90-year-old SLC man skydives for the first time

A 90-year-old Salt Lake City man went for his first skydive Saturday morning.

Ken Crellin spent 32 years working for Utah Power and Light and is now in his 35th year of retirement. On a trip to Moab with his family last year, his grandchildren went skydiving and he caught the bug.

“They went up and they came down and I thought, man that really looks fun!” Crellin said. “That looks like the ultimate ride to me.”

The family looked around for more skydiving opportunities and found the best option would be this spring. On Saturday, Crellin suited up at Skydive Ogden.

On the way up to 12,000 feet, Crellin had time to think.

“You think, do you really want to do this? That’s real! That’s jumping out of this plane with nothing below you!,” he said. “I thought, wow! You jump out that door and there’s nothing there. You have your arms out like this and you’re just falling straight down,”

Crellin has some trouble with his eyesight. His macular degeneration has damaged the vision in the center of his field of view, but he said he can still see everything in his peripheral vision.

After his parachute opened, and he and his instructor were gliding under the canopy, he was able to take in the view.

“You just sit there and you’re looking around the whole country, the lake, the mountains, the snow,” he said.

Crellin touched back down safely and said he would be glad to do it all over again, if given the opportunity.

“Those birds, they have a good thing! They can fly around and see all that all the time!”