For one of its season’s final events, Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, welcomed freshly licensed jumpers from all over the country to its ninth annual Rookiefest, a Nationals-style competition for beginning skydivers. Jumpers with fewer than 200 jumps or two years in the sport qualified to participate, and this year’s competition enjoyed a record number of 78 Rookiefesters, nearly double that of previous seasons.

• In the article “All You Can Jump Marks Illingworths’ Final Boogie as DZOs” on page 20 of the November issue, Greg Levin was the freefly organizer.

• In “Donors,” John Rich’s donation to the Airport Access and Defense Fund listed in the October issue was in memory of Conway Hall, and his donation to the AAD Fund listed in the November issue was in memory of Rico Estrada.

On October 13, Skydive Suffolk in Virginia partnered with the Combat Wounded Coalition from nearby Chesapeake to host Jumping for a Purpose, a day for wounded veterans to take to the skies. Dozens of military veterans attended the event and made skydives, including Norwood Thomas, a 95-year-old veteran of World War II who jumped from a plane to fight at Normandy.

USPA selected Ron Bell as its Director of Safety and Training to succeed Jim Crouch, who served in the position for 18 years. Bell’s first day was October 29.

On October 8 at Skydive Perris in California, Team Elite organizer Guy Wright put together a 33-way formation skydive that broke the Parachutists Over Phorty Society World Record for Largest Four-Point Formation Skydive.