The USPA Board of Directors gathered for the first meeting of its three-year term February 1-3 in Dallas, Texas. The new board welcomed six new members, two of whom had previously been on the board and returned after a hiatus.
Among the first orders of business was the election of officers. The new officers for the 2019-2021 term are:
- Chuck Akers, president
- Sherry Butcher, vice president
- Ray Lallo, secretary
- Albert Berchtold, treasurer
- Luke Aikins, member-at-large
- Randy Allison, chairman of the board
The Executive Committee then selected chairs for the various board committees. A full list of committees and chairs is available on the USPA website.
Other meeting highlights include:
- To improve reporting of non-fatal incidents, especially those involving students, the board instituted the following new Basic Safety Requirement: “On any student jump, the supervising instructor, or both instructors if a two-instructor jump, must submit a completed incident report to USPA within 48 hours if any automatic activation device was activated on the jump. No disciplinary action will result from this self-report.”
- Skydive City Zephyrhills in Florida will host the 2020 USPA Nationals in all events sometime in early November.
- Skydive Arizona in Eloy will host the 2020 USPA National Collegiate Skydiving Championships.
- Intermediate vertical formation skydiving is now an official event at USPA Nationals. And this year’s Nationals in Raeford, North Carolina, will include an intermediate mixed formation skydiving test event.
The board next meets in Arlington, Virginia, July 12-14. Look for a complete report on the meeting in the March issue of Parachutist.