Kicking off the 2019 jump season, we held our annual USPA Safety Day meeting on March 9.
For anyone living on the East Coast, especially in Virginia, it has been a long, wet winter and we are all itching to get back to jumping. But before that can happen, we took the opportunity to gather a team of presenters to cover a range of topics, all with safety in mind.
First up we had Chris Wagner to present I&R and then moved in to emergency reviews and procedures. Chris is a wealth of knowledge, and kept up Q&A with the group throughout all presentations.
Keith Goulette stepped up to run through gear safety and checks, with Pete Schwartz presenting canopy safety/exits. One of our pilots, Cody Gillen, gave us some very important safety reminders about each of our jump planes here at Skydive Suffolk, as well as not so gentle reminders about calls, loads, and how jumpers should be waiting for the plane…not the other way around!
Finally we had Will Wachter to present all about freefly and angles; Will showed some great video clip examples to really hit on the reality of why all these safety measures are key.
After all the learning, we had our annual Chili Cook-Off! This year, our very own DZO, Laura Manthey, won the cook-off! She does make a mean pot of chili! Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate (no surprise there) so jump ops were cancelled for the day.
Once again, thank you to everyone to attended and to our presenters; we are truly looking forward to a busy, safe, and FUN 2019!
