by Marcelaine Wininger Lewis | D-24581 | Houghton, Michigan
In 1999, I met a nice man who was a skydiver. As our friendship shifted to romance, I began flying with him to Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois. Because I am a flight instructor, I quickly became friends with the jump pilots. The constant sound of Twin Otters roaring to life on takeoff, the intoxicating smell of jet exhaust, the blossoming of canopies overhead, Moby and other cool music pulsing in the background electrified me. I was fascinated by the things and people who were flying, but during that first summer, it never occurred to me to jump. more »
Pat Works, D-1813, has been a member of USPA for 50 years, three of those serving as a national director. Works was on the forefront of relative work (RW, now called formation skydiving) in the 1970s and founded the C.G. Godfrog Good Vibes Award at the USPA Nationals. He was also instrumental in developing vertical relative work (vertical formation skydiving) in the 1990s and brought freefly to a world audience as a judge and competitor in the X Games. Along with his myriad skydiving accomplishments, he wrote the seminal books, “The Art of Freefall RW,” “United We Fall” and “The Art of VRW: The Way of Freefly.” 
Wendy Faulkner, D-17441, is an evangelist when it comes to canopy formation skydiving (or, as many of its participants call it, canopy relative work or CRW). Faulkner started skydiving in 1993 and, after a CF jump in 1996, began a love affair with the discipline. She has been on all the latest CF world records, coaches new CF jumpers and performs parabatics. She is also an AFF instructor, flies camera, holds a PRO rating and simply loves the sport of skydiving. 
A lifetime member of USPA, Travis Donley, D-27204, is well known for his American flag jumps, including two over New York City to honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks. When not performing high-profile demonstration jumps with Team Fastrax, Donley skydives at Start Skydiving in Middletown, Ohio, where he works as a Tandem, Static-Line, IAD and AFF Instructor, Safety & Training Advisor and FAA Senior Rigger.