Floyd SmithThe National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum located on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office campus in Alexandria, Virginia, recently unveiled an interactive parachute jump experience in honor of 2022 inductee Floyd Smith, inventor of the ripcord-operated backpack parachute system and co-founder of Pioneer Parachute Company. The NIHF hired freefall photographer Laszlo Andacs, D-22468, to produce the interactive portion of the exhibit, which provides a 360-degree immersive experience of a modern skydive from exit to landing. Andacs filmed the 7-way skydive, launched from a Super Twin Otter at 13,500 feet, at Skydive the Ranch in Gardiner, New York.
The NIHF, founded in conjunction with the USPTO, is a nonprofit that provides invention education programs at more than 3,000 schools around the country, hosts invention competitions at colleges and universities and holds events, in addition to operating the museum and honoring inventors through its hall of fame. Visitors can experience the interactive parachute jump in the USPTO’s 10-story-tall lobby now through the spring of 2023. More about Floyd Smith and his inventions, as well as information about visiting the museum, is available here.