Trudy Martin used to think she wanted to be a pilot. She never became one, but she never strayed too far from the sky.

The Useless Bay resident recently made her fourth tandem skydiving jump at Skydiving Snohomish Inc.

“I just like the air,” Martin said.

Martin made her recent jump while smoke from the eastern Washington wildfires covered the landscape below as it seeped west of the Cascade Range mountains.

She made her first jump as a birthday gift when she turned 70.

When Martin isn’t skydiving or flying in hot air balloons and gliders, she’s running the Friendship Force of Whidbey Island, which she founded in 1991. She’s been a member of the club for the past 30 years. The Friendship Force is one of more than 350 groups across 50-plus countries which are dedicated to promoting peace and cooperation through informal group exchanges. Martin has traveled to 52 countries while with the club.

“The most important thing in my life is the Friendship Force,” Martin said.

While friendship may be paramount to Martin, leaping from a plane a few thousand feet in the air isn’t far behind. This may have been her last, but she is known to have uttered those words before only to find herself ready to jump.

“I say I’m not going to do it again, but I think I’ve said that the last two times,” Martin said.