Keith Eisberg was among the U.S. contingent at the World Championships of Relative Work in Brazil in late September.  His cover photograph shows the gold medal winning U.S. 8-way team transitioning between two of their record-setting 131 points.  Below the Golden Knights is Rio Iguacu, which forms the border between Brazil and Argentina.

Tom Sanders was part of the American contingent which visited Seoul, South Korea for the World Cup of Champions in late September.  This shot was taken by Sanders during one of the practice RW demonstration jumps into the Olympic Stadium, which will be the site of many of next year's Summer Olympic events.  More details on the South Korea trip appear in the At Presstime section on page 30.

Norman Kent filmed this truly breathtaking shot over Key Largo, FL for his upcoming film "From Wings Came Flight."  The color-coordinated sequence is one of the several done by a group of jumpers known as the "Dream Team" headed by Guy Manos.  Their jumps in Florida, California and Mexico will form much, though by no means all, of the footage in the film.

On our cover this month are two emblems, the larger one of the 1987 National Skydiving Championships which are featured in this issue in stories and articles and another which commemorates the 30th anniversary of USPA and the Parachute Club of America.

Tom Sanders grabs the action on film as B.J. Worth doubles for James Bond and Jake Lombard (with knife) plays the part of the evil Necros in the upcoming 007 film "The Living Daylights."  Worth's story on how the complex stunts required by the script were filmed begins on page 18.

Dave Flanagan got this shot of a 20-way sequential dive during the Memorial Day boogie at the Spaceland drop zone near Houston, TX.  Flanagan, 34, is relatively new to the freefall photography game; he's got just over 400 jumps, 150 of which have been with a camera.  He also takes stills and movies underwater.  Monday through Friday he's a research scientist at the Johnson Space Center where he's working on the space station project.

The classic student-in-tow nightmare was recreated for the cameras of Leo Dickinson, co-conspirator with Pete Reynolds on the continuing Wally Gubbins project. (See story, this issue.)  Dickinson, a native of England, has made 54 television documentaries since his first one in 1970.  The inset photo is of Gregory Robertson, who saved an unconscious fellow jumper by pulling her reserve ripcord.  (See related story.)

Cover photo by Lynn Scheer.

Mike McGowan, D-5709, was hanging outside one of Skydive Arizona's Twin Beeches when he took this shot of a multi-plane formation exit on one of the 64-way diamond attempts in Coolidge, AZ at the end of last year.  More large diamond attempts are scheduled in both Arizona and Florida over Easter.

Norman Kent submitted this photo of the Four N Legion Team—Jeff Barbani, Abadulaziz Ojjeh, Joe Nepute and Tom Piras—over Lapalisse, France where they finished third at the French Open Championships in August of last year.

Frequent PARACHUTIST contributor Gus Wing, like several other freefall photographers, traveled a lot last year, keeping his camera pointed at several world record large RW formation attempts.  He brought back this photo from British Columbia where some 12 tries at the first 100-way formation fell just short of success.  The 100-way barrier was broken in Muskogee the following month, but that record stood for less than 30 days before the 120-way in Quincy, IL  established the current mark.

Mike McGowan, D-5709, got this shot at the 1986 Turkey Meet in Zephyrhills, FL.  McGowan headed a team of a dozen freefall photographers who provided air-to-air video coverage; their tapes were used to judge all four events.  More information and final results of the meet appear in this month's At Presstime section.

The ranks of skydivers have always included celebrities: professional football players, TV actresses, state politicians.  But this month's cover shows someone of far greater stature touching down with Bill Booth after his first jump: Ron Reagan, the President's son.  Details of Ron's jumps for the "Good Morning America" TV show are on page 17; the cover photo was taken by Michael Takash, a shooter for the News-Journal newspaper in Daytona Beach, FL.

This month's cover was shot by Dave "Bluebaker" Hancock, 32, a five-year member of the Australian 8-way team with more than 3,500 jumps.  It shows the American CRW sequential team practicing over the lighthouse at Byron Bay, which, as the most easterly point in Australia, is roughly equivalent to America's Cape Hatteras.  A complete report on the World CRW Championships in Australia begins on page 16.

Frequent PARACHUTIST contributor Tom Sanders snapped this shot of the beach in Mazatlan, Mexico, where a group of Perris Valley skydivers vacationed last year, combining jumps over the ocean with sunshine and resort hotel living.

This month's PARACHUTIST cover is a composite of a photograph taken by Robyn Allen and the official logo for this year's National Skydiving Championships designed by Gary Cobb.

Craig Hanson, who served this year as USPA's official photographer for the National Championships of Style and Accuracy and CRW, accompanied the Prism 4-way rotation team on their apparent world record jump: 20 rotations in three minutes.  Apparent records were also set in women's group accuracy and largest freefall formation, the latter when a 100-way was completed and held for nearly eight seconds over Muskogee during the Nationals Boogie.

Gus Wing, D-7117, a frequent contributor to PARACHUTIST, supplied this photo of former Skydive DeLand co-owner/operator Tom Piras over the Florida DZ during this year's Easter boogie.  Piras' former partner Bob Hallett has since assumed full control of the drop zone.

Bob Feisthamel submitted this Ken Jorgensen photo of Feisthamel's Tension Free teammates Bob Suchor, Lynn Kleen and Daryl Dassinger over Spearfish, SD.  Tension Free took home a box of medals from last year's National Skydiving Championships of CRW, including gold medals in 4-way sequential and 8-way speed stack and silver medals in 4-way rotation.

Eric Vickery, C-15915, was there to record Bob Johns of Alaska on an accuracy approach during the 1986 National Para-ski Championships in Utah.  Johns tied with Nick Kingery for first place in the men's open accuracy event.  More photos and the report on the Championships begins on page 25.