At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the Tuesday and Thursday air shows featured the Golden Knights, and the air shows on Monday and Wednesday featured the Misty Blues parachuting teams. But across all four days, one family was at the heart of the action.
Mother and daughter duo Kim Kanat of the Misty Blues and Spc. Sloan Kanat of the U.S. Army Golden Knights have found not just a sport, but a passion and career that they share together.
Kim’s skydiving career began on a whim during a vacation with her husband, Steve Kanat. He wanted to try a tandem skydive. Kim, hesitant at first, went along mostly so she wouldn’t be left behind. “Why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?” she asked. But that single jump sparked something in both of them. They soon dove headfirst into the world of skydiving, with Steve eventually becoming a certified accelerated freefall instructor.
Since 2014, Kim has been an experienced demonstrator for the Misty Blues — an all-women skydiving demonstration team that’s been promoting female empowerment and inspiring crowds since the 1980s. With more than 1,300 jumps under her belt, she passed her passion down to her daughters. Her youngest, Keller Kanat, is now a licensed guide diver. And her oldest, Sloan, grew up thinking of drop zones as a second home.
“It was a goal of mine to start skydiving once I was old enough, which was when I turned 18,” Sloan said. “Growing up in that lifestyle, it was always something that I had aspirations of and wanted to be a part of.” So, it was a rite of passage that Sloan went on her first tandem jump for her 18th birthday surrounded by her family.
After earning her license in 2018, Sloan began helping out with the Misty Blues alongside her mom. Eventually, the team leader asked if she wanted to train and potentially perform. Her first show with the team was at the Selfridge Air Show in Michigan. “They’re some of the most talented and amazing women I’ve ever met, and we get to do this dream together and just meet everybody,” she said. “And there’s not very many skydiving women teams … so to be a part of that, I mean, it’s an honor, truly.”
But Sloan’s ambitions didn’t stop there. After earning a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and seeing more airshows, the Golden Knights encouraged her to consider enlisting.
By November 2023, Sloan knew it was time. She enlisted in the Army and completed basic training and advanced individual training. But the real goal was always the Golden Knights. In the fall of 2024, she went through their rigorous assessment and selection process. Today, she’s a full-time demonstrator, performing around the country as part of one of the most prestigious parachute teams in the world.
To get where they are now, Kim and Sloan have had to put in countless hours, push past fear, and carve out their space in a male-dominated sport.
For Sloan, the opportunity to return to Oshkosh as a Golden Knight held special meaning. During the opening air show, she had the honor of flying the Wisconsin state flag high above the crowd. Below, thousands of spectators watched as she brought it safely to the ground. That same week, Kim also entered the sky above Oshkosh, jumping as part of the Misty Blues team in the Monday and Wednesday air shows in her debut at AirVenture.
Moments like these highlight how much the Kanats have accomplished, and how skydiving has brought their family closer. The courage it takes to jump out of an airplane is massive. The courage it takes to keep doing it, together, over and over again, is even greater.