When Monica Noncheva completed her first tandem skydive jump 11 years ago she had no desire to skydive again. After 5,000 jumps, she’s developed more than a passing interest in the extreme sport, but it’s really the community she has found that keeps her coming back for more, she says.
The 29-year-old is the first woman president of Skydive Orange. Established in 1977 and based out of the Orange County Airport, Skydive Orange is the largest skydiving facility in Virginia and one of the largest drop zones in the mid-Atlantic.
Women make up only 14% of the male-dominated skydiving world, according to the United States Parachute Association. Noncheva said Skydive Orange sets itself apart supporting women jumpers, literally and figuratively, on the ground and in the air.
“Maybe it’s our location or because we have always had women in high roles at Skydive Orange, but women are supported here,” Noncheva told The Daily Progress. “Our current operations manager and multiple former managers have all been women. Our board of directors has always had at least one woman. Seeing women represented gives you confidence to keep going.”
Noncheva is also a certified senior accelerated freefall instructor, lead tandem videographer and Federal Aviation Administration senior parachute rigger. She is one of only 250 safety training advisers in the United States.
Noncheva said she takes pride using her specialized training to help others. She enjoys working with military and law enforcement officials to answer calls needing specialized skills in the event a normal rescue is not possible.
That said, she has faced pushback as a woman from those newer to skydiving.
“There’ve been some law enforcement men who aren’t always comfortable right away with me as the instructor since I’m a woman. But after we’re in the classroom and they make their first jump, it resolves itself. They realize I know what I’m doing and we go from there,” she said.
Noncheva has had strong women role models teaching her how to push back against that pushback. She recalled how when she was first introduced to the skydiving community, when she was a shy, introverted 14-year-old, she thought the sport was only for outgoing types.
“I started coming to Skydive Orange to watch my aunt jump,” she recounted.
“My mom and I would come down from Alexandria where we lived, and I’d hang around everyone and watch the skydivers. My aunt was also the manager, and when I turned 15, the staff put me in charge of the manifest. They allowed a 15-year-old girl to be in charge of the lists of who was jumping, types of dives and what altitude a skydiver was up to.”
Noncheva, who is also an artificial intelligence engineer, credits much of her success in skydiving to those who put her to work as a teenager.
“Being around the community creates shared experience of skydiving and a bond with people I wouldn’t normally be around, like NASA engineers and military personnel,” she said.
Skydiving, she has found, is for everyone. After taking over Skydive Orange, she found that many of the jumpers work regular office jobs during the week and spend their weekends flying through the skies with friends from all walks of life.
When Skydive Orange’s annual Big O Boogie skydiving festival came to an end last month with two skydivers in wingsuits stuck in trees, other jumpers rallied to ensure their safe recovery.
Not only is Noncheva shattering glass ceilings as a woman and leader in the skydiving community, she’s shattered her share of national and world records. Most recently she took part in a group jump in Ohio, part of the 2024 Ohio Large Formation Head Up record.
A defining moment for Noncheva was in 2022, when she was one of only 120 participants in the world to be invited to participate in the world record, all-woman jump team in Arizona. Sponsored by the nonprofit skydiving group Project 19, the jump brought attention to the women’s suffrage movement and female empowerment. The invitation-only jump requires multiple rounds of trials and trainings.
“It was the most surreal jump of my life,” she recounted. “We were all head-down, towards the earth. Since I was on the outside ring, looking across the center of formation, I got to see everything. We started in free fall to build our formation before pulling our parachute cords. I could see every woman from around the world who had made the trip to support each other, and to support women everywhere. I’ll never forget that experience.”
Noncheva pointed out Project 19’s goal is encouraging women to be comfortable in uncomfortable spaces — which is exactly what she and others at Skydive Orange seek to do.
Noncheva has also been one of only a handful of women featured in the Parachutist, a magazine historically dominated by male skydivers.
Humbled by her supporters at Skydive Orange and around the country, Noncheva said she knows every record she shatters brings more attention to a sport many women shy away from.
Noncheva reassures women that skydiving is different than other extreme sports and women can participate no matter their age or stage of life. You don’t need to be the fastest or strongest to excel at skydiving.
“You don’t have to be super special to skydive. Like any sport, athleticism helps, but in skydiving, even the smallest lady can excel in skydiving as long as they learn the techniques and what works for them. Anyone can enjoy the community and learn skydiving,” she said. “It really is a sport for everyone.”
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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