On July 7, jumper Eric Proctor made a 24,000-foot HALO skydive as a fundraiser for the family of New York Air National Guard Master Sergeant Christopher “Goose” Raguso, who died in action on March 15 when his helicopter went down during a night mission in Iraq.

In July, Southwest Regional Director Jack Pyland—flying a 2,032-square-foot American flag—headed up a group of 12 skydivers who made a demo jump into the annual Kaboom Town fireworks display at Addison Airport just outside of Dallas, Texas.

Sixty skydivers of varying skill levels from four countries headed to Skydive Midwest in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, June 22-24 for the first Sun Path Sequentials vertical skills camp. Participants in the three-day camp split into groups of 3 to 12 flyers to work with one of the 11 rotating organizers, all Sun Path-sponsored athletes. 

In July, four students made the first known civilian AFF jumps in Iran.

Dueling DZs—a 6-way formation skydiving competition between California DZs Skydive Elsinore and Skydive Perris—took place on July 21 after a two-year hiatus, and the rivalry was intense!

Lenny Botak made a tandem jump a couple of years ago. When he landed, he knew he wanted to skydive some more, but as so often happens, life got in the way.

There were lots of smiles and lots of tears the weekend of July 14-15 at Skydive Spaceland–Dallas in Whitewright, Texas, as friends, family and skydivers from across the country came to pay their last respects to Ryan Risberg, D-22873, an amazing personality who passed away in June.

Photo by Mark Kirschenbaum/Hypoxic | D-28515

During a Sisters in Skydiving event at Des Moines Skydivers in Winterset, Iowa, new A-license recipient Kari Spethman (purple helmet) enjoys a 4-way with mentors (clockwise from right) Amanda Kubik, Jeanine Bonvin and Julie Kleinwort.

The Parachutist staff has discovered that substantial portions of the interview on which the article “Children of Fallen Heroes—Skydiving Angels” (August Parachutist) was based are not accurate and that at least some of the published photos, including the opening photo, did not depict the correct organization.

On Saturday, July 14, the U.S. Parachute Association became the official Host Country Affiliate of the International Skydiving Museum and Hall of Fame. The USPA Board of Directors made the decision to become a partner of the museum by committing to donate $25,000 per year for the next six years to the museum’s fundraising efforts.

While making a tandem skydive with instructor Iain Guthrie at Pepperell Skydiving Center in Massachusetts, Greicy Hoepers accepts a marriage proposal from Eliseu Matos, B-34200.

Dalton Carvalho | D-25058

I was an adrenaline junkie until I had a severe stroke in 2006. Last year, when I heard about a guy who was raising money to take people with disabilities to a wind tunnel, I was very curious. I didn't think that flying in a wind tunnel was possible for someone as immobile as I am, but I contacted him to see what he thought I could do.

Bill Jones, D-924, is a legendary skydiver, instructor, drop zone owner, innovator and the patriarch of a large skydiving family. Nearly the entire Jones family jumps: six of his children have made their livings from skydiving, and five of the six still do. At age 86—after actively sport jumping for more than 50 years—Jones still has skydiving goals, proving that this is a sport for life.

Wingsuit training is multi-faceted and requires both freedom and flexibility to change with the rapid development of suit design, competition formats and flying styles.

Acrylic on Canvas
 

Colleen Mondics | A-56684
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
cemondics.webs.com

AFF Instructor Cat Brown gives a hand signal to her student at Connecticut Parachutists Inc. in Ellington.

Photo By David Gerstein  | D-28242

Brought to you by Niklas Daniel and Brianne Thompson of AXIS Flight School at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. Photos by Isaac Hansen. Information about AXIS’ coaching and instructional services is available at axisflightschool.com.

In 2017, USPA conducted five standardization meetings for all current AFF instructor examiners and tandem instructor examiners, as well as those pursuing an examiner rating or attending purely for educational purposes. This was USPA’s first attempt at hosting the AFF and tandem meetings in one location and condensing the length of each discipline’s meeting to one day instead of two. The meetings went well, but the shorter meetings meant leaving out a lot of valuable information and discussion.