For many years the USPA’s Western Region has included Arizona, southern Nevada, and southern California. This may date back to the 70s when California skydivers often came to Arizona to jump at Casa Grande and later, Coolidge. While Arizona jumpers sometimes visit southern California for competitions, large formation attempts, and boogies, for the most part there has not been much interaction between Arizona and southern California since the 1990s.

On the other hand, there is a significant and increasing interaction between Arizona skydivers and those in the Mountain Region. The Mountain Region includes southeast Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Jumpers from Utah and Colorado especially frequent Arizona in the winter, while in the summer, aircraft and skydivers from Arizona support the Mountain Region’s Group Members for their boogies.

As an example, of the seven Mountain Region Group Member Drop Zones, three use aircraft and/or talent from Arizona to support their events at least once a year, and a fourth on an occasional basis. The current Mountain Regional director visits Arizona at least twice a year, while the past three Directors of the Western region have rarely been seen in Arizona except perhaps when the National Championships are there.

Demographics also suggest a re-districting. Currently the Western Region has 3,660 USPA members, over 10% of the entire membership. The Mountain Region has 1,541 members, or a little under 5%. Arizona has 865 members. Nevada has another 296, meaning that the southern California membership dominates the Region by a factor of 2,499 to 1,161. Since in demographics, culture, and practice the Western Region is, in effect, the Southern California Region, why not reflect this in the regional boundaries?

Moving Arizona into the Mountain Region would alter the balance to 2,795 in the Western Region and 2,406 in the Mountain Region. Arizona would be one third of the new Region’s membership, giving it a fair voice in the Region without dominating it.

If you support this idea, please discuss it with your fellow jumpers and let the USPA Board of Directors know of your support by signing the petition below. We would like to have signatures to present at the summer board meeting in July.

Thank you,

Larry Hill
USPA National Director

Skydive Idaho receives recognition for setting 3 different state records for Canopy Formation, also know as CRW!

On the weekend of July 9-10 of 2011, Skydive Idaho and organizer Rich Williams hosted a fantastic boogie benefiting the Boise Rescue Mission. During that boogie some local jumpers as well as visiting skydivers from California, Texas, and Oregon, set 3 state records! The records were a 7-way CRW Formation, a 2-point 7 Way Sequential Formation, and the nextday an 8-way CRW Formation breaking the record from the previous day!

Skydive Idaho is Idaho premiere skydiving center, and has been since 1967. We’re proud to continue hosting state records and all disciplines in skydiving. Congrats again Scott, Jack, Eric, Dan, Michael, Bart, “Aussie” Jon, and Abbie! Not only were the records set but many new jumpers were introduced to CRW with loaner canopies and instruction from the attending CRW-Dogs!

“Crew” is how we pronounce CRW which is short for Canopy Relative Work. CRW is the art of flying parachutes (Canopies) in close formation with each other, most of the time actually docking with and taking hold of each others parachutes. CRW can be performed by groups of 2 or more, with the current world record being 100 parachutes in a diamond formation. Although there are many technical aspects of flying the parachutes in close proximity to each other, the “art” is knowing how to not get your butt wrapped in Nylon.(Nylon is the material that all modern parachutes are made of).

If you’re interested in doing CRW, just ask!

From USPA.org:

Daniel and Bojo got pied today! Daniel completed his A-license and Bodee now has triple digit skydives! IN YO FACE!

Daniel & Bojo

Snake River Skydiving, LLC took the reigns of this DZ just mid March of 2011. Just before we decided to leap into this location we thought we would have needed the entire winter to get things setup properly before we could even start flying loads. It’s amazing to look back and realize it’s now been only six months and the following has been accomplished while at the same time being an active DZ!

• The “junkyard”, as many called it, is no more. We hauled off 40 yards of trash plus 7 loads of scrap metal!
• The runway is free of weeds, and has had the most major worry spots patched.
• From two became one – N989SD received WingXSTOL Wing Extensions, all the best components from N8881T, and numerous other improvements and safety updates. She’s nipping at the heals of Silver Bullet now!
• The fuel truck has been upgraded to a 2004 Chevy Silverado, keeping our A/C (that’s aircraft not air-conditioning) turning and burning.
• The mowers were upgraded from two that didn’t work, to a brand new Husqvarna 54″.
• The back deck was completed.
• The DZ building received two new doors and ramps for easier jumper entry and exit.
• The bar was resurfaced with tile.
• The student landing area was cleared of sagebrush.
• Goat heads have been dug out and removed.
• The entire area receives constant cleaning, mowing, maintenance, and attention.
• The BSU, Boise Squirrelsuit University, our very own wingsuit school by Bill Sullivan opened up on site.
• 10 new A license holders have been created, one almost ready for his B license!!
• The July Boogie was a huge success, with over 400 jumps being made, jumpers playing in the sky with new and old friends from around the country, and two state records being set.
• 3-Way Scrambles were cranking loads taking off every 15 minutes with jumpers meeting the plane and pilots hustling.

• 4 Turbine Boogie Weekends next year (July, August, September, October)
• Water Well – Sand sucking, and pump replacement
• Full Time Salaried Pilot on Staff
• Parachute Rigging Course for those who want to learn
• A/C Upgrades
• Less Bitching, More Jumping!

All YOU have to do is keep coming out to skydive and enjoy the progress!

Thanks,

The Staff

Infinity Containers are currently at a 5-6 week lead time!

What are the top features can you find in an Infinity container that you can’t find in other containers?

1. Secondary riser covers integrated into the reserve side flap.
2. Very secure main pin cover flap. You can put two fingers under the flap and lift the rig up by that flap without it coming open. It will only come open when you tell it to.
3. Innovative Floating Laterals- Our floating laterals allow the container to hug around the jumper’s body without showing any blue sky in between the jumper and the rig. The floating laterals come off of the side of the container, leaving no corner as a snag point, yet still uses triangular geometry to wrap around the jumper. The outward facing hardware can move along the webbing, allowing the jumper to try different freefly maneuvers and let the rig float with the skydiver during his/her transitions. Velocity has integrated these floating laterals into the backpad using the backpad and webbing. We do not use materials that will break down quickly such as elastic.

“In all, the evaluation revealed a secret that’s so far pretty well kept: Velocity Sports Equipment makes a great harness and container system, reasonably priced, easy to get, and very handsome.” – Parachutist Magazine

Check out www.velocityrigs.com for more information.

Skydive Idaho hosts 3-way scrambles for local jumpers.

New and experienced jumpers had a chance to get together and share skydives and knowledge in a fun competition, on Saturday August 27th. With an airplane departing every 15 minutes with another load of jumpers, the day was filled with excited, competition, prizes, and a pot luck lunch. Here’s some pic’s Keith took!

Hanging out

Fred, Dan, + Jack (Video)

Bodee, Steve, Lisa + Rob (Video)

Val, Tyler, Pat + Tommy (Video)

Among the discussions currently taking place in Washington, D.C. about reducing the deficit and finding new revenue streams is talk about imposing new user fees on general aviation. There has been similar talk in the past, but Congress squashed the idea. There’s not yet any formal proposal, but there are enough rumors from official sources that many of the general aviation associations representing pilots and businesses that operate aircraft have asked their members to contact their Senators and Member of Congress to oppose the idea. General aviation users already contribute to the aviation trust fund by paying a federal tax on every gallon of fuel purchased, and general aviation users want to stay with that method.

The basic idea of a user fee is to charge aircraft operators a set fee per flight. The charge could be anywhere from $25 to $100, and it could be assessed per takeoff or per radio contact with air traffic control (ATC). Skydiving operators—with multiple takeoffs each day and a requirement to contact ATC on each flight—would pay more than most operators; the cost of jump tickets would go up. A new fee could be aimed at jets only, or it could be aimed at all turbine aircraft, or all aircraft in commercial operation, or simply all aircraft. Regardless, if enacted, it is a sure bet that the fee would eventually increase and also be expanded to other users in the future. Adding insult to injury is that the FAA would have to create a sub-agency to track billing and enforce payment.

USPA joins our general aviation brethren in fighting the user fee concept. Please take action now to ensure that Congress rejects the user fee idea.

Go to www.senate.gov, select your state from a dropdown menu in the upper right corner to be
directed to your two Senators’ contact information. Go to www.house.gov, enter your zip code to be directed to your one Representative’s contact information. A phone call is best, followed by an email, and even a fax; mailed letters take too long to arrive. In your contact, identify yourself as an aviation user, and explain how increased costs would affect your participation in skydiving—an FAA aeronautical activity. Ask them to reject the idea of new user fees for general aviation and to continue the collection of federal taxes on aviation fuels.

Check out this link to see Skydive Idaho’s fundraiser, The Leap of Faith, on KTVB!

www.ktvb.com/news/People-take-Leap-of-Faith-to-help-Boise-Rescue-Mission–125272719.html

Check out the Transformer’s 3 featurette! Our very own DZO, Abbie Mashaal, was part of a team led by Master Rigger Pete Swan, providing Jt Holmes, Andy Farrington, Michael Swanson, Jon Devore, and Julian Boulle, precision rigging necessary for some truly amazing stunts to be performed.