USPA has joined a coalition of 15 general aviation associations in letters to Congress in strident opposition to the Trump administration’s proposal to privatize air traffic control. The Trump budget, released last week, proposes to end air traffic control as a government function of the Federal Aviation Administration and convert it to a private corporation. All general aviation groups are opposed to the concept, which grants airlines a majority position on the private board that would run the corporation.

Reflecting on the association’s past year is like digging through your gear bag after a long, hectic skydiving season. The things you expect to see are there, interspersed with surprising items that somehow got thrown in. For USPA, 2016 was just that mixed bag. Let me inventory those items for you.

Photo by Raymond Adams | D-30158

During a jump at Lake Beresford near Skydive DeLand in Florida, Beau Riebe realizes that there’s no chance he’s landing in the boat that Luis Prinetto is driving while Claudio Cagnasso (who earlier also missed the boat) watches from a passenger seat

It was the seventh jump of the day for our newly formed and unnamed 4-way formation skydiving team. A normal jump on a normal training day. It was the scariest jump I’ve ever been on.

Trent Alkek, D-24348, along with teammates Jed Lloyd and Stephen Boyd, set the USPA Nationals on fire in freefly from 2003 to 2007. Their team, Spaceland Anomaly, created some never-before-seen moves and also set several world records during speed rounds. Alkek, a USPA member for 17 years and counting, is now a sought-after load organizer who also works in aircraft leasing at Skydive Spaceland—Houston in Rosharon, Texas.

This month's "Gearing Up" is written for just 22 of you. If 2017 is an average year in the U.S. accident-wise, some 22 of you won't be around to read this column in next February's Parachutist due to a skydiving accident. Let that sink in: 22 of you reading this will die making your last skydive. Odds are you're licensed (most likely a C or D license), have been skydiving for at least 10 years and have just at or over 1,000 jumps. (Don't think you're off the hook if you're not nearly that experienced, since these are averages; less-experienced skydivers will be among them.) Statistics also tell us that the circumstances of your demise will likely involve a hard landing, a mishandled main-parachute malfunction or a collision.

Photo by Willy Boeykens | USPA #10569

Phoenix-Fly team Need 4 Speed builds a formation during its five-day artistic wingsuit flying event at the Skydive Dubai Desert Campus in the United Arab Emirates.

Lewis “Lew” Sanborn, D-1, has been skydiving for 67 years. He and Jacques André Istel, D-2, established sport skydiving in the United States in the 1950s. Sanborn started jumping with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and later became a member of the U.S. Parachute Team, master rigger, private and commercial pilot, instructor, national judge and world-record holder. He devised a technique for freefall photography and shot a cover photo for Sports Illustrated. In 1960, he was even nominated for an Academy Award for filming the skydiving documentary “A Sport is Born.” In 1972, USPA honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award “for originating safe and reliable parachuting equipment and pioneering work in freefall photography.” In 2000, Istel inducted him into the Hall of Fame of Parachuting in Felicity, California. In 2001, the Golden Knights made him an honorary member, and in 2010, the International Skydiving Museum inducted him into its Hall of Fame.

Remember the days when it seemed like all everyone wanted to do was learn to fly head down so they could join the cool kids on jumps? Well, the cool kids have flipped it right side up and stepped it up a notch. Head-up angle jumps and sit-flying formations seem to be spreading like dust devils in the Arizona summer. And big-way head-up jumps are becoming more popular than ever.

Photo by Laszlo Andacs | D-22468

Jumpers set the 40-way Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Record for Largest Night Formation Skydive at SKYDIVE ARIZONA in Eloy.

Jessie Farrington, D-6853, served on the USPA Board as a regional director for many years and has a long history in the sport. She is part of a large family of skydivers. Her father, Lenny Aikins, got her started in 1964. She has owned Kapowsin Air Sports in Shelton, Washington, with her husband, Geoff, for decades. Her children, Andy Farrington and Keri Bell, are extremely talented skydivers who made many jumps while still in the womb. And her brother, nieces and nephews are all skydivers, and a fourth generation is on the way.

In 1984, the IRS classified USPA as a 501(c)4 non-profit association. That was based on its finding that USPA’s main purposes “promote the common good and social welfare.” Importantly, 501(c)4 organizations can lobby government officials as long as they meet all lobby registration and lobby reporting rules. And USPA does lobby on behalf of skydiving. What does that mean? Primarily, USPA’s executive director and director of government relations engage in efforts to build relationships with various officials, usually those in the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration but sometimes other federal and state agencies.

Jason Russell, D-23161, is a world record holder and a newly crowned Vertical Formation Skydiving World Champion with his SDC Core teammates, one of whom is his wife. Early in his career, he left motocross racing to compete in skydiving and now has made more than 14,000 jumps. Chalk this up as a huge gain to our sport.

Photo by Niklas Daniel | D-28906

EagleBear (Andre Gerner, Joseph Gerner and Nathan Roth) turn points on the way to taking the silver medal in open mixed formation skydiving at the USPA Nationals at Skydive Arizona in Eloy.

Cornelia Mihai, D-31070, is a focused and hard-working skydiver who at the 2014 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Championships became the first female to medal in a canopy piloting event. Originally from Romania, Mihai is now a member of the Skydive Dubai Canopy Piloting Team and is regularly atop the podium representing the United Arab Emirates in international canopy piloting competitions. She is also a tandem and AFF instructor.

Photo by Rick Winkler | D-32647

At Skydive Elsinore in California, Taylor Cole, Eric Gallan, Sean Jones and Will Kitto of U.S. Canopy Formation Team Elsinore Too Wrapped Up make a practice jump to prepare for competing in the rotations event at the FAI World Parachuting Championships Mondial.

Legendary aerial cinematographer Tom Sanders, D-6503, has filmed skydiving scenes for dozens of movies, including “Drop Zone,” many James Bond films and the original “Point Break,” which inspired thousands of people to become skydivers. His resume also includes countless TV commercials, the award-winning documentary “Over the Edge” and coordinating filming of the 1988 Olympic Rings skydive. In 2005, USPA awarded him its Gold Medal for Meritorious Service. He is the 200th person profiled since this column began in February 2000.

Photo by Mike Carpenter | D-34137

Some of the best freeflyers in the U.S., Mike Bohn and Leland Procell of Team FLO, Chad Ross and Damian Germano of Zulu Foxtrot, Brent Witt and John Starkey of Atlas Freefly, Andy Malchiodi of SoCal Converge and Keith Creedy join together to build a hybrid formation at GoJump Oceanside in California.

Photo by Ralph Turner | C-43075

Sarah Endrix skysurfs on Keith Portela while exiting over Skydive Miami in Homestead, Florida.

A recent fatal tandem accident and subsequent information have led USPA to conclude that a number of candidates who attended tandem instructor rating courses at The Parachute Center in Lodi, California, and other locations conducted by either Rob Pooley, #155136, or Yuri Garmashov, #163264, were not properly taught and/or were not properly certified. Some courses may have been abbreviated or incomplete, or candidates may not have met initial qualifications. Post-course rating applications may have been submitted under false pretenses or with forged signatures since, in some cases, the course examiner had been suspended and was not authorized to conduct courses.

In the interest of public safety, USPA is taking steps to ensure that all of approximately 140 tandem instructors and candidates affected can demonstrate proper emergency procedures, have completed the knowledge tests from USPA and tandem manufacturer United Parachute Technologies and have submitted proper rating applications to both UPT and USPA.