7 JUL 2014

		Tons of students made a lot of progress over the Forth of July weekend, especially on Sunday when we had no Tandems scheduled and were able to devote all instructors to AFF students! Spenser Hanson made a number of jumps, staying over at the DZ all weekend and making it all the way to his level 4 single-instructor stage. Brian "Sacajaweea" Lancaster completed his AFF portion of the training and made a solo jump besides. Fellow SDT staff member Eric "Sparky" Martinez also got up, finally getting in his level 1 AFF and having a great time. Daniel Renkel also made it to level 4, jumping with Ilya on Sunday. Danny Reyes got back up in the skies, getting to his adrenaline-pumping level 3 independent free fall jump on Saturday Also on Saturday, Dave Garcia, sporting his brand-new jumpsuit, worked on his turns with Scott. After a short hiatus, Greg Smeltzer made it out as well, getting back up in the skies over Salado. Nailing his level 5, Jasper Byom tore it up in the air and was pretty much on cloud 9 the whole weekend. Kayla Ransom also made it back, having a blast working on forward movement in her level 2 jump And returning from deployment to Afghanistan Chris Treyz made several coach jumps with Shelby over the weekend. Slayden Howell and Sidney Hoelscher both got up on the same load, each doing solos with Sidney finishing up her training jumps. Finally, on Sunday, Shelby taught the FJC with visiting brothers from Austraila, Justin and Jeremy Pickham, here in Texas for a bachelor party, along with Joe Braitsch who each also knocked out their Category A Training Tandems with Scott and Zack late in the day. But the biggest news this weekend was that Sidney Hoelscher and Elijah Tienda both completed their A-license requirements and got their A-license stamps and are now official skydivers! Congrats folks!
CANOPY COURSE SATURDAY		This Saturday 7/12/14 Ilya Kats will be holding a canopy course here at Skydive Temple. Please message Ilya or Elijah to confirm or comment so we can get a number of people attending. Learn or refresh your knowledge on how to be a better and safer canopy pilot, including stand up landing techniques for every jump, navigation in various wind conditions, and much more. This class is required for getting your A license (at Skydive Temple). Pre-requisite for this class: AFF graduates and up. Class is normally on rain or shine. 9am - start, settle the payment and secure gear rental by 9 a.m. (if needed). Ground instruction is $45 plus 3 hop and pops (and rental gear if you need that) from 5,500 and 3,500”. Return student (those who have taken the course within the past year) fee is only $15, and is a great opportunity to finish the B-license canopy curriculum (which requires total of 5 jumps)
		DID YOU KNOW... The United States Parachute Association has published short & simple equipment checklist in the Skydiver's Information Manual. If you haven't yet, take a look at Section 5-4.C and review what to look for when doing your pre-flight checks on the gear you'll be jumping.
SAFETY TIP OF THE WEEK		Over the last several weeks, we've been running a series on equipment inspection. Recently, someone discovered in the plane, at altitude that they had not turned on their AAD, so they rode the plane back down. Luckily, that oversight was caught before the jump. But, it should have been caught much earlier! 1. Do a pre-flight check of your gear before putting it on. ALWAYS! This should be among the most obvious tasks imaginable. 2. Be thorough. See the above link to the SIM for guidance. Ask your instructors for assistance. 3. Gear check at least one more person on the load with you. You might actually save a life! 4. Have someone else gear check you -- perhaps the same friend you gear check! 5. Students get three gear checks: when gearing up, before boarding, and before jumping. Soberingly, this incident was only caught at the last stage. Imagine the senselessness of a fatality that could have easily been prevented with… a simple gear check!
Contact Skydive Temple at 254-947-3483 or email jump@skydivetemple.com