What happens when the man who has everything…loses it?
It wasn’t suicide, not exactly, that was on Kevin Burkart’s mind when he stepped into the Cessna Caravan single-engine airplane on a serene Sunday morning in August 2012.
But if it wasn’t suicide, it was certainly something close. I don’t care if my life continues, Kevin thought as the plane climbed steeply, to 5,000 feet, to 10,000 feet, all the way up 13,000 feet into the perfectly blue sky above the drop zone of the Twin Cities’ largest skydiving center.
The 41-year old entrepreneur had the good looks reminiscent of Memento star Guy Pearce, the million-dollar house on Prior Lake, the alpha male, jet-setting, thrill-seeking life—and a useless left arm strapped to his chest. A jerry-rigged harness Kevin had created held his arm across his body and kept his shoulder in the socket. This was the first time he was trying the harness in the air.
