i28 February!

The February issue of Blue Skies Mag is coming. (That’s what she said.) If you are a subscriber, here is what you’ll find (if you’re not, it’s quick and painless to become one and subscribe today right now here):

• New Canadian rates! More info here.
• Top ten ways to say, “F*ck You, Cupid” on Valentine’s Day
• I Jumped It: The MagBag
• Gear review by Andre Lemaire, of Jerry Baumchen’s magnetic, stowless main d-bag. Videos of the test jumps here.
• Football Widow
• Or, how not to become one. How the Drennan family keeps their love alive while Ian is living the dream as a PD Factory Team member, Annie runs her own business, and Kaiya is a professionally adorable 2 1/2-year-old.
• 100 Jumps for Mike Spann
• John E. Souders, Jr. did 100 jumps to honor Mike Spann, America’s first combat casualty in Afghanistan. Clark Word went along for the ride and tells us about the day.
• -ISM + NCCPA = TLF
• Kim Nocita tells about the great coming-together of NorCal and SoCal swoop leagues to form one that will rule them all.
• Photo Break: Invasion 2012
• Kazu Oyama and Bill Schmitz take some fine photos
• My Freefall Wedding
• Dave Udell was the first (beeeeeeeeeeer!) man to take the plunge out of Mike Mullins’ King Air when he married his adorable girlfriend Kim in 1993
• Aerodynamics for Dummies Part 3: Glide Ratio
• In the final installment, the adorable Julien rounds out his aerodynamics lesson with GR
• Turning Points: With Fresh Air and Rhythm into the Future
• Kurt, of NSL lore, fame, and glory, details why SDC Rhythm XP is the next big thing
• The Beginning of the End of My Flourishing Career: True Love
• Sydney and skydiving, sittin’ in a tree ♫ k-i-s-s-i-n-g ♪ first comes love ♬ then comes marriage ♫ then comes a back brace
• The Fuckin’ Pilot: “Bob, A Smart Man”
• A fictional tale about Bob, a tandem instructor, and the smartest decision he ever made
• Life Coaching: Tape Your Head to Hers
• Melsinore gives tips on how to clean up, amp up, and de-clutter up your non-skydiving life
• SkyGod’s Expo 2012 Calendar

Andre Lemaire wrote up his testing of the MagBag, a prototype main d-bag created by Jerry Baumchen. Here, in all their raw glory, are the test jump videos.

USPA, through their PR company JWalcher Communications, sent out this press release. Some interesting numbers among the cheeserific puns and giddy glossiness.

Contact:
Nancy Koreen, 540-604-9742, nkoreen@uspa.org

Skydivers Jump into Leap Year! — U.S. Parachute Association Reports Strong and Safe 2011!

January 31, 2012 – The U.S. Parachute Association reports that the breathtaking sport of skydiving continued to grow in 2011 and is poised to thrill even more jumpers throughout Leap Year 2012.

Last year, more than a half million people took the leap for the first time at some 200 USPA-affiliated skydiving centers across the country. Whether to cross an item off their bucket lists or discover a new hobby and passion, first-timers took the life-changing leap and experienced the thrill of a lifetime.

In addition to first-jumpers, USPA also reports an upsurge in experienced skydivers of all ages. First-timers and licensed skydivers together made more than 3.1 million jumps in 2011. At year’s end, USPA boasted membership of 33,515 – its highest since January 2002, shortly after the 9-11 attacks wreaked havoc on the aviation industry.

Even with skydiving clearly on the rise, accident numbers continue to remain low. In 2011, 25 people died skydiving in the U.S. – one out of every 125,000 jumps. Additionally, the five-year average of skydiving fatalities shows a steady decline, with an average of 22 per year over the last five years compared to 25 per year from 2002 to 2006 and 35 per year from 1997 to 2001.

Skydiving continues to improve its safety record due largely to safer equipment and better training. Student accidents are a small percentage of the total; most injuries and fatalities involve experienced skydivers attempting advanced maneuvers. USPA continues to make the sport safer by developing additional training programs and conducting its annual Safety Day – scheduled for March 10 this year – where drop zones across the country hold safety seminars and refresher training.

“We’re constantly striving to reduce the risk and increase the level of safety, especially for students,” said USPA Executive Director Ed Scott. “The sport’s continued growth attests to this improved safety and the indescribable life-altering experience of jumping out of a plane. With Leap Year upon us, what better time to take that leap?”

Image by Lambert: http://www.ereleases.com/pic/USPA-skydiving.jpg
Image by Bill Schmitz: http://www.ereleases.com/pic/Dysfunction.jpg

About Skydiving and USPA

For sheer excitement and high-speed fun, no sport comes close to skydiving. But it’s not as extreme or intimidating as it may seem. Almost anyone 18 or older can take the leap after some comprehensive safety instruction. It takes just a half hour of ground school for a tandem jump, the easiest and most popular way to skydive for the first time. Tandem jumping allows students to experience the thrill of freefall while securely harnessed to a licensed instructor.

Founded in 1946, the U.S. Parachute Association is a nonprofit association dedicated to the promotion of safe skydiving nationwide, establishing strict safety standards, training policies and programs at more than 200 USPA-affiliated skydiving centers throughout the country. USPA represents skydivers before all levels of government, the public and the aviation industry and sanctions national skydiving competitions and records. 

For more information on making a first jump or to find a skydiving center near you, visit http://www.uspa.org.

 

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Happy birthday Melanie!

Miss Melanie, of course, is one of Blue Skies Mag’s amazing contributors, and has been with us from the start. Inspirational, courageous, giving, loving, hilarious, and awesome, Melanie has helped our little magazine in more ways than we can count. We’ve heard from so many of you that her words impact your lives, too. So, join us in wishing this beautiful woman a great birthday and another fantastic year!

PS – Maybe a good birthday gift would be to like her Highcomms.com Facebook page ;)

PPS – We have a $5 reward for any information on how in hell #6 got so lucky.

Z-hills Light Painting by Mohammad Al-Refaei

Mohammad Al-Refaei, B-36248, is a Skydive City jumper from Kuwait who took this awesome shot on Saturday after the FLCPA meet. Check out more of his stuff on flickr.

This email just went out to everyone who signed the “Take Aviation User Fees off the table” petition at the White House’s new We the People site:

Why We Need Aviation User Fees

By Dana Hyde, Associate Director for General Government Programs, Office of Management and Budget

Thank you for signing the petition “Take Aviation User Fees Off the Table.” We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on WhiteHouse.gov and your concerns about user fees in a challenging economy.

In a challenging budget environment, the Obama Administration believes it’s essential that those who benefit from our world-class aviation system help pay for its ongoing operation. And we want to ensure that everyone is paying their fair share. For example, under current law, a large commercial aircraft flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco pays between twenty-one and thirty-three times the fuel taxes paid by a corporate jet flying the same route and using the same FAA air traffic services. This is why the Administration proposed to establish a new surcharge for air traffic services.

The proposed $100 per flight fee would generate an estimated $11 billion over 10 years, reducing the deficit and more equitably sharing the cost of air traffic services across the aviation user community. All piston aircraft, military aircraft, public aircraft, air ambulances, aircraft operating outside of controlled airspace, and Canada-to-Canada flights would be exempted.

We appreciate your petition’s acknowledgment that there needs to be an increased user contribution to aviation system funding in the current fiscal climate, and we recognize that some would prefer to raise the tax rate on aviation fuel. At the same time, we have concluded that a $100 per flight user fee is an equitable way for those who benefit to bear the cost of this essential service.

As we work to get our Nation back on a sustainable fiscal path, the Administration is making tough choices across the Federal budget and asking everyone to do their fair share. We recognize these shared sacrifices are not easy, but together with investments in our economic growth and job creation, they will make us stronger and more competitive for the future. We look forward to working collaboratively with the Congress and the aviation stakeholder community on this issue, and thank you again for your constructive input.

Check out this response on We the People.

So what do you think? Will we be seeing an extra $100 fee onto every skydiving load? Would that make you switch sports to paragliding, BASE jumping, or ground launching?

Team Polte is a brand new team from Finland. Team member Lauri says, “The concept of Polte is to have fun and fly free, and share it to the world by videos and photos. That’s how people can really see what Polte and skydiving is all about. Our future plans include competing and get more involved in different skydiving events around the world and arrange our own events in Finland. At the same time we offer services for companies to promote their products in form of videos, photos and stories.”

Team Polte: (l to r) Matti, Tuomas, and Lauri

• Lauri Aapro
• Tuomas Hulkkonen
• Matti Miilumäki
• Jonne Kuoksa

We can’t wait to see what comes out of Finland and Team Polte!

It’s official: Issue 26 has left our printer’s nest and is on its way to you — if you’re a lucky subscriber. If you’re not, you can be, simply by clicking this handy link, or mailing us a check, or calling us on the phone, or seeing us at a boogie, or sending a smoke signal.

In this issue:

• Bridge Day 2011
  Bamwich takes us along on his first Bridge Day!
• The Sex Skydive Heard ‘Round the World
  Alex Torre takes us along on his first controversial sex skydiving video!
• “I Jumped It”
  Our new gear review series. Dave Schwartz of Skydive Radio fame reviews Alti-2‘s N3 Audio.
• The Zen of BASE Part 3: Baffin
  Oh boy, Matt Gerdes‘ story is really getting good. Part 3 of 4.
• A Week in the Life of Mike Steen
  The lovely Faith chats with paragliding guru Mike Steen across continents and mountains.
• DIY: Canopy Hanger
  Rigger Please, LLC owner Chuck Marshall shows you how to build a canopy hanger of your own for $65.
• Falling Down the Rabbit Hole: From Student to Nationals in 18 Months
  Bam again. He introduces us to Team Wonderland‘s Jess, a TV news reporter who…you guessed it, went from student to USPA Nationals competitor in 18 months.
• Aerodynamics for Dummies Part 1: Lift
  Julien Peelman of NZ Aerosports throws down the physics lesson.
• Big Girls Don’t Cry: Clair Crawford
  Cynthia brings us another amazing BASE girl. Next month is the last one in the series, so collect them all!
• Turning Points: Skydiving Competition and the Media
  Kurt Gaebel of the National Skydiving League looks at how competitors handled outside media coverage at this year’s Nationals.
• The Beginning of the End of My Flourishing Career: California Dreamin’
  Sydney‘s starting a new chapter!
• The Fuckin’ Pilot: Fucking FAAcebook
  See what we did there?
• Skydiving and Life Coach: Gold or Gutter Balls
  Melanie Curtis talks Nationals competition and what the elites are really thinking of in competition.
• Jump a Random Skydiver: Julian Bergstein
  The lovely Faith went to wing night at The Perfect Spot and found us some meat.

It’s the last month of 2011 – what do you owe beer for? How about someone else, who might not be so forthcoming with the sudsy deliciousness they owe? Post them in the comments, and look for them in the next issue of Blue Skies Mag.

December Beer Porn by jeremydeades

We begin a new series here at blueskiesmag.com, wherein we post some of the recent search terms that brought people to our site. In order of nothingness, the last 30 day’s are:

1. swooping tits
2. stephen with a girly drink
3. working out quotes
4. camo pants
5. brian vacher of the pd factory team
6. parashoutist
7. nasty skydiving coach fuck
8. sweet ass mag
9. tits vector
10. fat guy flying in the sky