 |
Updated the 10th of each month. |
| January 2008 |
|
| 
|
On the Cover: Photographer Norman Kent captured this shot of canopy formation jumpers completing a 100-way formation using their Performance Designs Lightning canopies over the Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales, Florida, setting a new world record. |
|
 President's Perspective
by Glenn Bangs, USPA President
Transitions. We experience them everyday—from high school to college or trade school, after graduation to our entry into the workplace, moving about in the work force until we find our niche or ideal job or profession. In our sport, it’s the process of training and evaluating our students to become USPA members and A-license holders. So, too, it is with USPA Headquarters, when we end one era and begin another . . .
MORE. |
|
|
Safety Check
Capturing the Moment
Perhaps Parachutist’s new “Camera Corner” column or November’s “Taking Skydiving Photographs” article has inspired you to want to be an aerial photographer or videographer. While skydiving with a video camera may not pose the challenges it did back in 1975, when a camera setup weighed more than the jumper’s container and canopies combined, it still requires skill and training to reduce the risks to the camera flyer, as well as to the other jumpers on the load . . .
MORE. |
|
Meet USPA Executive Director Ed Scott
A Parachutist Staff Report
USPA’s Executive Director Chris Needels retired in December after nearly 14 years in the position. After a lengthy selection process, USPA’s current director of government relations and group membership, Ed Scott, was chosen as his replacement. Here, find out which direction he wants to take your organization. |
|
FAI 4th World Cup of Canopy Piloting 2007
by Fiona Horne and Jeff Sears
 |
| Photo by J.C. Colclasure. |
The world’s best canopy pilots recently traveled to the land down under to pit their skills against one another in the FAI 4th World Cup of Canopy Piloting 2007. Eleven Americans made the trip to represent the U.S., bringing home eight medals and great memories of a competition well flown.
|
|
2006 USPA Gold Medal for Meritorious Service
by Larry Bagley
 |
| Photo by Justin Carmody. |
In October, USPA recognized Norman Kent’s prolific career as an accomplished skydiving photographer and videographer by awarding him the USPA Gold Medal for Meritorious Service.
|
|
Rings and Ribbons
by Jim McCormick
Talented formation skydivers are always looking for a way to step it up a notch. Participants in the fourth Team Elite event got to do just that, recreating the 1988 Olympic ring skydive and building a ribbon formation to honor our veterans in the process.
 |
| Photo by Phil Roberson. |
|
|
Saying Goodbye to 2007
A Parachutist Pictorial
This month’s pictorial bids farewell to last year by featuring some of the best skydiving images of 2007.
|
|
Going Big
by Lambert
Wind tunnels are quickly becoming the next great training tool for skydiving. Here, take a look at the recently opened—and world’s largest—tunnel in North Carolina.
 |
| Photo by Lycurgo Querido. |
|
|
Taking Skydiving Photographs—Part Two
by Laszlo Andacs
Part two in this series continues to show you what to look for and what to avoid when trying to capture that perfect skydiving picture.
| "Slow Shutter " |
|
| Ed Burlingame lands in front of the CAVU restaurant, located at the Wallkill airport near the Blue Sky Ranch in Gardiner, New York. Photo by Laszlo Andacs. |
Note the light trail of the canopy. The camera was positioned on a tripod only a few inches off the ground and set with the focus on infinity based on the camera’s depth-of-field calculator and with a very slow shutter speed (one second, which is hundreds of times slower than standard shutter speeds). The flash’s “second curtain sync” setting was used, which is where the flash fires right before the shutter closes at the end of the exposure.
The results are the steady look of the building in the background lit up by its own lights, the visual trail of the parachute moving through the image illuminated by the light coming from the restaurant and the flood lights set up for the night jump, and the frozen moment of the swooper lit by the flash, which fired 1/200 of a second before the very end of the one-second long exposure. |
|
|
Chicks Rock 2007
a Skydive Elsinore staff report
 |
| Photo by Pat Newman. |
Every year, skydivers make their way to Southern California for the annual Chicks Rock Boogie. With talented organizers and a female-friendly vibe throughout, boogie participants—including plenty of male skydivers as well—did not leave disappointed.
|
|
|
|
