Dear Wingsuit Community

We would like to start by thanking you for all of your emails. The one thing that is obvious is the wingsuit community is passionate about their discipline.  Based on the current controversy over the grid system that USPA adopted last year to judge wingsuit large formation records and the additional different suggestions and input that USPA has received the US will NOT recommend the grid system to the IPC this week. The US must  have a wingsuit  large formation record judging system that is tested and proven that it is accepted by the majority of the wingsuit community  prior to proposing it to the international community at the IPC meeting. Based on the current situation the following is the course of action that the US will take at the upcoming IPC meeting.

The US and the Netherlands will have a meeting, prior to the start of the IPC Meetings, to discuss and share all ideas for judging wingsuit large formation records including modifications to the grid system. The US will carry all of the suggestions that have been received in the emails from the wingsuit community to the meeting.  The knowledge gathered at the joint US and Netherlands meeting will be documented and reported to the IPC. Any presentation made to the IPC, if it is decided to still make one, will be strictly informational as to USPA’s experience with its current system making it clear that the system is still controversial within the wingsuit community.

The results from the IPC meeting will also be reported back to the wingsuit community and used as a starting point on determining how USPA will proceed both nationally and internationally making sure we have adequate input from all sectors of the wingsuit community.

Please understand the only changes being discussed are how best to move forward from where we are now.  The current record that was set last Fall in Lake Elsinore was built according to the current USPA rules and stands as the US National Record.  This was an impressive formation and there are no plans now, or has there been any discussion or consideration to changing the existing record.

In the dozens of passionate emails that have been received in the last week there is one point everyone seems to agree on, that changes need to be made.  Whether these are changes to the existing system or starting over from scratch is something that will be determined over the next months or maybe even years with input from all sectors of the wingsuit community.

The USPA BOD will be meeting in Phoenix AZ on February 19-21 and wingsuit judging is an item on the Competition Committee.  We have already received several ideas for improvement of the current system and suggestions for a new one. If you have ideas please send them to us and we will consider them.

We hope this alleviates the concern that community has regarding all the current judging system proposals. We ask the entire wingsuit community to please join together to develop a “united” wingsuit judging system.  You are the experts and we need your help. Thank you again for your input. And thank you in advance for your help.

Best Regards,

Marylou Laughlin, US Delegate to the IPC and Bill Wenger, Chair of the Competition Committee

Skydiving Fatality Stats for 2009 at 40-Year Low

Following a November 11 fatality, we held our breath for the final six weeks of 2009; and on January 1, we could finally breathe a sigh of relief that there were no additional fatalities for the year. We ended 2009 with 16 total civilian fatalities, the fewest in more than four decades. In fact, you have to go back to 1961 to find a lower annual total. To put this in perspective, 1961 ended with 14 fatalities and just 3,353 members. The following year ended with 19 fatalities, and membership had nearly doubled in 1962 to 6,658 members. Fast forward to 2009, and membership is now at 32,177, and it is safe to say that the nearly 3 million jumps made in 2009 far surpassed the number of jumps made by 6,658 members in 1962. A 2009 membership total of nearly five times the membership in 1962, yet there were three fewer fatalities in 2009!

The reduction in fatalities can be attributed to lots of reasons, including safer equipment and better training. But, it is also a tribute to every skydiver, instructor, rigger, S&TA and drop zone manager who all worked to keep skydiving as safe as possible. Keep it up, and let’s make 2010 even safer for everyone, from the thousands of first-jump students, to those who are making thousands of jumps each year.

USPA Mailings and Member Privacy

Like most associations, USPA looks for programs that can benefit certain members while also bringing additional revenue to the association. These “non-dues revenue programs,” in association-speak, help keep members’ dues down by creating other sources of income for the association. And if USPA can harness the buying power of 32,000 members to create savings for members, then so much the better. Recently, USPA introduced a members-only auto and home insurance program through Unitrin, and a members-only affinity credit card program. Naturally, we mailed the news out to our members. Also naturally, we received some complaints about junk mail, which presents me with an opportunity to discuss how USPA ensures your privacy.

First of all, USPA does not, and will not, disclose, sell, rent or give your e-mail address to another organization for their use. Period. We value that communication method with you and won’t jeopardize it by letting anyone else access it. On the other hand, we’re now sending a monthly e-newsletter entitled the “USPA Update” to every member who has provided us with an e-mail address. If you’re not receiving the “Update,” but want to, you can go here and give us your current e-mail address. (And if you don’t want to receive the “Update,” you can opt out anytime using a link at the bottom of each issue.)

Any telephone numbers you provide us are also treated the same way—never given out beyond staff and board needs. You should never receive a telemarketing call generated from USPA.

USPA does sell members’ postal addresses to outside parties (yet another source of non-dues revenue) who have an interest in making their product or service known to skydivers. Generally this includes DZs, boogies, gear manufacturers, gear retailers, etc., but it also occasionally includes non-skydiving product and service providers. USPA reviews the proposed mailing material and reserves the right of refusal for anything we deem offensive or even tasteless. A member has the right to opt out of this mailing list by simply checking the box on his member application or renewal form where it says, “Check here if you do not want your name to appear on a mailing list occasionally sold by USPA.”

Finally, USPA also generates its own mailings from our membership list, usually member renewal notices, but also occasional special mailings such as member surveys, regulatory alerts and notices about new programs that we think many members will want to know about (like the Unitrin insurance). Currently our database doesn’t provide an opt-out feature for this type of mailing that would not also eliminate the mailing of membership renewal notices. However, we are researching that feature and if we’re able to provide it in the future, we’ll let you know.

Blue Skies, Patrick Swayze

To the general public, Patrick Swayze—who died at age 57 this week—will best be remembered for the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost. To skydivers of the day he’ll be remembered for Point Break. And for two reasons. First, Swayze took up skydiving at Perris Valley so that he could film many of the skydiving scenes himself. According to co-star Keanu Reeves, the production company issued Swayze a cease-and-desist order to stop skydiving; he kept jumping anyway. Along the way he joined USPA and earned his A license. Second, the movie’s release in 1991 brought a flood of first-jump customers out to DZs nationwide. Those customers didn’t find skydivers bantering in five-minute freefalls, but many did find a sport of their own as shown by USPA’s membership totals. Membership rose from 20,000 at the end of 1990 to 26,150 in 1992, and steady increases in subsequent years. Thanks, Patrick, for boosting our sport. Blue Skies.

The Poetry of Skydiving

Scott Van Allen is one of the finalists in the mixed media category of the Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest.

Rachel Carson was a renowned American biologist who dedicated her life to the preservation of nature. Now, the EPA, along with Generations United, the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., and the Dance Exchange, conduct an annual contest in her name with the purpose of combining nature and art. The Sense of Wonder entry criterion was to describe something “that best expresses the Sense of Wonder that you feel for the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes.”

Scott submitted a poem and picture as his mixed media entry titled “All We Need Is The Sky.”

The winner will be chosen through online voting, so head to http://yosemite.epa.gov/oa/agingepa/rcvote.nsf/fmVote?OpenForm and vote for “All We Need Is The Sky” under the mixed media category and help Scott promote our sport. Voting closes October 1st.

Skydiving Music Video Challenge

Most of you have seen the ad for the Skydiving Music Challenge in Parachutist. It’s a simple challenge where you create a skydiving video using the song we give you. We choose the top-5 and let the voters decide who wins. Some might have already started on their own videos, while others might have dismissed the challenge for whatever reasons. A few are probably beating themselves up because they don’t fly camera yet, and therefore won’t have any aerial footage to work with.

The challenge came about in an effort for us to get more involved with our members. Once we heard about Jonay’s interpretation of our sport, we listened to the music and, gambling with the fact that music doesn’t please everyone, we decided the beat was good enough to do something with it. Contacting Jonay and getting his permission for the challenge was easy. Finding a sponsor to donate a prize wasn’t. It took some calls, e-mails, and research on gear manufacturers. In the end, Tonfly was kind enough to give us a hand and furnish us with a fully accessorized camera helmet for the first place winner.

The challenge itself brings no revenue to USPA. It was done entirely with the intent for our members to have some fun. Therefore, we are not looking for instructional videos or tandem promotional videos, but for the videographers to enjoy flying and editing, for some sick videos to come out of this and for someone to go home happy with a free new helmet. Show us what you got!

More information on the challenge – rules, entry form, deadlines and any other instructions – here

Sponsors: Tonfly and Jonay

Blue Skies!

Let’s Do a Dive for Shifty—and his Brothers

You may have recently seen a sentimental email about the June 17 passing of Darrell “Shifty” Powers at age 86.  If not, read about it here on Snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/shiftypowers.asp

While Snopes can’t verify the source of the reported encounter, “Shifty,” as he was known, was real, and so was his bravery as he served with Easy Company of the 101^st Airborne in the dangerous days and months following his drop on D-Day.

It turns out that skydivers have a perfect opportunity to honor Shifty and his band of brothers. Sunday, August 16, is National Airborne Day, a day annually commemorated by Congress to remember and honor those servicemen who volunteered to earn their jump wings and serve our country as an airborne soldier. (Read my blog about last year’s National Airborne Day here: http://skydiveuspa.wordpress.com/2008/08/13/national-airborne-day/)

So here’s the thought: Let’s honor Shifty—and his band of brothers—with a memorial skydive. Actually with lots of memorial skydives. Why not organize a memorial dive at your DZ that day? You could form an “A” for Airborne, an “E” for Easy Company, or a “101” for the 101^st. Or form a star (if large enough, let a veteran fly in the center), and facing each other with joined grips, give thanks to Shifty and all those who set aside their lives, answered their country’s call, and literally saved the world.

So do a dive for Shifty and his band of brothers and let us know how it went. Send your description of the jump and any photos or links to videos to communications@uspa.org. You don’t have to stop there. Nearly every assisted living facility has WW II veterans who would thoroughly enjoy a visit by a bunch of skydivers expressing appreciation for their service. After all, we not only owe them for their service; we also owe them for sowing the seeds for our sport. It was post-war veterans that wanted to continue jumping out of airplanes who began what became the sport of skydiving.

Parachutist’s 600th

As you may have read in July’s Five-Minute Call, in October, Parachutist will print its 600^th issue. We are working on a pictorial and looking for crazy, skydiving-related things involving the number 600. Send us a picture with the most amusing ideas you can come up with to communications@uspa.org or Submit a Photo.

Best picture wins a cookie! – Well, no, not really, but you do get compensation for print use.

Oh, yeah! Remember! High-res pictures only.

Rising Through the Recession

32,003. That’s the current level of USPA membership at the end of June. What’s the significance? Well, in addition to the fact that membership continues to grow, it’s the first time since May 2005 that we’ve exceeded 32,000. Here’s the full story: USPA membership reached its all-time zenith of 34,583 in August 2001. Then the following month came the attacks of 9/11. Like all of aviation, skydiving suffered for months from a public apprehension and mistrust of all flying. A stalling economy didn’t help either. Membership began a slow but steady decline, going below 32,000 in June 2005 and finally bottoming out in October 2006 at 30,488. Then began a slow but steady climb, and finally back over 32,000 last month. 32,003 is just a number, after all. But it signifies skydiving is holding its own through this recession. And that’s good news for all of us.

June Parachutist features

We just approved the final proofs for the June issue; here is a sneak peek of what you will see in just a few weeks . . .

• Historical profile of Leslie Irvin
• A beginner’s guide to 4-way formation skydiving (first in a series)
• Guinness Book of World Records: Tandem record (most tandems in a day)
• Core exercises to combat back pain from skydiving
• Intro to wingsuiting

We hope you enjoy!