When I first started jumping in 1992 I was a “weekend warrior” and spent as much time jumping as my pocket book would allow, but in 1995 my passion for the sport led me to go full time whatever the cost. In 1996 I co-created the team Flyboyz and helped with the evolution of Freeflying. This was an exciting time in our sport with the birth of “something new” and the excitement that came with it. During this time I saw first hand what kind of an impact change can have.

Change that brings energy and new life into our sport and this is why I am running for national director. Excitement, enthusiasm and a refreshing new look at USPA is what is needed most right now.

I believe in education, not regulation in skydiving. It seems as skydiving is going the direction of making to many rules that are stopping the growth of our sport. Many of the rules that we follow were put in place 30 years ago, when the equipment, planes, and technology was inferior to what we have available to us today. We need to bring in new board members with fresh ideas to the USPA that want to take skydiving to the next level. We need to educate new jumpers past student status, to use new equipment to the best of their ability and stay safe in doing so. Has the USPA done anything for you lately, it could, please vote.

I am part of a 3-man team that has organized every freefly world record with successful attempts every time. I manage one of the largest and busiest demonstration teams in the world doing over 60 shows every year. I believe with this background I would make a good “fresh” addition to the USPA board

1. When and where was your first skydive? My first skydive was a tandem in my hometown Juneau, Alaska. I was hooked and move to Eloy, AZ soon after.

2. How many skydives do you have? Over 16,000.

3. What ratings? Pro Rating

4. What makes you qualified to guide the USPA? I have been in the sport for over 15 years. I was one of the first freefly coaches in the world and helped pioneer the sport of freeflying. I have organized and run many skydive events such as all the Freefly world records, freefly and swoop competitions as well as organized over 150 high profile demonstration jumps. I have also been a part of the multiple gold medal national and world freefly team.

5. How do you feel about the USPA’s current governing of skydiving? I believe it is getting a little out dated. I believe it is time for a fresh change where the USPA board will be full of members that are heavily active in the sport today.

6. Where do you see skydiving in 5 years on its current path? I see it hitting a staling point. I think things will probably remain the exact same with a lot of the current issues of active skydivers will not be met.

7. Where would you like to see skydiving in 5 years? I’d like to see the USPA board focus more on safety through education not limitation. I’d also like to see the USPA actively push the education of our sport to the general public. This is the only way to have the public gain interest in our sport and help it progress along the same line other alternate sports have over the last decade.

8. What is the biggest issue you feel that needs to be addressed by the USPA? I don’t feel there is any one issue that is the most important. I feel there needs to be more focus on teaching safer freefall and canopy skills; more support given to our USA competition teams; work with the FAA to rewriting the rules and regulation for demonstrations to better fit the parachutes being flown today; more entertaining magazine

9. What sparked this group coming together on a common platform? It’s time for a change into the new era of our sport.

10. How is your platform going to do help/affect the average skydiver? It will give them more free tools to use to learn how to be a safer and more productive skydive athlete.

11. Voter turnouts are always really small, why should people care about voting? If they’d like to see there sport change for the better all they have to do is simply opening their USPA November issue and spend 5 minutes marking the ballot. We are ready to put new energy into our great sport of skydiving!

10. How is your platform going to do help/affect the average skydiver?
Its going to address training methods, marketing and safety. If we have a safe sport, and market it correctly then there is no reason why it can't grow.

11. Voter turnouts are always really small, why should people care
about voting?
Cause we are running for the people and those same people are the ones that pay for an organization.

My name is Luke Aikins and I need your vote to make our USPA what I know it can be. I am a third generation skydiver and have lived on an airport with a DZ my entire life. I have been an active skydiver for the past 19 years participating in all disciplines including instructing, crew and rw world records, free fly teams, accuracy, Para-Ski, B.A.S.E., swooping, and demos.

I am a commercial pilot and fly about 400 hours a year. Skydiving is not just my job it is my passion.

Francisco Neri-
National

Eric Deren-National

1. When and where was your first skydive?
1996 at Opelika Skydiving.

2. How many skydives do you have? 
3300

3. What ratings?
None anymore.

4. What makes you qualified to guide the USPA? 
My concern for the current state of the USPA Board of Directors and my ability to get things done on the Board, most of which involves paperwork, is what qualifies me to be a part of the USPA BoD.

Jessie Farrington
-North West Region

1. Thun Field Washington 1964
2. 8000 plus
3. S/L IAD AFF Commercial Pilot all current retired Tandem
Instructor
4. I am a current and active jumper, instructor and former competitor as well as a DZO. I understand the FAA and am willing to take on some of the battles the skydiving industry needs to fight. I have served on the Board for 6 years. I bring the knowledge of the past and a vision for the future.

5. Governing Skydiving is a difficult job. I believe the membership does not care much about what we do… I believe the membership wants us to keep skydivers in the air with as little interference as possible.

6. Tandem is a double edge sword and it has done a tremendous amount for our sport, but it has hurt the sport as well. I would like to see every DZ want to produce new skydivers not just dollars. Without this attitude we will have declining numbers of up jumpers and instructors.

7. Double the membership, keeping the up jumpers active, cutting the number of fatalities.

8. FAA relations….. and getting the BOD to work harder on real issues rather that constantly debating Roberts rules of Order.

9. I am not sure, I know lots of jumpers are tired of what they feel is old school thinking.

10. Working closely with the FAA can only help skydiving. Bringing the FAA into the new millennium as it affects skydiving would be a plus for everyone. We need them to trust us and we need to deserve that trust.

11. If they do want to stay in the air with as little interference as possible they need people who are willing to make changes.

Chris Quaintance
-Pacific Region

Scott Smith- Western Region

Miles Daisher - Mountain Region

With the technology and education that we have now, I feel that we need to take the crazy out of the hobby and let the general public know what skydiving has become today. With current USPA rules and regulations it is difficult to move the sport forward. I would like to see the USPA focus on safety and education, not limitations. Like all governing bodies, I am thankful for some regulation to keep and form a group; however all governing bodies at some point need to look at making a change to keep up with the times. That time is now for the USPA and I would like to be part of this revolutionary movement.

Skydiving is a sport that takes passion, dedication and creates a fresh breathe of life. Whether if it is your first jump of thousandth jump, you know the feeling. Isn’t it time to bring that same passion and life into the board to designate throughout the sport and bring new energy? Skydiving has shaped my life and given me focus. Now I would like to give back to the sport by dedicating time and passion to the USPA board.

Kyle Starck - Southeast Region

Age: 29
Occupation: Aerospace Engineer
First jump: 1986
Total jumps: 10300+
Licenses: D-17903
Ratings: I/E, Tandem, AFF, PRO
Awards: 2000 Gold FS 4-way Intermediate
2007 Gold VFS 4-way Open

1. When and where was your first skydive?

First Skydive: 10-1-1986 SkyKnights, East Troy, WI

3. What ratings?
AFF Instructor
Tandem Instructor/Evaluator
Pro Rated Demonstration Jumper

4. What makes you qualified to  guide the USPA? (what is your resume i.e. world titles? Dropzone owner?, coach? Basically everything you have done in the industry.)
 
2000 Gold Metal Intermediate FS Deland Tunnel Rage
2007 Gold Metal VRW Team Mandrin (Member from 2004 to present)
AFF Instructor
Tandem Instructor / Course Director
Pro Rated Demonstration jumper
SkyVenture Wind Tunnel Instructor for 5 years
 
Commercial Pilot
Airframe and Power Plant Technician
Aerospace Engineer for Lockheed Martin

I have been involved in skydiving my whole life.  A majority of that time has been spent living and jumping in the Florida and Georgia skydiving community.  The southeast region encompasses skydivers and industries that have always lead the sport through innovations.  It is one of the largest, most active, and influential regions in the country.  The region requires a representative that can accurately represent the region with USPA and has the background to make a difference. 
 
I have 30 years of experience in the sport.  All aspects of skydiving will always be important to me. I am an active member of the National Champion Team Mandrin, AFF instructor, Tandem Course Director, Pro Rated Demonstration jumper, and have been a wind tunnel instructor for several years.  In addition, drawing from my experience as a Pilot, an Airframe and Power Plant Technician, and an Aerospace Engineer for Lockheed Martin, I can easily interact with any part of the aviation community.

I look forward to strongly representing the Southeast region within USPA and the grander aviation community.

5. How do you feel about the USPA’s current governing of skydiving?
In recent years USPA has guided skydiving down a path which has made it extremely more expensive, inconvenient, and less fun to learn how to become a skydiver.

6. Where do you see  skydiving in 5 years on its current path?
On this path we have seen the percentage of people who continue as active skydivers decrease immensely.  If we continue down this path, skydiving will become less of a community and end up as a carnival ride.   

7. Where would you like to see skydiving in 5 years?
I would like help foster skydiving by making it more available and appealing to the general public.  Rather then watching membership decrease or barely remain stagnant, I want to see participation in skydiving expand to unimaginable levels. 

8. What is the biggest issue you feel that needs to be addressed by the USPA?
Loss of interest in skydiving by skydivers.  Create excitement in every person in this country to skydiver.

9. What sparked this group coming together on a common platform?
We wanted to have the people representing skydiving in USPA actually be active skydivers who understand what is really going on in the trenches.  By doing this we will hopefully reinstate the passion for this sport that was once enjoyed.

10. How is your platform going to do help/affect the average skydiver?
This platform will allow the average skydiver more opportunities to improve their abilities, greater access too more events, more information on what is going on in skydiving, most importantly more skydivers to jump with.

11. Voter turnouts are always really small, why should people care about voting?
Don’t you think that your dues should be spent on things that benefit you as the skydiver, and the drop zone owners lining their pockets?

Kirk Verner -National

Fellow USPA Member: 
Many of you have been kind enough to write me to request my views of the changes I would like to see happen at the USPA and how I would like to make those changes happen.  So I have put down a few thoughts which I hope you will find helpful as you gather information to assist you in casting an informed and impactful vote in the upcoming USPA election.

As with a lot of people running for any office within any organization, the decision to run is often driven by negative emotions and frustrations.  To a large extent I am no exception, but I hope that if I am elected, my frustrations can turn into positive energy which will allow me to join with you to make changes to OUR organization which will benefit skydivers AND DZ owners alike.  It is my belief that unless and until the USPA does a better job of representing the interests of all of its members, we will not be able to protect and expand the sport which means so much to all of us.  YES, I am saying that there is a need to re-focus the USPA.  It needs to expand beyond only representing the needs of one of its member groups.  It MUST do a better job of including the thoughts, ideas AND INPUT of all dues paying members.    As a sport, clearly we need strong active DZ across the nation, at the same time, however, we need to make certain that the individual jumper who funds our organization is listened to and represented to the industry, DZ owners, to their local communities, to the FAI, and to the Federal Aviation Agency.  In my view the representation of the USPA is not balanced towards all of its members and too many if its long term employees do not seem to be interested in what the skydivers have to say. 

I believe it is time for us to elect more leaders who are current and active skydivers  who frequently get out into the skydiving community to jump  and talk with fellow skydivers.  Only by having frequent participation in the sport and conversations with jumpers can the USPA Board be a truly representative organization and only then will USPA BOB members have a first hand and up to date idea of what is really happening within our sport!

Further, I think that far too much time, effort and dues money is spent within our organization aimed keeping the same people in positions which allow them to travel around the globe to attend meetings and competitions at member’s expense.  Unfortunately the experience they bring is far too often driven by self-protection and promotion and they only bring old ideas about our sport which were created decades ago when they used to participate in skydiving. Our sport is evolving rapidly, and the USPA MUST evolve with it!  Clearly, far too many views and actions taken by the USPA do not reflect the desires or needs of today’s skydivers.  We need to expand the vision and the positions taken by our organization by injecting new people with new ideas which more accurately reflect the views of the current members of the membership.  To do that we must make certain that the new USPA engages in a DIALOGUE with all of its members.

Sadly, in its job as an overseer of safety and training, far too often our organization acts more a ‘cop” than an educator which only serves to create a larger gulf between the USPA and its members.  It furthers the “us and them” feelings within the membership.  That conflict or appearance of a conflict has to be removed, permanently.  It is counterproductive at best and damaging at worst.

The USPA structure tends to work against the membership by creating the feeling and the reality that its does not want to hear from its members.  It does little if anything to promote a “sense of community” within our sport.  When the USPA BOD has its annual meeting, there is supposed to be an annual membership meeting shortly thereafter.  Are you aware that the membership meeting has not actually happened for years!  The reason?  There is never a “quorum” or a sufficient number of members who have, at their own expense, traveled to the site of the USPA meeting to ever have a membership meeting. The result it that the USPA BOD functions with little or no oversight by the members, and changes to our Constitution and operating process can happen with absolutely no membership input.  While all of this is perfectly “legal” it flies in the face of any feeling that this is truly OUR organization. Obviously it all but eliminates input from the membership.  To me, rather than be happy that no membership meeting has occurred, the BOD should be studying ways to either change its structure of have other meetings to seek your input!

This must change.  I am in favor of regional and informal meetings where some or all of the USPA BOD attend.  I think we should have the meetings where the skydivers are.  The meetings should be at Nationals, large and small boogies, at local competitions, and big way or record attempts, anywhere a large number of active skydivers are going to be.  This would give the USPA BOD a change to LISTEN to the concerns of the membership in a relaxed and informal setting where all topics could be discussed and the BOD could really learn what is going within the sport.  Open conference calls and web video seminars could be held to seek input and open all issues up to membership input which could help guide BOD members in making decisions. Internet polling on issues would really help the BOD decide of actions to be taken as well.  I am sure that you have other ideas as well, but at the present time have no clear way of being heard.

This is not to say that DZ owners concerns are not hugely important to all of us.  Of course, but I think that membership input might give us more ideas which might help the BOD discover the BEST answers to issues facing our sport and the industry.  For example, when we want to introduce our friends to the sport, most of us bring our family and friends to the DZ. 

We want them to go on a tandem jump and we want the red carpet rolled out for them so that they have the best experience possible so that friends and family might join us for more jumps.  At the same time, we get frustrated when we feel that more and more DZs, in an effort to cope with rising fuel and tax bills are becoming “tandem factories” and forget about the individual and team jumpers.  Don’t you think that the USPA should LEAD discussions, help develop options and seek solutions so everyone feels a part of the solution which should be the growth of our sport?  This is just one example in which the proper use of USPA assets can and should create discussions and solve problems.  Obviously, there are many more.

I want to see the USPA listen to more instructors to continue to develop leading edge training and certification syllabi for new and experienced jumpers.  Are we using the best methods to teach our new jumpers?  How does tunnel flying fit into the future of our sport and our industry for training, certification and as a magnet to grow our ranks?

Further, I would like every member to be able to see how their dues monies are spent and how the trust funds are invested to maximize their growth.  I would like to see staff travel reviewed for effectiveness and efficiency with an eye to including more people in the travel and representation of our organization to other groups and nations.

Finally, I think that the USPA needs to do a far far better job of promoting our sport to the outside world.  More often than not, our events, competitions, boogies, record attempts, celebrities taking tandem jumps, fundraising efforts etc., go unnoticed in the communities in which we jump.  Many times these events happen at DZ which are one of the largest economic engines in their area, and yet these is almost no recognition or coverage in the local, regional or national press, and even when we get some coverage, there is no ongoing effort to create the relationships with the press which will keep us in the public’s eye.  Don’t get me wrong, our USPA Magazine, The Parachutist, is a wonderful publication, but, frankly, we are talking to ourselves, the membership.  Yes, the adds serve us well and keep us informed about upcoming events we might like to attend, but we need to do more.  We need to expand our ranks and one way to do that is to have the USPA promote our sport and what we do across the nation.

I do want to make one thing clear.  At USPA headquarters there is a band of wonderful employees who on a daily basis work hard to make our organization function as efficiently as possible, and we own them a debt of gratitude.  However, there are some long time employees and managers who seem to always resist change and modernization as well as member input.  That has to change!

Right now this sport, like most things across the country, is being caught up in a “perfect storm.”  High fuel costs, job losses, increase costs for food and energy, loss of equity in our homes and a tightening of credit will equate to fewer jumps and new jumpers and that does not bode well for our sport.  Increases in property and business taxes on the DZs, the seemingly never ending march of the FAA trying to impose “user fees” upon DZ owners and efforts by the ATC system to strangle the airspace in which we can jump can only mean higher jump prices.  Again, that too means fewer jumps and the downward spiral of our numbers and almost impossible pressure on DZ owners.  Fewer jumpers mean fewer purchasers of new and used equipment.Making our equipment last longer can mean fewer equipment manufacturers remaining open,  and less research into new, better and safer equipment. 

Ultimately it will mean fewer local DZs. High gas prices will make longer drives to other DZs too expensive to do every weekend.  So, unless we join together to act as one voice to protect our sport and the industry our sport is could be on a path which none of us want .  We MUST join together like never before to push our sport forward.  We need to communicate with each other and with the USPA using the internet, and more local meetings and we all must become activists to assure that our sport will prosper for years to come.  I am running for the USPA BOD so I can make a difference by listening and leading.  I would appreciate your vote and your support and your ideas as we join together to make skydiving stronger.

Blue Skies,
Kirk.