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News from Arizona Airspeed
by Alan Metni - Arizona Airspeed
4-Way Teams: Many of you have been asking us when we are going to announce the Airspeed lineup for next year. Airspeed Vertical remains unchanged - Mark, Craig, Neal, John and Stein are ready to go again. However, Zulu has lost two members. I am retiring from competition but will remain on the team as a coach and manager. Christopher Irwin has decided to take some time off as well. Veteran Airspeed member Gary Beyer is going to join Chad and Kirk on Zulu. Airspeed is pleased to announce that Eliana Rodriguez has agreed to join us and will fill the other vacant Zulu slot. If you don't know her already, check out her profile at www.skyleague.com Its gonna be a great year!
8-Way Team: As you might have heard, Dan BC is putting together an 8-way team that plans tomake 800 jumps at Eloy next season. The members are - Stephan Lipp; Dennis Rook; Andy Delk; Scott Latinis; Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld; Eric GInn; Andy Holliman; Ryan Smith and Don Ellisor (alt). Dan is going to coach and jump. I have also been working on an 8-way project team that will train about 300 jumps in Eloy. I will announce its members in a few days. Airspeed Zulu and Vertical are going to combine to compete in 8-way as well. So Eloy is about to become a hotbed of 8 way action. With the Knights and Deguello also training, 8-way is going to be a blast.
Airspeed Skills Camps: Airspeed hosted 32 jumpers from around the US and overseas during the first Skills Camp of the season over Thanksgiving. The jumping pace was so steady that nearly everyone completed their 48 jumps before the final day. For those who can't get the entire week off work, we have added a four day mini camp. The days must be consecutive and must be either the first or last 4 days of the camp. Participants can also opt to do 2, 4 or 6 days of the XTreme Camp program within their regular camp. On XTreme days, your group will have its own assigned Airspeed coach with you on every jump, coaching from the air and on the ground. It is not necessary to come with an entire team to do XTreme option. The next Airspeed Skills Camp is scheduled for February 23 - March 3. For more information check out www.airspeed.org or contact Dan BC, dan@airspeed.org.
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Skydivers awarded $600,000 for collision
In October 2001 a court ordered a skydiving school in Australia to pay two of its students more than $600,000 in damages after they collided during a jump. Sydney Skydivers was found to have breached its duty of care and ordered to pay damages for injuries and loss of work suffered by the men. Christopher Charles Morton, 33, was taking his first jump and Michael Richard Warren, 26, his third when the collision occurred on December 14, 1997. They had both attended a training day before they jumped out of the plane near Picton, south-west of Sydney. The instructors were the first to reach the target area, marked by a large cross. They were then to direct the movements of their students using large arrows and batons.
When the jumpers under their deployed parachutes were about 30 metres above the ground, they collided and fell to the ground. The judge blamed the collision on one of the instructors, Helen Perry, saying her sense of direction was confused when she landed just 90 seconds before the students. She therefore pointed her student, Mr Morton, in the wrong direction. He rejected a suggestion that Mr Morton had failed to follow the direction indicated by Ms Perry's arrow.
As the judge statet, the collision could also have been avoided if the two students had more than a 20 second interval between them when they jumped out of the plane. Despite the 20 second gap, both students were at the same height when the collision occurred.
Mr Morton suffered a fractured pelvis and injuries to his right shoulder, spine, head and severe shock in the fall and was today awarded almost $277,000 in damages. Mr Warren received fractures to this right arm and injuries to his spine, head and severe shock, and was awarded about $328,000.
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Two Deaf World Records
Two Deaf World Records were set last year at Skydive San Marcos, Texas. The team set the first one with a 12-Way on the 3rd attempt on Saturday, September 1. The second world record was set with a 14-Way on the 3rd attempt of Sunday, September 2. What's special about this 14 Way Deaf World Record is that they did it from an exit altitude of 11,500 feet and completed it by 8000 feet! They went for a 15-way attempt on the 4th and last attempt of Sunday that didn't complete.
The 14 Way Deaf World Record skydivers are:
Billy Vance, Alabama, Co-organizer, 960+ jumps
John Woo, Maryland, Co-organizer, 2010+ jumps
Marc Rubin, Texas, Co-ordinator, 160+ jumps
Jane Chapman, Florida, 2100+ jumps
David Armstrong, Texas, 2700+ jumps
Mike Boland, Texas, 800+ jumps
Fred Goebel, Texas, 1500+ jumps
Charl de Villiers, Texas, 1300+ jumps
Lesley Weisbrot, Maine, 310+ jumps
Mike Sweet, Pennsylvania, 350+ jumps
Mike Haines, Pennsylvania, 130+ jumps
Mitch Phillips, Utah, 230+ jumps
Mitsuhiro Masuda, Japan, 570+ jumps
Alan Thompson, Jr, Great Britain, 260+ jumps
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