said he retired from the fire service at the rank of battalion chief in 1982 and subsequently took ownership of an Orange County sports bar, and is now fully retired.

The Mooreheads now travel the world. Past destinations include virtually all of Europe as well as several countries that are not typically on tourists’ itineraries, such as Iran, Iraq and even North Korea.

Visting one of the world’s last remaining Communist states presents its own class of danger. Moorehead said visitors are required to travel in groups and be careful throughout the course of their jouey.

“You have to mind your P’s and Q’s. You can’t do anything cuckoo, or you’re going to end up in the clinker,” he said.