Skydiver James Bauer recently introduced Pack Monkey, a tool to help jumpers put their canopies in deployments bags easily. The tool is designed to help those who have slippery canopies, small hands or just want to pack more quickly. Pack Monkey is designed for canopy sizes from 120 to 250 square feet but can also work on larger or smaller canopies. A video of how the product works and ordering information are available at packmonkeydesigns.com. It retails for $35.

Actor Wade Williams, best known for his role as prison guard Brad Bellick on the TV series “Prison Break,” makes a tandem skydive with instructor Ryan Clough and jumpers Ryan Mari and Eric Salas at the Fitz Boogie in Fitzgerald, Georgia.

Michael Sean Washburn and Reza Moradi of the Skytrash wingsuit team make a jump at the Skydive Dubai Desert Campus in the United Arab Emirates.

The International Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame Board of Trustees gives its Trustees’ Award to thank those who contribute services or make other gestures of goodwill to the museum. The board of trustees recently chose Doug Garr, D-2791, to receive this award.

March 15-17 was a memorable weekend at Skydive Arizona in Eloy, as the Rookie Round-Up brought novice skydivers from around the country to learn from local professional teams. Members of formation skydiving team Arizona Airspeed, freestyle team AZ Dream and vertical formation skydiving teams Arizona Anthem and Arizona X-Force provided coaching in the sky, as well as the onsite SkyVenture wind tunnel. On Saturday, the rookies had lunch in one of the DZ’s Skyvans as the chief pilot discussed safety precautions and taught them how to open the door of the tailgate aircraft.

Body Fly University in Reggio Emilia, Italy, hosted a high-performance-canopy-flight camp March 2-3. Mario Fattoruso, a member of the Performance Design Factory Team and multi-time Italian national champion canopy pilot, taught the course. The drop zone believes that the camp—which was very popular with attendees—was the first high-performance camp of its kind in the country.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which provided women and men with equal voting rights) and the global women’s suffrage movement that swept across the world in the early 1900s, the Women’s Skydiving Network (formerly the Women’s Skydiving Leadership Network) is launching Project 19. The project is a four-stage plan that will culminate in the 100-way women’s head-down world record attempts at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, in the summer of 2020.

At Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina, (clockwise from left) organizer Ashley Goldstein, Silas Davis, Ty Swansboro and Courtney McCarthy make a freefly jump.

Jim McCormick, D-12379, is a big-way and demo skydiver who has earned 15 world records (including the 400-way Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Record for Largest Formation Skydive) and jumped over the North Pole.

There’s nothing like the bonds soldiers forge during their service to our nation. Perhaps the hardest thing in civilian life is separation from that brotherhood. It leaves a hole. I think every veteran feels that. But when a veteran battles post-traumatic stress disorder, the feeling is even stronger. It’s like nobody but your buddies understand, and they ain’t there.

That’s an awesome cover photo (March Parachutist) of Eric Salas’ flaming canopy! Really gets your attention. But I was calmed and reassured when I saw your full-page ad “Safety Day is March 9” on the very next page. Does this mean you no longer recommend things such as smoking while jumping? (Didn’t we tell you not to carry lithium batteries in flight? But carry a fire extinguisher at all times. And no flare guns allowed when competing with other stacks.)

I have been a USPA member since 1969. This month’s cover is the most dramatic photo I’ve seen. I did a double take when I pulled the magazine from my mailbox. Well done to stuntman Eric Salas!

I read your editor’s note in the March Parachutist (“Letters—Helmet Effectiveness”) about there being no standards for skydiving helmets and feel the need to make an observation. Surely, where an organization does not have knowledge about something, then usually it looks around to find someone who does.

“100 Years of Freefall”

Colored pencil

Stayesh Moghaddami Zamani | Age 15
Tehran, Iran

Photo by Bruno Brokken |USPA #96017

At Skydive Sebastian in Florida, the CF World Team sets the 36-way Féderátion Aéronautique Internationale World Record for Largest Canopy Formation Skydive at Night.

Since 2009, USPA has participated in eight successful Part 16 complaints. Seven were outright wins. A Part 16 win strengthens the concept that skydiving must be given airport access unless there are strong, verifiable safety reasons for denial.

The 2019 USPA National Canopy Piloting Championships at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina, this September will now include a freestyle test event. The three-jump event is scheduled for September 10, with official registration on September 9.