As a USPA member, you helped your association make history at the end of September and again in October. At September’s end, USPA membership totaled 34,600, eclipsing by 17 the previous membership high. That high was set at the end of August 2001, and 11 days later came the attacks of 9/11. Do you remember the effect on aviation? For months, airline bookings, charter flights and flight training dropped drastically. DZs reported a substantial drop in first-jump customers, and all skydiving, along with USPA membership, began a decline. more »

by Nancy Fichtelberg | USPA #247308 | North Brunswick, New Jersey

All of my life I have been afraid of so much: roller coasters, heights and even flying in airplanes! If I was a passenger in a car, I would tell the driver to slow down. I was not much of a daredevil, to say the least. I never had a hobby or had anything that I loved doing. I was the mom of four daughters who meant the world to me, but they were grown and had their lives to live. My husband and I had a home that was becoming empty. more »

In an election year, policy issues and plans for the future take on an urgency. Debates become more passionate. Policy differences take on an edge. Some among the electorate seem to get more divided and polarized. This election year is no different, with candidates and their surrogates making their distinctions sharper, their lines more heavily drawn. Some voters cast their ballots based on platform, some by policies, some by record, some by commitments made and some simply by personality. it is incumbent on all voters to scrutinize each candidate, determine where allegiances lie and then vote their consciences. Your vote will likely decide the course of events for the next three years. more »

Phil Peggs, C-36427, is a founding member of the nonprofit organization Raise the Sky, which uses skydiving events to raise money for good causes. He was the freefall photographer for Raise the Sky’s first Project XRW, a groundbreaking event in which wingsuit flyers and canopy pilots flew relative to one another, and a member of the 68-way U.S. wingsuit formation record team. Though best known as a wingsuit instructor and flyer, Peggs has now shifted his focus to freeflying and recently joined vertical formation skydiving team STF BlockParty XP. more »