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This is my 144th and final Gearing Up column since becoming USPA’s Executive Director in December 2007.
Ever since I was a little kid, doctors told me that I would be limited to certain activities because I was born with spina bifida. I never even entertained the idea of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, and anyway, skydiving was something that terrified me. That all would change after going to Skydive Perris in California.
This year, my wish list is all about the basics that make skydiving safer.
When a jumper inspected his United Parachute Technologies Vector after receiving a reserve repack, he noticed that his rigger had neglected to secure the reserve ripcord to the reserve pin.
Kelly Turbeville and Erika Schneid freefly at Skydive Carolina in Chester, South Carolina.
Photo by Craig Amrine | D-23425
Vanessa Larroca participates in the Flips and Shenanigans freestyle event and competition at Skydive Arizona in Eloy.
Incoming Executive Director Albert Berchtold updates USPA members on matters of the organization. Learn more at https://uspa.org/ OR https://parachutist.com/. Blue Skies!
Voting is now open for the special election to fill a National Director vacancy on the USPA Board of Directors.
“Keep an Eye Out” on page 66 of the November issue of Parachutist contained incorrect information.
Early in the morning on Saturday, September 19, the staff at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, logged into the DZ computer to see the first video uploads already coming in from DZs in the Eastern time zone.
I became interested in skydiving my senior year in high school after watching a night demo jump into the school’s stadium. I approached the jumper and asked how I could participate.
Michael Kearns, D-16816, began jumping in 1976 while in the military. He made more than 200 special operations jumps in 14 countries, including night jumps wearing tactical gear, and also became involved in sport skydiving.
As I begin to bow out as USPA Executive Director, I want to share some skydiving truths that I have come to know. Some I’ve learned from others, some I had to learn myself, and many came to light in the course of working out problems and issues over 24 years at USPA.
Photo by Craig O’Brien | D-19294
Magician and C-licensed skydiver David Blaine takes off under a cluster of weather balloons to make a nearly 25,000-foot jump over Page, Arizona, for his YouTube special event “Ascension.”
From top, Todd Gleason, Eric Issacs, Victor Olivo, organizer Luis Prinetto, Max Salinas and Andrei Ponomarev enjoy a sunset angle jump during the Tropical Space Camp at Skydive Spaceland–Houston in Rosharon, Texas.
Jumpers form a big-way round, the signature formation of the 2020 Heroes Skydiving event at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina.
The USPA Instructor Rating Manual states in T3—Tandem Method, Section 3-4, F—Tandem Emergencies: “In the event of a main canopy malfunction, decide and act by 3,000 feet to cut away and deploy reserve.”
Keeping track of the manufacturer’s requirements for every year and model of AAD has become a really daunting task for riggers. They really need the help of the owner.
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