Determining world champions is not the only purpose for holding world championships. Promoting the sport, exchanging knowledge and information and strengthening friendly relationships between participating nations are equally important. The 35th Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Freefall Style and Accuracy Landing World Championships at Dropzone Erden near Montana, Bulgaria, August 24-31 offered the chance to do all of those things.

So, you’d like to form a skydiving team and you’ve found other skydivers to join you. Congratulations! Now what? The good news is that the greatest hurdle is behind you. The next step is to come up with a team budget.

Today, USPA membership stands at 40,512 and continues growing with over a half-million people in the U.S. making their first jumps every year. General aviation, however, is still in a downward arc despite the best efforts of general aviation groups to attract and keep more pilots.

USPA has selected Ron Bell as its next Director of Safety & Training, succeeding Jim Crouch who has served in that position a phenomenal 18 years. Bell’s start date is October 29.

Advanced Aerospace Designs has released Public Service Bulletin PSB-02-2018 which requires all Vigil 2 automatic activation devices with serial numbers from 16,000 to 21,999 to be inspected by the manufacturer.