Above: Don Kirlin and his wife, Susie, pose with the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame Award. Photo by Jeffrey Steinkamp.

On June 16, the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame inducted Donald Kirlin, D-5372, into its class of 2022 at a banquet in Champaign for his “contributions to Illinois aviation and especially for his efforts related to the World Free Fall Convention.” Kirlin was the organizer and promoter of the WFFC, a huge boogie that took place over 10 days annually from 1990-2001 in Quincy, Illinois, and from 2002-2006 in Rantoul, Illinois. Each year, it drew thousands of skydivers who made tens of thousands of jumps, and also introduced hundreds of people to the sport through tandem and AFF skydives.  

In addition to being an accomplished sport parachutist, Kirlin is a commercial pilot, flight instructor and mechanic and owns Air USA, a contractor that provides tactical aircraft services to the U. S. government and other entities.  He was nominated for the Illinois Aviation Hall of fame by fellow skydiver Jeffrey Steinkamp, who was part of the WFFC staff.