SKYDIVING - Meet the fall guy who's taken the plunge 8000 times for fun

The Hungarian, an instructor at Whangarei skydiving academy Ballistic Blondes during winter, is expected to battle Motueka's Mike Beadon for the overall top prize at this weekend's skydiving nationals.
Csizmadia will surpass the 8000-jumps mark during the competition and has deployed his reserve chute only 16 times.
"I usually compare it to getting a flat tyre when you're driving," he said.
"The first time it is a bit scary but you deal with it and just use your reserve parachute like you'd use a spare tyre," he said.
The experienced skydiver is a popular figure among the Whangarei skydiving fraternity and spends his summer months running a tandem skydive operation at Fox Glacier for tourists.
His first aim this weekend, with up to 50 competitors expected, is catching up with people from the country's skydiving fraternity he has met since arriving in New Zealand almost seven years ago.
"Having fun is the main aim but I'm pretty competitive too, so I'm hoping to pick up a few medals as well."
With a few fairly obvious dangers involved in the sport, Csizmadia said skydivers are a very careful breed.
"Obviously there are risks involved with some things that are out of your control but I've never had anything really major happen to me, so really it's a pretty safe sport."
He first got involved in the sport when he was "young and stupid" with the thrill of danger the drawcard - but he said that faded quickly.
"I'd recommend the sport to anyone who wants to develop more confidence, because that's what I think I gained the most, it's not really hard to learn. Obviously it's scary when you jump out of a plane but once you do it, it gives you a really big feeling of achievement," he said.
Once the first step was taken, many people found they wanted to do more.
"The learning curve is never-ending, there's always something new to do," he said.
The Whangarei skydiving club, Air Action Sports Skydiving, will host the championship for the first time in the city's history. It's a big coup for the club that has trained more than 25 local skydivers in the past year.
While Aucklanders still make up many of the students trained at the club, organiser Kelly Cullen said Whangarei people seemed more adventurous than in other areas.
"I think a lot of people want to give it a go because they can see it happening at Onerahi and after that they want to do it by themselves.