Photo by Kin Lon Ma

After dropping the final jumper during the Solar Eclipse Boogie at Skydive Awesome in Madras, Oregon, pilot Alex Luke descends in front of the eclipsed sun in a Twin Otter provided by Skydive Arizona in Eloy for the occasion.

This bag-lock malfunction occurred when one of the packing tabs on the canopy entangled with the last closing-stow band on the deployment bag. Although this is a very unusual malfunction, jumpers can help avoid it by making sure that the stows are not near the packing tabs when closing their deployment bags. 

At its July meeting, USPA’s board of directors approved a resolution that, eff ective November 1, USPA “will not use association resources to support the sport of ‘indoor skydiving,’ except to nominate international judges to such IPC [International Parachuting Commission] events as appropriate. USPA will seek to encourage, foster and cooperate with any emerging national governing body for tunnel flying.” As a result, effective next month, USPA is officially out of the wind-tunnel business. 

Arizona Airspeed is once again the national champion of 4-way formation skydiving, as well as the designated U.S. Team that will compete at the 2018 World Championships in Australia!
Formation skydiving has taken over Skydive Perris in California this week at the 2017 USPA National Skydiving Championships. With 73 4-way teams, the event finished in two days. After a tight race, Airspeed edged out SDC Rhythm XP for the gold in open. Ranch 2nd Generation claimed the top spot in advanced, with STF Vega XP winning gold in intermediate.
Following quickly on the heels of 4-way, 24 8-way teams took to the sky. The Golden Knights once again are the 8-way national champions and U.S. Team. In advanced, The French 8-Way Team won gold, and AF Rodisiac claimed the top spot in intermediate.
The two weeks of Nationals action will wrap up Friday and Saturday with the 16-way and 10-way events.
Full scores are available on OmniSkore.com, and Skydive-TV’s daily broadcasts of all the action appear at skydive-tv.com.

The 2017 USPA National Skydiving Championships at Skydive Perris in California is the place to be this week! The artistic and vertical events—freeflying, freestyle, vertical formation skydiving and mixed formation skydiving—along with speed skydiving wrapped up Saturday. Some tight competitions and amazing flying made for an exciting few days.

The wingsuit flying competition at the 2017 USPA National Skydiving Championships completed Tuesday, September 19, at Skydive Perris in California. Team Flatspin has again claimed the national champion title in the acrobatic flying event, and Chris Geiler, the current world champion, earned gold in the performance flying event.
Next up are the vertical events: Artistic freeflying and freestyle and vertical formation skydiving start Thursday, and mixed formation skydiving begins on Friday.
A full schedule of events and additional information are available on the Perris website and the Facebook event page. Scores are available on OmniSkore.com.
Skydive-TV, an online and mobile skydiving TV channel, is again onsite to produce daily broadcasts of all the action. Be sure to catch all the episodes at skydive-tv.com.

The 2017 USPA National Parachuting Championships wrapped up Saturday, September 16, at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina. The event included classic accuracy, canopy formation and canopy piloting. Despite a delayed start due to rain, blue skies prevailed the rest of the week, and the meet finished two days ahead of schedule.

Despite a couple days of rain courtesy of the outer edges of Hurricane Irma, competitors are gathering for the start of the 2017 USPA National Parachuting Championships at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina. The event includes classic accuracy, canopy formation and canopy piloting.

The scheduled start for accuracy of Monday, September 11, was pushed back due to rain, but the 19 registered competitors are gathering Tuesday for the competitor briefing and a hopeful start of jumping. The CF event kicks off Wednedsay, and CP starts Friday.

Skydive-TV, an online and mobile skydiving TV channel, is again onsite to produce daily broadcasts of all the action. Scores for accuracy and canopy formation will be available at OmniSkore.com, and CP scores will be on Control Tower. Event updates will appear on the Facebook event page.

Sean MacCormac is a devoted father of three and an iconic skydiver who originally made his mark in skysurfing. As a skysurfer, he perfected the “invisible man” self-propelled spin, on one jump exceeding 12 revolutions per second. He also participated in the development of the Space Games freefly competition. Currently, MacCormac is a member of the Red Bull Air Force, promoting the sport of skydiving around the globe. He is also a stuntman who performed stunts for movies such as “Iron Man 3,” “Godzilla,” “Point Break” (the 2015 remake) and “The Hangover Part III.”

Photo by Mike Carpenter | D-34137

Team FLO (from left: Chad Ross, Mike Bohn and Colby McNeil) launches a sit-train exit at GoJump Oceanside in California.

I frequently said that for my 50th birthday, I wanted to make a skydive. Just before my 48th birthday, my son, who had recently achieved his A license, said, “Mom, don’t wait. You are going to love it.” A few weeks later I took my first jump and knew I was going to do more.

For eight years, five months and counting, USPA members have enjoyed the longest run ever without a dues increase. That streak will end on January 1, when USPA dues and rating and license fees go up an average of 20 percent. No one on the staff or the board takes such action lightly, and both should be commended for making the 2009 dues change last as long as possible.

Jennifer Davidson, D-30287, is a member of the U.S. Army Golden Knights 8-Way Formation Skydiving Team. Until recently, she was a member of GKF4, which in 2012 was the first all-female team to medal in open FS at a USPA Nationals and in 2016 took gold in women’s 4-way FS at the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Championships. A versatile jumper, Davidson was also on the 2010 FAI Women’s World Record for Largest Head-Down Formation Skydive. The Army recently promoted her to master sergeant.

Photo by Daniel Hernan-Perez Aguilera | D-31147

Clockwise from top, Ze Miguel Abreu, Pier Luigi Querci and Guillermo Martinez exit for an upright dive during a freefly weekend organized by the team Cowabonga at USPA Foreign Affiliate Drop Zone Skydive Madrid, Ocaña in Ocaña, Toledo, Spain.

In 1964, I launched my magazine, DZ-USA, to promote the sport and contribute something other than doomsday predictions at a time when the man on the street viewed a parachutist as a daredevil looking for a place to die. In that same year, I was invited to appear on “The Joey Bishop Show” in Hollywood to represent the sport. There, I met John Frankenheimer, who was promoting his movie “Grand Prix,” and Lyle Cameron, who produced Skydiver magazine. John was very interested in what Lyle and I had to say about the sport. He stated that he’d always wanted to make a movie about it and would contact us if a future project came up.

Jumping out of an airplane was never on my bucket list. Well, honestly, I never had a bucket list until May 14, 2016: the day I completed my first tandem.

With proposed air-traffic-control privatization, skydiving—and indeed all of general aviation—is facing the gravest threat to its longevity and future than ever before. If the 21st Century AIRR Act, otherwise known as H.R. 2997, goes through the U.S. Congress and the president signs it into law, it would carve the ATC function out of the Federal Aviation Administration and hand it to a new private corporation funded by new aviation user fees.

Beginning November 1, USPA will no longer be involved in indoor skydiving by supporting indoor skydiving national championships or selecting U.S. Teams for international indoor skydiving competitions. USPA will seek to cooperate with any emerging national governing body for tunnel flying.

The USPA Board of Directors held its summer meeting July 21-23 in Seattle, Washington. Following are meeting highlights:

• The board voted to raise individual and introductory membership dues, rating fees and Group Member dues effective January 1, 2018.
• The board changed the Group Member pledge so that Group Member drop zones must now require individual USPA memberships once a student is cleared for self-supervision.
• Beginning November 1, USPA will no longer be involved in indoor skydiving by supporting indoor skydiving national championships or selecting U.S. Teams for international indoor skydiving competitions. USPA will seek to cooperate with any emerging national governing body for tunnel flying.
• The board determined that any aircraft used for high-altitude or wingsuit distance or time skydiving records must comply with all Federal Aviation Regulations related to that aircraft for the record to be valid.
• Effective immediately, the board increased the required number of evaluation jumps to obtain a Coach Examiner rating to 25.
• Effective immediately, the Safety & Training Committee will review all proficiency cards for candidates seeking a Coach Examiner or Instructor Examiner rating.
• The board awarded the USPA Gold Medal for Meritorious Service to Mark Baur, USPA #9091; Ben Crowell, USPA #73563; and Chuck Karcher, USPA #27444.
• The board awarded the USPA Regional Achievement Award to DeWayne Bruette, USPA #812; Harry Ervin, USPA #555; Miles Hubbard, USPA #1697; and Marilyn Wuest, USPA #56785, and Doug Wuest, USPA #57623.

The USPA Board will next meet March 2-4 in San Antonio, Texas.

The House bill that would privatize air traffic control, HR 2997, has been pulled and there will be no House vote this week. That indicates that House leadership does not think there are enough votes to pass it at this time. A vote on the bill will almost certainly be rescheduled. "The voices of USPA members and 120 other general aviation groups are being heard," said USPA's Executive Director Ed Scott. "We all need to be ready to weigh-in again in the coming weeks."