"Over 18 years, through profound changes in skydiving equipment, procedures, and methods of instruction, Jim has worked hard to produce the dramatic decline in serious accidents in our sport."

While her skydiving accomplishments were incredible, it was her humanity and her love of friends and family that made her such an icon in the skydiving world.

In a sport that requires correctly functioning equipment for your survival, how much do you really know about your skydiving gear? Each year, fatal and non-fatal accidents stem from issues with skydiving equipment. The vast majority of these could have been avoided had the jumpers simply known more about their gear or performed basic gear checks to discover the problem before boarding or exiting the airplane. 

Tony Bourke uses humor and colorful language to get across his points during a Safety Day presentation at Skydive Oregon in Molalla. 

 Photo by Mark Leglise | C-44062 

On June 1, USPA began the process that culminates in its members electing the 2019-2021 USPA Board of Directors. All USPA members in good standing who are at least age 18 on or before August 1, 2018, are eligible to run for one of the 14 Regional Director or eight National Director seats.

Skydive Atlas in Holdrege, Nebraska, recently won the Visionary Rising Star Award from the Holdrege Area Chamber of Commerce. The award goes to a Chamber member who has been in business five years or less and has demonstrated business success and community leadership.

In April, Advanced Aerospace Designs released Public Service Bulletin PSB-01-2018 regarding certain Vigil 2 and Vigil 2+ automatic activation devices.

On April 2, the International Skydiving Museum and Hall of Fame announced that Marylou Laughlin and Gill Rayner have joined its board of trustees.

Four skydivers in Eloy, Arizona—Sara and Steve Curtis, Jason Peters and George Reuter—recently purchased Firebird Skydiving, maker of the EVO harness-and-container system (and previously, the Omega sport and tandem harness-and-container systems and the Contrail, Demon, Cayenne and Chilli canopies).

A Federal Aviation Administration Senior Rigger found excess wear on the top and bottom of this reserve parachute closing loop during an inspection.

Photo by Carlos Felix |  D-36519
Steve Verner swoops in for landing after a hop-and-pop skydive during a cloudy day at Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Rochelle, Illinois.

Photo by Roy Wimmer-Jablom | USPA #279679
Team Zion Freefly makes a practice jump at Skydive DeLand in Florida.

 Photo by Seth Kuttruff | D-32445

On a drizzly day during the Cheese Boogie at Skydive Milwaukee in East Troy, Wisconsin, Vanessa Mohawk follows four jumpers out the door (from left, Joshua Gifford, Adam Wirtz, Dan Wagner and Tim Hajewski) as they launch a head-up round.

 Photo by Tom Sanders |  D-6503

At the Boogie in Belize, Elizabeth Higgins, D-13274, who was not current but wanted to make her 1,000th jump over the Great Blue Hole, fulfills her wish on a tandem with instructor Andy Malchiodi.

“This whirring carousel of images accompanied the start of the very last hour of my 45-year voyage through life. Its final phase, which commenced on the third of December, 2014, at nine minutes before noon, would be spent suspended in midair in a wicker basket dangling in the shadow of an enormous 40-meter-tall balloon, now rising silently but steadily toward the stratosphere. 

I knew this moment would be critically important for the future I’d envisioned for myself.” 

Photo By Zach Lewis | D-21616

At Skydive Arizona in Eloy, jumpers build a formation in memory of legendary skydiver Tom Jenkins, who died of complications from Parkinson’s disease in December.

Last August, two tandem double fatalities occurred just a week apart. The details for both of those tragic accidents can be found in “Incident Reports” in this issue of Parachutist. While the casual observer may not see a correlation between the two accidents, they should be a flashing neon warning sign that screams for every tandem examiner, Safety and Training Advisor and drop zone operator to regularly review staff members’ tandem procedures.

Brought to you by Niklas Daniel and Brianne Thompson of AXIS Flight School at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. Photos by David Cherry. Information about AXIS' coaching and instructional services is available at axisflightschool.com.

Photo by Raymond Adams | D-30158

Kyle Stubbs swoops in for landing during the Fitz Boogie, an annual St. Patrick’s Day event in Fitzgerald, Georgia.