Parachutist Shatters State Record At Ellington Airport [VIDEO]

ELLINGTON, CT — At the crack of dawn Wednesday - at 5:13 a.m., to be precise - Doug Hendrix climbed aboard a plane at Ellington Airport and took to the skies for the first of what would be many skydives. His purpose was to break the unofficial Connecticut record of 61 skydives in a single day, but his real goal was to accomplish 100 such jumps, a feat achieved in just seven other states.

Nearly 13 hours later, at 6:10 p.m., Hendrix touched down for the 100th time, to a raucous cheer from an assembled crowd of family, friends and well-wishers. Among the spectators were several wide-eyed young children, mesmerized by the sight of a man plummeting from the sky in an alternating palette of multi-colored parachutes.

Hendrix, a member of Connecticut Parachutists Inc., began skydiving in May 2012, and has accumulated nearly 3,000 jumps. He competed on the skydiving team at UConn, and in 2019, he was a member of the U.S. Parachute Team, representing his country at the World Cup in Eloy, Arizona on an 8-person formation skydiving team.

Hid dad, Keith, was among the spectators watching him jump out of the plane from just 2,500 feet above the ground.

"We were shocked when he first started jumping as a freshman at UConn," Keith Hendrix said. "It was new to us, and we had to come down here early in the morning to check it out. Lo and behold, one of the bumper stickers in the parking lot said, 'Skydiving - good to the last drop,' the old Maxwell House slogan. From there, it's been a better ride. We've been doing it for 10 years, we've jumped tandem several times, and it's an amazing experience."

The younger Hendrix had plenty of assistance on the ground Wednesday, including a team of parachute packers, two pilots and several other ground crew members.

At the conclusion of his final jump, a weary but exhilarated Hendrix told Patch, "It's been a long day, but it's been great. I had a great team of people, from pilots to on the ground, and I'm glad we were able to make it happen."

Members of the Ellington Volunteer Fire Department were standing by all day. As a thank you for all the assistance it has rendered to the club and to the community at large, 100 percent of the proceeds from a raffle are being donated to the department.

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