A bird’s-eye view of solar eclipse: Suburban teacher to skydive during event

This Monday, millions of Americans will watch from the ground as the moon covers the sun in a total solar eclipse. One Hoffman Estates High School astronomy teacher plans to enjoy a different vantage point — 14,000 feet in the sky.

Astronomy and earth sciences teacher Tyler Michie has been skydiving regularly since 2020, and his next jump — a “high pull” that entails letting his parachute out early to keep him in the air for 10-12 minutes — will be the most exciting yet.

“If all goes well on Monday, I will hopefully be in the air when the shadow of the moon crosses the earth in totality,” Michie said.

In the fall of 2020, Michie realized while teaching his high school eclipse unit that a total solar eclipse would be coming up in 2024. The chance to be in the sky during an event like this was too good to pass up.

Michie started researching to find the best drop zone in the country to experience the totality of the eclipse for as long as possible.

“I’m going to be chasing eclipses around the world for the rest of my life, probably,” Michie said. “But this might be my only chance to be in the air when the shadow of the moon moves over me.”

On April 8, 2021, three years to the day before the eclipse, Michie emailed a slew of skydiving sites, asking if they had plans to send up a plane for the event. A year later, he followed up again. When Skydive Spaceland Dallas finally got back to Michie and told him they were planning something, he was able to secure a spot on the high-pull list before anybody else.

Over the last several years, Michie has been able to pair his skydiving experiences with his work in the classroom, bringing the atmosphere to life for his students.

“I found that my perspective of our atmosphere changed drastically once I started jumping, because the sky became this three-dimensional space instead of a two-dimensional space,” Michie said. “And seeing the Earth from above … it’s such a cool perspective.”

Michie’s enthusiasm is infectious. Holden Mackey, a senior at Hoffman Estates High School currently taking astronomy, said whenever Michie comes back from a weekend skydiving trip with stories to share and pictures to show, it gets everyone in the room excited for class that day.

Michie has been able to use skydiving to add to his lessons, teaching his students about the layers of the atmosphere, G-forces, forces on spacecraft and wind direction from the perspective of someone who actually has experienced it. His lessons about eclipses have made an impact, as well.

“He’s made us all super excited for the eclipse … he’s just told us everything about it and how amazing it’s going to be,” said Mackey, who will be traveling down to Carbondale this Monday to see the eclipse in its totality.

Skydiving is a thrill and an exciting way to experience astronomy and earth science firsthand, but for Michie, it’s more than that. According to him, the community of skydivers is the best part of the whole experience, and Michie has expanded that community by inviting former students and their families, and even the Hoffman Estates High School principal, to jump with him.

“It’s not just the perspective I gain of our planet from 14,000 feet up,” Michie said.