6,000 leaps later, skydiver keeps on jumping for joy Express-News Copyright 2012 Express-News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 11:46 pm, Saturday, December 29, 2012 Forty-six years after he first jumped out of an airplane at Fort Benning, Ga., and liked the inexplicable feel of it, John Tippy packed his parachute Saturday for a milestone that most skydivers would find unimaginable.