Show features academy skydivers Published Oct. 10, 2003 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) -- The U.S. Air Force Academy’s skydiving program will be featured on the History Channel’s new series, “Guts and Bolts.” The new series, which premiered Sept. 13, gives viewers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the history and inner-workings of today’s most fascinating technologies.Members of the 98th Flying Training Squadron will be featured in a segment of the program that airs Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m. MST. The segment will be repeated Oct. 19, at 9 p.m. MST and Oct. 25, at 4 p.m. MST.In July, “Guts and Bolts” host Tim Beggy and producer/cameraman Chris Gidez, along with a Denver video crew, visited the academy for three days to see how cadets train to become skydivers.Gidez said the key to the program was finding a cool, process-oriented story that lets the show explain how something works. Being able to skydive with an elite team and examine the intricacies of parachute rigging really appealed to Gidez. Another element of the program is that Beggy must be able to participate. “We look for stories that put the host in challenging environments,” Gidez said. During the visit, Beggy did a tandem jump with Master Sgt. Rick McClure and participated in ground training with the academy’s basic freefall parachuting class. Before the jump, cadet instructors showed Beggy aircraft exit procedures, freefall body position, harness training and parachute landing to prevent injury. He also learned the basics of aerial maneuvers needed for competition skydiving, and how a parachute works and is packed, courtesy of the squadron’s parachute riggers.