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President George H.W. Bush is set to soar through the heavens yet again. The octogenarian former Commander-in-Chief and 41st U.S. president will strap on a parachute for a tandem skydive June 12 to celebrate his 85th birthday. Bush will leap out of an aircraft with the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights parachute team in the skies above Kennebunkport, Maine, joined by Robin Meade, a news anchor with HLN, the cable news channel affiliated with CNN formerly known as Headline News.

— George H.W. Bush is going to celebrate his 85th birthday Friday in style. Bush Sr., is a veteran skydiver has made some tough jumps especially as a 20-year-old Navy pilot in World War II when he was shot down over the Pacific. But the sky dive he will make on his birthday should be a lot more fun with Headline News anchor Robin Meade strapped to him for a tandem jump. I guess this will be George’s ‘Private Stimulus Package.’ In return Meade will get to interview Bush Sr. before they make the jump. “It is both a thrill...

Friday, March 27, 2009 Print ShareThisCanadian extreme skier and base jumper, Shane McConkey, died Thursday following a ski-base accident that ocurred while filming his latest movie in Italy, the Inquisitr reported. McConkey, 39, experienced problems in the air after jumping off of a cliff in the expectation that he would be able to detach his skis and deploy his parachute, thus enabling him to glide safely to the ground, according to the Inquisitr. According to a witness, one of McConkey's skis failed to detach causing him to spin out of control and ultimately prevented him from deploying his parachute, the...

PHOENIX — A parachutist jumping from a mountain base in Arizona died after falling 250 feet with a chute that apparently failed to open. Dispatchers received a 911 call around 2 p.m. Sunday that a parachutist had been injured after jumping off a mountain base near Saguaro Lake northeast of Phoenix, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Doug Matteson said

He learned to steer a chute – fast. Hanging from a parachute thousands of feet above the ground, Daniel Pharr needed to find a way to land safely. He was on his first sky-diving jump, and he and his instructor were strapped together on the same parachute. But shortly after they leaped from the airplane at 13,500 feet, the instructor wasn't responding to Pharr's questions. George “Chip” Steele had had a medical emergency. Pharr was on his own. Pharr said he didn't panic. It would do him no good, he thought. Instead, he reached above his head for the toggles...

TAMPA - A Special Operations paratrooper died this afternoon after a jump went wrong and he landed in a lake at Gadsen Park. Air Force Col. Larry Martin said the soldier was participating in parachute training. He would not identify the U.S. Army paratrooper. The training is a normal operation that goes on every few weeks at MacDill Air Force Base, Martin said. The incident in under investigation and the 6th Air Mobility Wing has convened an interim safety board to collect evidence, officials say. Because of the ongoing investigation, Martin declined to comment on how Thursday's training session went...

Excerpt - The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said Sunday that it won't allow the companies to make "golden parachute" severance payments to the mortgage companies' ousted chief executive officers. In a statement, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said such payments wouldn't be made to Daniel Mudd and Richard Syron, despite provisions in their contracts. Mr. Mudd served as chief executive of Fannie and Mr. Syron was chairman and CEO of Freddie until last weekend, when the regulator seized control of the companies, saying they were in danger of running out of capital. ~ snip ~

President's Proclamation for National Airborne Day, Aug. 16 WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2001 – Sixty-one years ago, 48 brave volunteer members of the U.S. Army Parachute Test Platoon pioneered a new method of warfare. Their successful jump led to the creation of a mighty force of more than 100,000 paratroopers. Members of this force were assigned to the legendary 11th, 13th, 17th, 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions and numerous other units that fought in every theater during World War II. The soldiers of the Parachute Test Platoon also forged a unique warrior spirit, a relentless passion for victory, and a reputation...

A British soldier and jump instructor participating in a parachute competition in Germany got hung up on the landing gear of his jump aircraft, reportedly a Britten-Norman Islander, and was rescued by the only person left on the aircraft -- its pilot...

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. An investigation continued Sunday into the death of a 39-year-old parachuting instructor and off-duty deputy sheriff who died when his parachute failed to open Saturday morning near Lake Elsinore. Richard Alvin Schindler, a deputy sheriff with the South-West Detention Center and a part-time instructor at Skydive Lake Elsinore, was discovered around noon at 20701 Cereal St., according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department Sheriff's officials say deputies responded to a report of an accident at Sky Dive of Lake Elsinore Inc. late Saturday morning. Schindler was executing his fourth jump of the day when his primary parachute...

DUANESBURG, N.Y. - A 29-year-old man leaped out of a plane at 10,000 feet with a camera but no parachute Saturday. His body was found next to a house with a damaged roof, police said. Sloan Carafello of Schenectady, who was observing on the flight, followed an instructor, student and videographer out the door, wearing no skydiving gear, officials said.

It weighs only 30 pounds and can be fully weaponized for assault and rescue. It has a 6-foot jet-wing that is steered with handheld rotary controls connected to its rudder. And it can hide more than 100 pounds of combat gear in a built-in compartment. The Gryphon attack glider, designed to penetrate combat zones at 135 miles per hour, could revolutionize the art of parachuting. It has got to be at the top of James Bond’s Christmas list this year. Click here to see video of the Gryphon glider in action.

SEATTLE - The FBI says it's analyzing a torn, tangled parachute found by children in Washington state to see whether it was used by plane hijacker D.B. Cooper. Officials said Tuesday that children playing outside their home near Amboy, in southwest Washington, found the chute sticking up from the ground this month. FBI agent Larry Carr says they pulled on the fabric as much as they could, then cut the ropes. They had seen recent media coverage of the Cooper case and urged their father to call the FBI. Cooper hijacked a plane from Portland, Ore., to Seattle in 1971,...

FBI agents in Seattle are examining a tattered parachute found recently in north Clark County, looking for evidence that it might have been used by legendary skyjacker D.B. Cooper. The 'chute was found by children living near the center of the jump zone where the skyjacker bailed out of the 727 jetliner with $200,000 in cash in 1971, never to be heard from again. Larry Carr, a special agent in the FBI's Seattle office, said the property owner was putting in a road on the site and his tractor blade uncovered some cloth. The children pulled out the canopy until...

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. -- A Virginia Beach-based Navy SEAL was found dead Wednesday morning on a golf course in Casa Grande. The SEAL, whose name was not released, was a Special Warfare Operator from Hampton Roads, Va. He died while conducting a parachute training operation out of Marana, about 30 miles south of Phoenix. The body was found near one of the greens shortly after 7 a.m. by a Mission Royale Golf Course maintenance worker on his morning rounds. Casa Grande police said the Navy arrived immediately to retrieve the body. "I was just coming out of the garage and...

Jeb Corliss wants to fly — not the way the Wright brothers wanted to fly, but the way we do in our dreams. He wants to jump from a helicopter and land without using a parachute. And his dream, strange as it sounds, is not unique. Around the globe, Mr. Corliss said, at least a half-dozen groups — in France, South Africa, New Zealand, Russia and the United States — have the same goal in mind. Although nobody is waving a flag, the quest has evoked the spirit of nations’ pursuits of Everest and the North and South Poles. “All...

Paratroopers, riggers, jumpmasters will make more than 3,200 test jumps. FORT BELVOIR, Va., March 26, 2007 – The Program Executive Office Soldier is testing a new parachute system that the Army plans to use to replace the system in use since the 1950s. The new parachutes address increased weight requirements and provide additional safety benefits. Beginning in 2008, all T-10 parachutes in the Army inventory for more than 50 years will be replaced with the Advanced Tactical Parachute System T-11. Although the T-10 is a proven system, today's paratroopers face increased requirements beyond the T-10's design. Paratroopers are required to...

Video from the helmet camera of British skydiver Michael Holmes. It shows him plummeting 12,000ft to earth after both his parachutes failed, saying goodbye to the world... and hitting the ground with a sickening thud at 80mph. Michael's friend, who jumped from the same plane, also filmed the whole event. He found his pal bleeding and unconscious - but alive.

Members of the U.S. Army's elite precision parachute team will be dropping in on Yuma Proving Ground's Cox field beginning Tuesday... ...Weather permitting, about 60 Knights will jump Mondays through Fridays through early March, said Chuck Wullenjohn, YPG spokesman. And this season, as in the past 31 winters, the public is invited to come out and see the Knights practice. Jumps take place typically from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., said Wullenjohn, who advises people to come out earlier in the day when weather conditions are more favorable for parachuting. "They jump frequently throughout the day, so people can come...

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