“Kiss Pass”  
Oil on Canvas

Matthew Files | B-42132
South Weymouth, Massachusetts 

Photo by Michael Tomaselli | D-18530

Mike Lewis pilots a canopy formation during the Freeze Your Buns Off Boogie at Skydive Lake Wales in Florida.

Larry K. Bagley, D-4522, passed away on March 27 after a brief illness. He leaves behind his wife Cindi, D-10889. "Bags," as he was known, left a legacy in skydiving that few have ever matched or ever will. Arrangements are pending.

The USPA Board of Directors met in San Antonio, Texas, March 2-4 for its winter board meeting.

“Thumbs Up—Skydive Kentucky” 
Charcoal drawing
Drawing of Jeff McGrady during Leap of Faith Jump Day at Skydive Kentucky in Elizabethtown.

Willard Gahart

Photo by Laszlo Andacs | D-22468

Team 6-Way and Chill (Douglas Hendrix, Nick Jayakar, Stephanie Krar, William Savage, Alex Teskey and Andrew Yin) from the University of Connecticut builds a round during the 6-way formation skydiving event at the USPA National Collegiate Parachuting Championships at Skydive Lake Wales in Florida.

What makes a great holiday boogie? Blue skies and perfect temperatures? A line up of all the Skyvans and Twin Otters you can use? Top-notch facilities and awesome parties? How about hundreds of skydivers from around the world and fantastic organizers of nearly every discipline, all sharing the skies, keeping it safe and having the holiday of their lives? The Party in Perridise Holiday Boogie at Skydive Perris in California had all that and much more. 

In a big win for skydiving, the Federal Aviation Administration ruled in favor of USPA Group Member DZ Phoenix Area Skydiving’s complaint to the FAA that the management of the Casa Grande, Arizona, airport was unfairly denying access to skydiving. Like many municipal airports, the Casa Grande airport has received federal funds for airport improvements. 

Instructors Roberto Olazabal and Rich LaBarr (as Nextiva phone company’s mascot XBert) make a promotional jump over Skydive Arizona in Eloy.

In January, the International Skydiving Museum and Hall of Fame launched its new website at its previous address, skydivingmuseum.org.

DZs that have not yet received a packet should contact the Group Membership department at groupmembers@uspa.org as soon as possible.

The eighth annual Jump for the Rose Pinkfest Boogie in the fall of 2017 was the best so far! The skydiving community raised $31,000, which it presented to the Rose—a non-profit clinic that provides breast cancer care to all, regardless of their ability to pay—on December 13.

For 10 days in December, 450 jumpers from around the globe descended onto the Eloy desert for the annual Skydive Arizona Christmas Boogie.

Although MFS teams generally put most of their training focus on the performers, the camera flyers’ performances are critical to success. The mixture of horizontal and vertical formations makes flying camera for an MFS team very challenging because there is a lot of active flying necessary to get the best camera angle.

The Golden Knights Alumni Reunion recently brought alumni and current members of the United States Army Parachute Team to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to enjoy four days of camaraderie among teammates old and new.

The Invasion boogie at Skydive Sebastian in Florida December 28-January 1 was a spectacular success and provided something for everyone: an array of camps (including the SDC Core head-down camp and SDC Rhythm XP 8-way and big-way formation skydiving camps), the Coach for a Day program, organizers for jumpers of all skill levels, courses through the Women’s Skydiving Leadership Network and Alter Ego, novelty aircraft, beach jumps, tube jumps, hot tubs, music, an island party on a private island and a New Year’s Eve celebration.

For the past two years, USPA has held Learn to Skydive Month, where drop zones offered one free first-jump ground school sometime during the month. The goal of the program is to introduce more people to skydiving without obligating them to jump (in the hope that they will not only make a first jump but continue to pursue the sport).

Executive Director Ed Scott presents former Director of Membership Services Clint Vincent, who served as USPA staff member in various positions for more than 20 total years, with a retirement plaque from all current USPA employees at his retirement party at USPA Headquarters in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Jump 4 Joy’s program is called “Dream, Plan, Do.” The foundational idea behind Jump 4 Joy is that kids are really easy to inspire. They’re inspired by athletes, celebrities, actors and movies, but since they don’t necessarily know what to do with that information, it’s very quickly lost. Amonson built his program to help give them the tools to keep it going.