The subject of wingsuit exits—specifically, in what order wingsuit flyers should exit and how to conduct the exits—seems to cause a lot of confusion and worry among wingsuit flyers themselves, as well as other jumpers at the DZ. Much of this confusion and worry can be resolved by simply doing a little pre-planning before boarding the aircraft.  

On April 19, 132 members of the Parachutists Over Phorty Society (and subgroups Skydivers Over Sixty, Jumpers Over Seventy and Jumpers Over Eighty) made the trek to the rural drop zone for the 14th POPS World Meet, temporarily increasing the town’s population by 11 percent.

Photo by Guru Khalsa | D-32694

From left, C.J. Roane, Cody Edgeworth, Laura Wagner and Steve Downey fly a head-down flower at the Looking to Build event at Skydive Spaceland–Houston in Rosharon, Texas.

I truly miss the sport and its inherent camaraderie, but above all, I often think of those whom Tom named and the many close friendships formed during decades of jumping in Southern California.

Photo by Michael Tomaselli  |  D-18530
At Skydive Lake Wales in Florida, canopy formation skydivers Chris Gay, Scott Lazarus, Ihab Mahmoud and Greg Meadows make a triple flag jump.  

Valinda Mitchell and her husband, John, are vacationing in France. These lovebirds travel a lot … a month in Ireland here, a long stint jetting around Australia there. When your childhood sweetheart and the mother of your four children says her final goodbyes to the family from a hospital bed and manages to claw her way back, such forays are understandable and maybe even necessary. Wandering hand in hand around Paris is the only way to respond, n’est-ce pas?

Photo By Elliot Byrd | D-32251

Sean Van Acker, B-46379, celebrates his 100th jump with Courtney McCarthy at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina, while wearing Chewbacca costumes.

Garrett “Snake” Shaw, D-2600, passed away May 3 after an illness. He was 80 years old.

In mid-June, freefall photographer Mike McGowan released “Selections by Mike McGowan,” a fine-art book that documents more than 50 years of skydiving history through more than 100 of his finest photographs. 

Levity, which launched in June, is a line of littleto- no waste hammocks, swinging chairs and more made a lmost entirely of donated and upcycled parachutes and gear. 

In May, the International Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame announced the creation of the Path of Excellence Award, an honor it will present to groups, companies or teams that have played a prominent role in the growth and development of the sport. 

Approximately 120 jumpers, 40 of them women, attended the 2018 West Tennessee Skydiving Sisters in Skydiving Boogie May 11-13. DZO Mike Mullins flew 40 14,500-foot King Air loads, as well as a 23,000-foot high-altitude load with oxygen, and 11 inverted bi-plane loads. Attendees also had the opportunity to get on two helicopter loads. Everyone had a blast at the 1980s-themed lip sync contest. Event organizers Elizabeth and Christian Young and the drop zone staff put on an amazing show.

Skydive Spaceland’s sport accuracy competitions have long been a fun way to focus skydivers on safe, accurate landings and introduce newer jumpers to competition. With free canopy coaching and three classes of competition to provide jumpers of all experience levels an opportunity to compete for prizes, including a free day of jumping, the meets usually draw a good crowd.

On Tuesday, April 17, jumpers made history at USPA Foreign Affiliate Skydive Cuautla in Morelos, Mexico. At 2 p.m., 49 jumpers exited three planes flying at 16,000 feet and built the Mexican Record for Largest Formation Skydive.

In May, the CYPRES Demo Team received the official Guinness World Record for Largest Flag Flown While Parachuting. The team set the record when member Ralf Grabowsky flew a 2,607.21-square-meter (28.063.76-square-foot) German flag on July 11, 2017, at the opening ceremony for the CISM World Military Parachuting Championship 2017 in Warendorf, Germany.

As the winter skydiving season came to a close, Skydive Arizona in Eloy hosted state wingsuit flying record attempts in conjunction with a training camp for the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Record attempts scheduled for November 16-20 at Skydive City Zephyrhills in Florida.

Chazi Blacksher, D-28539, is a busy load organizer and competitor who is heavily involved in the Sisters in Skydiving program, women’s world record jumps and freestyle competition. Blacksher moved to Arizona years ago but stays close to her roots at the Lincoln Sport Parachute Club in Weeping Water, Nebraska, where she load organizes at the DZ’s Redemption Boogie every year.

We all owe deep appreciation and grateful thanks to our current ranks of instructors and coaches for their diligence and professionalism.

Out of all the jumpers, staff and organizers in Rockmart, Georgia, at Skydive Spaceland– Atlanta’s Third Birthday Boogie April 27-29, the MVP was Mother Nature herself!