PARMA, Idaho — Ray Armani was born in Iran and grew up in Dubai before moving to the United States and becoming a skydiving instructor at DZone Skydiving Boise.
DZONE presented Armani with a certificate for his 11,000th jump. He also received the Chesley H. Judy Safety award because he went above and beyond this past year to get his AFF instructor rating current.
WATCH | Skydiving instructor marks 11,000th jump and recounts mid-air marriage proposal—
"The special thing about this is who is presenting the award for me," said Armani. "Having it come from DZONE, which has been my family for the past couple of years, it is just really great."
Family is important to Ray Armani. When he first moved to Florida, he proposed to his current wife while free-falling in the air. Ray and Caitlyn went on to have three children, and they moved to Idaho because that's where Caitlyn's family is from.
"I was hiding a ring in my mouth, we jumped out of the airplane," said Armani. "I proposed and asked her to marry me, and she said yes."
One of Ray's girls splashed Ray in the face with a pie following the ceremony, per tradition in the skydiving community. It's also tradition that the safety award gets presented on a day when DZONE commits a whole day to safety training.
"We like to sky dive, but we would like to make sure we can sky dive again," said Abbie Mashaal of DZONE. "Every year we get together and talk about injuries and accidents from around the country and learn from them."
DZONE Skydiving dates back to 1969, and Mashaal took over in 2010. Two years ago, he moved this local business from Star to the airport in Parma because there is less congestion in the airspace.
"We just completed this 6,000 square feet hangar of skydiving bliss, we have a green grass landing zone we just seeded, and we have the most powerful jump ship in Idaho," said Mashaal.
"We have an IO550-powered Cessna 182, which has over 300 horsepower, so we go up to 15,000 feet, which nobody else can do in the state."
So if you are interested in skydiving, you could have Armani as your instructor!
Neighborhood Reporter Steve Dent asked Armani about the war in Iran, and he told me 90% of people from Iran support the regime change and America's involvement in Iran. Ray loves America, and he embraces DZONE's motto of 'feel the freedom' as an American citizen.
"America has been a land of freedom for me," said Armani.
"I came here with nothing, and I'm building myself the way I want to. I’m free to choose religion, my way of living, and it’s been a blessing."
