Blue Skies Magazine » People

Fastrax’s John Hart In Deep Doo-Doo

Lara — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:39:41 +0000

Friends of the Forces

Lara — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:10:09 +0000

From our friend Major Alastair Macartney, British Army: “There are lots of skydivers and BASE jumpers currently serving in the military. Supporting our troops is something that, as a nation, we feel quite strongly about. On Tuesday His Royal Highness Prince Harry launched awards for Friends of the Forces to encourage people out there to support those serving in the British military. Prince Harry has served on the frontline in Afghanistan and has also made a skydive. Not only that, but the pictures and video that accompanied the launch include the Jump4Heroes team BASE jumping in South Africa and Malaysia. Check it out at www.friendsoftheforces.org.uk.”

The Science of Red Bull Stratos

Lara — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:59:42 +0000

Ground control to Major Felix

Last month, we told you about Red Bull Stratos, a crazy cool project that aims to send Felix Baumgartner up high. Really high. Super duper insane high.

The Red Bull Stratos project released a cool video this week about some of the science and technology behind the record attempt. Our good friend Kelly Farrington even makes a surprise appearance!

Enjoy (unless you’re on a Mac, in which case – sucks to be you. Or, you could try this.):

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Born to Fly

Freefly World Record Canvas Prints

Lara — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:14:16 +0000

Brian Buckland has really amazing prints of the 108-way for sale over on his blog, blog.brianbuckland.com.

Own a little piece of history, support an artiste and get a discount. I really don’t know what more you could want. Well, maybe I do, but they don’t sell that. Well, maybe they do, but it’s not legal. Well, maybe it is, but this isn’t Nevada, you know.

A Week With Jeffro…For Reals This Time!

Lara — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:55:52 +0000

When we started this crazy adventure, we promised you seven days with Jeff Provenzano, better known as Jeffro, the first canopy pilot to ever execute a Miracle Man in competition.

It got scheduled, re-scheduled…basically never happened (though we did give you some great weeks with Eric Deren and Nick Grillet). Until now! Jeffro is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with the Red Bull Air Force and we’re tagging along for the surreal, alcohol-free ride. Look for the final week in the March issue of Blue Skies Mag, and stay tuned here for some audio outtakes and long-long-distance phone calls.

Yep, he's that guy. Ad by optionstudios.com.

Mum’s Topless Haiti Skydive!

Lara — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:17:23 +0000

Mum! Topless! Haiti! Skydive!

We first learned of Kat Mager’s charity skydive from this headline bait: Mum’s Topless Haiti Skydive! I was very scared to open the link, fearing…well, the worst. But, Kat is super hot and, as it turns out, super sweet. She is trying to raise £2,000 (~ $3,000) for Haiti relief, and if she does, she will indeed skydive topless.

We think it behooves all of our subscribers to support this worthy cause. Donate here and now! And be sure to kick in a little extra so she can afford to hire a videographer. (UK Skydiving videographer, you might find a publication willing to print those photos. We just can’t think of which one that would be )

To Infinity and Beyond!

Lara — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:37:03 +0000

Felix Baumgartner and Colonel Joseph Kittinger unveiled the Red Bull Stratos project today.

Red Bull Stratos, a mission to the edge of space, seeks to surpass limits that have existed for 50 years. Felix Baumgartner will undertake a stratospheric balloon flight to 120,000 feet and attempt a record-breaking freefall jump that is expected to reach – for the first time in history – supersonic speeds.

Velocity Sports Equipment, maker of the Infinity rig, created the rig and drogue. VSE owner Kelly Farrington says there are some pretty cool features of this rig. Hopefully we’ll get a bit more out of him, and some pictures, for you soon!

Hard to Stay on the Ground

Lara — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:13:51 +0000

Ted Mayfield just can’t stay out of the sky. The guy some people claim is your hero and mine, DB Cooper, and the former owner of Pacific Parachute Center, flies without a license.

A 74-year-old Sheridan man with a decades-long history of defying federal aviation rules just can’t seem to stay out of the cockpit.

Teddy Ernest Mayfield was sentenced Tuesday for flying a single-engine plane from Eugene Airport to the Independence airport in June 2008 — 26 years after the Federal Aviation Administration last revoked his pilot’s license.

The Register Guard (Eugene, Oregon)

World’s Highest BASE Jump: Check

Lara — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:22:08 +0000

Lots of news covering this jump by Omar Al Hegelan and Nasser Al Neyadi, but this one is my favorite: Man Falls from Burj Dubai – Worlds Tallest Building. Like, whoops, I fell!

Enjoy the video—and particularly MSNBC’s spectacular journalistic reporting of the building’s height as 27,017′ (the smarties at MSNBC changed out the video on us and they’re correct now! – it’s 2,717′):

Some more links to fill up what remains of your Friday workday:
BBC
CBC
Daily Mail

Update: Help an Injured Skydiver

Lara — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:00:24 +0000

We got an update on G, the swooper who was injured at World Cup in South Africa in November. From Julie, “He is now standing with assistance; as of 01/01, has some need of physio therapy, eating & talking, still wears halo device, hope to transfer to States in Feb.” His family and he still needs some help paying for all the costs of this injury, so the PayPal account is still active and ready for your New Year’s good karma donations Thoughts and prayers are just as helpful (we think, anyway) if you can’t spare a buck.

The PayPal info again is:
LT197044060003600396
Inga Gaizauskiene
AB SEB bankas
Gedimino pr. 12, LT- 01103 Vilnius
Banko Kodas 70440
SWIFT Kodas CBVILT2X
email account info: gaizauskiene.inga@hotmail.com