RIGHT NEXT DOOR: Hannah Betts, World Champion Skydiver and Stuntwoman

RIGHT NEXT DOOR: Hannah Betts, World Champion Skydiver and Stuntwoman
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Four-way formation skydiving is a competitive sport in which teams of divers have 35 seconds to produce as many "formations" -- touching hands to make various shapes -- as possible. Hannah Betts, a native of Cornwall, England, began skydiving in 2003; just five years later she and the "Bodyflight Storm," her team made up entirely of British women, won the four-way world championship.

2015-10-29-1446087135-9482433-fv_081915_rndhb00074_lores.jpg
Ian Spanier

Betts then moved her training to California's Skydive Perris, near Los Angeles, where she also now coaches military personnel and weekend warriors alike. In 2013, she won gold at the U.S. National Championship, becoming one of a select group who have won skydiving titles in multiple disciplines.

Today she makes some 1,000 jumps a year and works as a stuntwoman in both TV and movies -- skydiving, of course, but also kickboxing, stunt falling and any other risky action the Sandra Bullocks of the world are paid to avoid. With appearances most recently in The Hunger Games, Jurassic World and Ant-Man, Betts is on target to fulfill her goal of making a living doing what she loves. She just fell right into it, you might say.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot