Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 3, 1 March 1996 — Thrill seeker turns hobby into profitable business [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Thrill seeker turns hobby into profitable business

Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund

by Patrick Johnston Clarence Lopez likes living life close to the edge. And plenty of times every day he goes over it. Lopez is a sky diver, a special breed of person that doesn't think twice about stepping out of a plane at 13,000 feet and free falling for 10,000. He has been doing it for nearly 30 years and probably spends more time in the air everyday than most people do standing up. He has jumped all across the country and set a number of state and national records in the process. Lopez is also owner president of O'ahu North Shore Aviation, a plane-

leasing company located at Dillingham airfield. His company consists of only one plane, whieh he bought with the help of an OHA loan. He leases it to Sky Dive Hawaii where he is vice president and does most of

his work. Why would a thrillseeker like Lopez want to own and lease a plane? Because he's a skydiver. "I'd rather jump out of a plane with two engines," he says. "It ean go higher and get their quicker." The plane Lopez bought is a King Air, a twin engine craft that runs on jet fuel. Before he bought and leased the plane, he and Sky Dive customers were jumping out of smaller and slower Cessna airplanes. He says the King Air is more fun for jumpers and is good for business:

Now Sky Dive Hawaii ean take more people into the air faster and eome back quickly for the next round.

"In my first year I took in $300,000 from my leasing business. For me, being an entrepreneur anel having fun go hanel in hanei." - C!arence Lopez

Lopez - part of a tight sky dmng community that has been in the islands for years - is also the Hawai'i safety and training advisor for the United States Parachute Association. His work at Sky Dive Hawaii includes teaching skydive instructors and helping new jumpers get licensed. Anyone who wants to jump solo must be licensed. However, if you ever get the urge to jump out of a plane don't feel you have to take a course. Lopez points out the past ten years have seen the

rise of tandem jumping, a leap of faith that involves a jumper piggybacking a professional diver as they plummet through space. The jump is more expensive than a licensed solo fall but it does allow those who "just want to do it onee" a ehanee to experience the thrill of a free fall. Not many of us get paid to do what we enjoy most but Lopez has no problem with it. "In my first year I took in $300,000 from my leasing business. For me, being an entrepreneur and having fun go hand in hand." O'ahu North Shore Aviation ean be reached at 526-3020. For more information about the Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund eall 594-1888.

Clarence Lopez beside his King Air jet at O ahu's Dillingham airfield. Photos by Gary Hofheimer

Coming in for a North Shore landing.