“The Front Office” answers questions about jump pilots and piloting. You’ll learn what pilots do behind the scenes to make your favorite time of week happen, and you’ll get a one-of-a-kind view from the one seat in the airplane you never get to be in.

In the real world of skydiving, people who are coaches, instructors and role models have their own personal experiences, training backgrounds and motivations. Achieving common safety objectives and targets instead of operating as a group of individuals without a common purpose requires an interactive process. Using a Plan–Do–Check–Act process can provide the structure and commonality needed to get everyone on the same page and working together. Like a circle that has no end, the PDCA cycle requires repetition for continuous improvement. When using PDCA for safety initiatives, you, the instructional rating holder, have a crucial part to play.

Skydivers all belong to a big mixed family. What was once a niche group has developed into a large, interconnected community. Despite this large network, there are small pockets within our sport that have become isolated. It’s within these small, isolated pockets that bad habits traditionally flourish.

At Skydive DeLand in Florida, instructor Luis Prinetto hosts a discussion with attendees of a Leading Workshop course, which gives flyers the tools to successfully lead and participate in movement jumps. 

Formation skydiving team SDC Rhythm XP recently launched a new 4-way FS app, Rhythm Skydiving 401, for iPhone and Android operating systems. The comprehensive tool is suitable for novices, as well as the hardcore 4-way FS junkie.

Two memoirs—“D.B. Cooper & Me: A Criminal, A Spy, My Best Friend” by Carl Laurin and “Getting the Truth: I Am D.B. Cooper” by Joe Koenig—and the documentary film “D.B. Cooper: The Real Story” assert that military parachutist and convicted criminal Walter Reca, who died in 2014, was the 1971 hijacker known as D.B. Cooper.

The Parachute Industry Association recently announced that it established a new award, the PIA Mentor Award, to recognize people in the parachute industry who have contributed to the knowledge and skill sets of others in a classroom environment, through seminars or by performing on-the-job or individual training. The PIA Awards Committee will approve up to 10 recipients per year for the award. Recipients may receive the award—an engraved medallion in a presentation box— at any skydiving or parachute industry event from any PIA member in good standing. Those interested in nominating a mentor for this award can find the nomination form and additional information about the award at pia.com in the Standard Operating Procedures document in the Public Documents tab.

All USPA Group Memberships expire March 31. U.S. drop zones that have not already submitted renewal applications should do so as soon as possible. After March 31, USPA will remove any non-renewing Group Member’s listing from Parachutist and the USPA website. If a DZ renews after membership has lapsed, it may take several months for the listing to reappear in the magazine due to publication deadlines and print cycles. USPA mailed renewal packets to Group Members in mid-January. DZs that have not yet received a packet should contact the Group Membership department at groupmembers@uspa.org as soon as possible.

On November 4, Sharon Har-Noy Pilcher and Luis Prinetto, longtime organizers and coaches with years of experience organizing movement jumps, held a Leading Workshop at Skydive DeLand in Florida. The program gave attendees the tools to make informed decisions when leading and participating in any type of jump in which the jumpers fly away from a single column of air. These include tracking and angle jumps, as well as wingsuit skydives.

Corrections from the January 2019 issue of Parachutist.

In December 2017, Luther Kurtz, DZO of the Phoenix Skydive Center, prevailed in his Federal Aviation Administration Part 16 formal complaint against the City of Casa Grande, Arizona. Kurtz alleged that the city’s denial of access to his skydiving business was discriminatory and thus violated the city’s FAA grant obligation to accommodate all types of aeronautical activities.

December 8 dawned chilly and gray at Skydive Spaceland–San Marcos in Fentress, Texas, the newest location in the Spaceland family of drop zones. Twenty-two jumpers gathered for a weekend of fun and challenging formation skydives deep in the heart of Texas. (Yes, where the stars at night are big and bright.) Led by caffeine-fueled organizers Scott Latinis and Mark Pharr, the participants were ready for some awesome skydives! DZ Manager Thomas Hughes gave a speech welcoming everyone to Spaceland San Marcos, and the jumpers excitedly prepared for the first jump.

“Every man dies, but not every man really lives,” is a quote from the movie “Braveheart” but could easily apply to the group of friends I have been honored to know and perform with in this perhaps strange but compellingly thrilling sport.

Ari Perelman, D-27247, is a world-class formation skydiving competitor, coach and organizer. He is a current member of Arizona Airspeed, which recently took silver in 4-way FS at the 2018 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Parachuting Championships in Australia. Also skilled in vertical flying, Perelman has competed in vertical and mixed formation skydiving and was on the 138-way FAI Head-Down World Record in 2012.

Acrylic on canvas

Christine Lewis
Facebook.com/clewisdesignstudio

How safe is skydiving? Very safe? Somewhat safe? Not safe at all? Safety experts will say that the question really is, “What is skydiving’s level of safety?” or in other words, “What is the level of risk?” Even then, we must focus the question more to ask, “Risk of what? Death? Injury?”

Photo by Juan Mayer|D-26130

Rashid Abdullah and Michael Sean Washburn of the SkyTrash wingsuit team train at the Skydive Dubai Desert Campus in the United Arab Emirates.

Veterans Day is a time to thank those who have served our country through military service. So, on a brisk, sunny Veterans Day weekend in November at Skydive Arizona in Eloy, Team Elite and Arizona Airspeed joined forces for an invitational 42-way sequential skydiving event that paid tribute to those who have risked life and limb for their country. Organizers Niklas Hemlin and Guy Wright and skydivers from all over the world enjoyed early morning takeoffs, great vibes and extra altitude to accomplish their celebratory jumps.

Jumpers had a lot to be thankful for at Skydive Arizona in Eloy over the course of the Thanksgiving Boogie. The weather was perfect, and participants were able to jump from sunrise to sunset.

PRO-rated skydiver Mary Tortomasi of Bodyflyers.com recently organized a PRO-rating course at Skydive Elsinore, where seven participants had the privilege to learn from two of the most experienced demonstration jumpers in the world: Jim Wallace of 21st Century Skydiving and Rich Piccirilli of Just in Time Skydivers.