Incoming Executive Director Albert Berchtold updates USPA members on matters of the organization. Learn more at https://uspa.org/ OR https://parachutist.com/. Blue Skies!

Voting is now open for the special election to fill a National Director vacancy on the USPA Board of Directors.

On the morning of September 2, 9-year-old Dessa Blaine looked up above the small town of Page, Arizona, and saw her father, David, become a tiny dot in the sky.

No s**t , there we were, thought we were gonna die. Fortunately, after 45 years of skydiving, I only have a few stories that begin like this.

Keeping track of the manufacturer’s requirements for every year and model of AAD has become a really daunting task for riggers. They really need the help of the owner.

The USPA Instructor Rating Manual states in T3—Tandem Method, Section 3-4, F—Tandem Emergencies: “In the event of a main canopy malfunction, decide and act by 3,000 feet to cut away and deploy reserve.”

Jumpers form a big-way round, the signature formation of the 2020 Heroes Skydiving event at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina.

From top, Todd Gleason, Eric Issacs, Victor Olivo, organizer Luis Prinetto, Max Salinas and Andrei Ponomarev enjoy a sunset angle jump during the Tropical Space Camp at Skydive Spaceland–Houston in Rosharon, Texas.

Photo by Craig O’Brien | D-19294

Magician and C-licensed skydiver David Blaine takes off under a cluster of weather balloons to make a nearly 25,000-foot jump over Page, Arizona, for his YouTube special event “Ascension.”

As I begin to bow out as USPA Executive Director, I want to share some skydiving truths that I have come to know. Some I’ve learned from others, some I had to learn myself, and many came to light in the course of working out problems and issues over 24 years at USPA.

Michael Kearns, D-16816, began jumping in 1976 while in the military. He made more than 200 special operations jumps in 14 countries, including night jumps wearing tactical gear, and also became involved in sport skydiving.

I became interested in skydiving my senior year in high school after watching a night demo jump into the school’s stadium. I approached the jumper and asked how I could participate.

Early in the morning on Saturday, September 19, the staff at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, logged into the DZ computer to see the first video uploads already coming in from DZs in the Eastern time zone.

“Keep an Eye Out” on page 66 of the November issue of Parachutist contained incorrect information.

I've insured skydiving airplanes for 25 years. In that time, I've paid for about 50 heavily damaged or totaled turbine skydiving aircraft. That's a lot of bent iron … unnecessarily bent iron. If you wonder why your insurance costs are so high, let me say it again: 50 heavily damaged or destroyed airplanes! There seems to be an insidious common thread in 85 percent of these accidents, and that’s the lack of following a checklist.

Photo by Thomas Grana | D-34640

At the Highlight Skydiving Team’s training camp at Meadow Peak Skydiving in Marion, Montana, to prepare for countrywide demos commemorating the anniversary of the 19th amendment (which gave women the right to vote), Keri Bell swoops by her teammates during a photo shoot coordinated by photographer David Wybenga.

Parachutes are beginning to disappear … or, more accurately, the word “parachute” is beginning to fade from use to describe our sport, replaced by the word “skydiving”. 

After my fourth jump at the North Pole in 1997 (I made six in all), I decided I really needed to collect the complete set and make a jump at the South Pole.

My adventures in skydiving began in 1968 while visiting my aunt and uncle, Pat and Ches Judy. On the mantel was a photo of Uncle Ches, D-1281, skydiving. Unknown to me at that time, that photo would dictate my life.