chuckakers

Not the way I wanted to start the long weekend. Don was a great guy and a monster contributor to the skydiving community. Like countless others, I trained under Don, got rated under Don, and even evaluated AFF candidates under Don. Blue skies, Don. We'll miss you. Hope the coffee's good & hot when you get there. Chuck Akers Houston

I've seen the video - pretty funny stuff considering it's 15 minutes long and the only actually skydiving in it is the downwind, drag through the peas surf. "Must be the rarified air molecules." Great stuff!

Here's a copy of the invite and registration form. This should fill you in on the details. You Are Invited to Manifest for ... 20-Way Red, White & Blue RW, CRW, & Freeflying OVER NASA! An All American Skydiving Competition and Demonstration! Ballunar Liftoff 2005! An Invitational Demonstration Skydive Event! This year's event will feature... The Skydives - 20 Way Complex Competition Relative Work Skydives! You have joined a list of 80 of the BEST skydivers you know! You have been recuited directly by your Team Captain on the Red, White, Blue or Star-spangled skydiving team. This draft should make each of the teams very competitive and challenge the Captains to plan, organize and lead their team to victory in the NASA Skydiving Competition Demonstration! We'll be making three competitive RW jumps on Saturday, and two Speed Star jumps on Sunday! And, there will be prizes for the winners!* All loads will be staged out of Ellington Field. All jumps will be made over NASA's Johnson Space Center, with landings adjacent to Rocket Park. And there’s… Exciting CRW Jumps for you CRW Dogs & Freeflyers Special Loads! The Event - Bringing Skydiving to the General Public ! The Ballunar Liftoff Festival is a not-for-profit (Its Official - 501C3) event dedicated to the promotion of Space Exploration and Aviation. Over 100 Hot Air Balloons flying in BFA competition, The Red, White, & Blue Skydiving Competition and Demonstration, The 20-Way + Progressive CRW, Hang Gliders, Vintage Aircraft, ParaMotor's and much more will thrill the general public! This year we expect over 100,000 people to attend the event! GREAT NEWS… General Admission to the event is only $10 per car load and parking is included at NASA’s Johnson Space Center! August 26, 27, 28, 2005 * A Safety Meeting and Registration on Thursday August 25th, at the Sea Brook Beach Club, 3345 NASA Rd.1, (281)326-5819. (It is not necessary to attend this meeting to participate but you must manifest to participate in the event.) * Event Registration will be held Friday August 26th, at the Holiday Inn NASA (1300 NASA Road One) from 3:00pm - 5:00pm. A Friday Night Steak Dinner at Space Center Houston will be provided for each registered skydiver. The Dinner starts at 4:30 and is over at 6:00 some come early! Here's when you find who your team mates are and start your dirt diving! If you would like to bring a Guest to dinner, please fill out the form below and add $10.00 to your check. * Friday Night includes.... Meet your Team at Space Center Houston, have a great dinner and head over to NASA’s Johnson Space Center for Dirt Dive’s and A Hot Air Balloon Glow! * On Saturday and Sunday for the Jumps we will meet at the festival and travel by bus to South West Services Company at Ellington Field. Each Team will have a different jump schedule but there will be at least three hours between your jumps, giving plenty of time to enjoy the festival and work on your dive plan. The first jump for the Red Team is at 9:00am into the Space Center. We plan to make three 20-way jumps on Saturday and then two 10-way Speed Star jumps on Sunday. You can register for Saturday, Sunday or Both! (Note: The festival closes at noon on Sunday!) Video dudes will shoot each jump! They will be your team mates throughout the competition. The video dudes must get the jump for your team to score. There will be no re-jumps for any reason, YIKES! At least one USPA certified judge will judge the competition, and video playback will be shown to the general public at the festival site and on the air-conditioned buses for post diving. (There are no protests and the Judge is always right!) * To support our Skydiving Event at the Festival, the Red, White, Blue and Star-spangled Teams will be sold to Corporate Sponsors. WE STILL NEED SPONSORS to provide the Uniforms (shirts & caps) and Prizes!! If you think you might know an organization interested in gaining the publicity of sponsoring a team, please contact Al Saylor at (281)435-8586. (We still need Team Sponsors for everyone to get Uniforms and Prizes!) Great Party Plans are in the works at Rich Delgado’s Annual “b-cool” Pool Party! All participants will receive V.I.P. passes to Space Center Houston and all events that are a part of Ballunar Liftoff 2005! Be prepared to do the "demo stuff", hand shaking, autographs, talking and mingling with a LARGE CROWD, kissing babies, etc. We will be providing a covered packing area, Busses to take us back to Ellington, riggers and packers on site, free drinks all day during the jumping and much more! Visit Our Web Site at http://www.ballunarfestival.com What you need to do to play is... This is UNBELIEVABLE!!! $16.00 JUMPS ! 1. Sign up for Saturday, Sunday, or both days! Send a check for to reserve your slot. q Registration for both days for $25.00 and five (5) $16.00 jumps. $105.00 q Registration for Saturday only, $15.00 and three (3) $16.00 jumps. $ 63.00 q Register for Sunday only, $10.00 and two (2) $16.00 jumps. $42.00 2. Add $10.00 to your check if you want to bring a guest to dinner on Friday Night. 3. Indicate if you want a packer reserved to pack your rig. Packers will be packing for $6.00 per rig. 4. Mail your check made out to Ballunar Liftoff Festival Inc., to: Ballunar Liftoff Festival - Skydiver Registration 1201 NASA Road One Houston, Texas 77058 5. Your check must be received by August 1st to reserve your slot. Please note that this is an invitational event for C-licensed Skydivers. We are fortunate to have an excess of skydivers interested in participating in this event. You have been recruited directly by your Team Captain from a list of qualified skydivers and we need you to confirm your slot as soon as possible by sending in your check. If you can not attend, please e-mail SkySaylor@aol.com. 6 . Make sure your Square Reserve is in date and that it has a seal. These jumps have been approved by the FAA and are considered Demo Jumps. We will be ramp checked by the FAA. Do to the nature of this event hook turns will be strictly forbidden. A map to Ellington Field, the Space Center, hotel information and the final details of the location of the Safety Meeting and Registration will be mailed to you following our receipt of your check. This is going to be an outstanding invitational event with some great skydivers attending. We look forward to seeing you there!!! Blue Skies, Al Saylor & Your Team Captains, Larry Hinson Brad Lambert Rich Delgado Chuck Akers Bill Runyon Brian Moffett Manifest Now! Send your Check and your Registration Form to : Ballunar Liftoff Festival Inc. Skydiver Registration 1201 NASA Road One Houston, Texas 77058 Hey! I _________________________________, would like to play! Enclosed is my check made out to Ballunar Liftoff Inc. for $_____________. I would like to bring _______, additional guests to Dinner on Friday Night. I have enclosed an additional $10.00 per guest. (Circle One) Yes - I would like to have a packer. Packers will be charging $6.00 per pack job. ( No Guarantees) No - I don't need a packer. Name:_____________________________________ Address:____________________________________ City, State Zip:______________________________ Hm #______________________________________ Wk #______________________________________ Cell #_____________________________________ E-mail:____________________________________ USPA #_____________________________ D License #__________________________ Number of Jumps:_______________________ Largest Formation:_______________________ Circle One > RW CRW Freeflyer T-shirt Size:__________

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Hey y'all, I posted a message here a couple weeks ago about this year's Ballunar Liftfoff, letting everyone know that I'm looking for players. I'm just wondering if any of you still jump out of planes. I only had a handful of responses and I still have slots to fill up. What the f***? As much fun as this event is I thought I'd be turning folks away. Hmm. If you want to a. jump directly onto the grounds of NASA's Johnson Space center all weekend b. bang out some low-key, 20-funways c. party like a rock star at our legendary Saturday night party d. enjoy some mexican food and flying tortillas at the after party then let me know. I have slots to fill. No need to be a skygod. I just need people who can turn clean 20-way and have the desire to have some fun. The event is August 27 - 29. E-mail me if you are intersted. Chuck Akers Houston, TX

echooooo...... summer of 1985 - 12 jumps under my newbie-ass belt, 4th grad from the dz's newbie-ass AFF program, jumpin my own freakin' packjob start to finish. all went well. coooooooool. love this sport. go jump. chuck

Yes, e-mail Al Saylor at skysaylor@aol.com. And all 4 teams still need people, so please spread the word that we're looking for players!! C

I've been watching all the hype over these SkyRide folks with much amusement. I too had contact with them when I owned a DZ. My response to them was the same as my advise to DZ's now. The answer is as simple now as it was then - don't do business with them! As I understand it, SkyRide just markets tandem jumps performed by "partner DZ's" across the country via internet marketing. If SkyRide has no DZ's to perform the jumps they sell, the problem goes away. SkyRide has no operational capabilities, so all the control rests with OUR industry operators. I agree with most everyone that has posted here that SkyRide is not good for the sport or for the businesses that rely on us (skydivers) to make a profit. If DZ's will simply stop honoring their certifictates, this issue becomes nothing more than a learning tool for DZO's who - like small business owners everywhere - are just trying to carve out a living in their respective industies. my 2 cents, Chuck Quote Is there anything we, as a community, can do to shut this down before they cause lasting damage to the industry? Before the find a way to steal student business from the real dropzones and cause them to eventually shut down?

a lot like a pit bull, but with bad teeth and a funny accent. tea anyone?

mean AND stupid. shoot 'em all...except my daughters three legged female. she's fun to laugh at. c Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Hey there, I haven't posted in a while, but I'm still here, still jumping, and playing team captain again this year at the Ballunar Liftoff Festival. This year each team captain is tasked with selecting their own team. Soooo... I am looking for folks who want to play. If you would like to do 20-way RW into the Johnson Space Center (NASA Houston) August 26 - 28, please let me know. If you don't know what Ballunar is all about, e-mail me. I'll give you the details of this event that has become an annual gulf coast skydivers reunion. Thanks! Chuck Akers chuckakers@houston.rr.com

When we first opened Houston Skydiving Center (now Skydive Houston) there was a guy that lived on the field that had a Cub and offered me a ride/jump. I needed a slow flying plane to shoot DZ layout photos from, and he offered to take me up and let me jump after we finished the shoot. After getting the shots we needed, we went "weed pulling" over some area fields, then climbed to 2500' for the jump. The little "flip down" door was a pain, as was being careful not to damage anything during climb out (it's a cloth covered plane and easily scarred). The jump was pretty cool - slow airspeed for gut sliding, and watching a "first time seeing a body fall away from my plane" pilot shrink away in amazament as I waved bye to him (or flipped him off, which ever it was, heh, heh) was neat. Nice to have in a logbook (if you keep up with that sort of thing), but other than that it wasn't the most exciting platform I've jumped from. It was a free jump though, and THAT says it all. Chuck

saw this sunrise/sunset/moon phase calendar online. would be handy to keep around. http://www.sunrisesunset.com/custom_srss_calendar.asp chuck

Arrests made at Skydive Chicago By DAN CHURNEY — For The Times-Press DAYTON — Two south suburban men are each charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute after being taken into custody by U.S. Customs agents after they landed their craft at the Skydive Chicago facility near Dayton early Friday morning. The arrests came after an eight-hour air pursuit that ended at about 3:50 a.m. Friday. The airplane and a half-ton of marijuana were seized as well. Ira Williams, 31, of Manteno, and Gene Lisula, 31, Orland Park, are each charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Agents said they found 1,000 pounds of marijuana inside the plane. This quantity of marijuana would usually be valued at about $1.2 million. A third person has been charged in the case as well. William Ivan Pardo, of Brownsville, Texas is charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to do the same. Pardo's age was not available this morning. Pardo is a certified parachute rigger, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Pardo was arrested on these charges by U.S. Customs agents in Brownsville on Friday -- the same day that Williams and Lisula were taken into custody. Federal agents said they became suspicious of the plane when it took off from an airport in Brownsville, Texas, which is on the border with Mexico. The plane was tracked by radar until it landed at Edinburg, Texas. When it left there, it was being followed by a U.S. Customs jet, which was eventually joined by three other government jets. As Williams’ and Lisula’s craft approached the airport at Skydive Chicago, a U.S. Customs helicopter containing response team agents from Cincinnati was dispatched to Skydive Chicago to await the arrival of Williams and Lisula. Williams’ and Lisula’s plane landed, followed by two of the government planes, and the arrests were made. Fred Morelli Jr., the attorney for Skydive Chicago operators Matthew and Missy Nelson, expressed anger at the two pilots arrested Friday at the facility on drug trafficking charges. “I’m angry at them. Matthew and Missy are really angry at them. It took a tremendous amount of nerve to land there,” said Morelli. Morelli, who was once a judge, said he is “absolutely confident” that neither Matthew nor Missy Nelson, nor anyone involved with the management of Skydive Chicago, had anything to do with Williams’ and Lisula’s flight. Matthew and Missy took over operation of the facility after their father, Roger W. Nelson, died in a skydiving accident in June 2003. Morelli also said that he believes the men landed at Skydive Chicago because it is one of the few airports in Northern Illinois that is closed late at night. He added that runway lights were not lit when Williams and Lisula touched down. Matthew Nelson was gone at the time and Missy Nelson was sleeping, but she was awakened by the sound of the helicopter that landed federal agents at the airport, Morelli said. Morelli further said that he believes the plane used by Williams and Lisula was rented in Texas and has been returned there. Morelli said he did not know what connection, if any, Williams and Lisula had to Skydive Chicago. Williams and Lisula are being held at the federal jail in Chicago and had a court hearing. A federal spokesman said that Williams and Lisula will be taken to Texas where their case will be prosecuted. They are being held in the federal detention facility in Chicago.

Will there be a booze luge again this year?? DAMN STRAIGHT!!

Gotta side with Lumi here. Ballunar Liftoff is one of the hidden "vibes" treasures that skydiving could use more of. Low key, fun-way competition, killer pool party on Saturday night, and the best vibe in skydiving events ever!!! Last minute entries permitted. Chuck

Oops - Larry Hinson has corrected an error in my post. Under the "new" rules, a C license will get you in! Hope to see ya'll there!!! Chuck

TALENT SEARCH - NEW PLAYERS WELCOME!!! It's once again time for the Ballunar Liftoff, an incredibly fun event held at Houston's Johnson Space Center. This year's Liftoff is August 27 - 29, and we want to see you there!! We invite you for RW, CRW, or Freeflying. Our jumps will be made directly onto NASA's Jonson Space Center grounds!! Since this event is technically a demo, everyone must qualify to be on the invitation list (D license, square reserve, USPA membership, and approval by a team Captain). And of course once again this year, we'll have the famous (or infamous) pool party at Rich Delgado's beautiful home just down the street!! For those who have not participated before, let me inform you that this is one of the coolest events you'll ever attend - just ask anyone who's played with us!! The focus is on low-key, fun competition (for the RW folks) and clean CRW, and VRW. This event has become a Gulf coast tradition and has a "reunion" feel, even for first-time participants. If you're interested, please read on. The following is the official mail-out to past players, complete with event details. THIS EVENT HAS LIMITED SLOTS. PLEASE REPLY A.S.A.P. TO GET A SPOT ON THE LOAD!! If you have any questions, e-mail or call me (832-630-1213), or contact a Captain listed below!! You Are Invited to Manifest for ... 20-Way Red, White & Blue RW, CRW, & Freeflying OVER NASA! An All American Skydiving Competition and Demonstration! Ballunar Liftoff 2004! An Invitational Demonstration Skydive Event! This year's event will feature... The Skydives - 20 Way Complex Competition Relative Work Skydives! You have joined a list of 80 of the BEST skydivers you know! Soon you will be drafted (like high school dodge ball, pick'en teams) to join your Team Captains on the Red, White or Blue skydiving team. This free draft should make each of the teams very competitive and challenge the Captains to plan, organize and lead their team to victory in the NASA Skydiving Competition Demonstration! We'll be making three competitive jumps each day! And, there will be prizes for the winners!* All loads will be staged out of Ellington Field. All jumps will be made over NASA's Johnson Space Center, with landings adjacent to Rocket Park. And there’s… Exciting CRW Jumps for you CRW Dogs & Freeflyers Special Loads! The Event - Bringing Skydiving to the General Public ! The Ballunar Liftoff Festival is a not-for-profit (Its Official - 501C3) event dedicated to the promotion of Space Exploration and Aviation. Over 80 Hot Air Balloons flying in BFA competition, The Red, White, & Blue Skydiving Competition and Demonstration, The 20-Way + Progressive CRW, Hang Gliders, Vintage Aircraft, ParaMotor's and much more will thrill the general public! This year we expect over 100,000 people to attend the event! GREAT NEWS… General Admission to the event is only $10 per car load and parking is included at NASA’s Johnson Space Center! August 27, 28, 29, 2004 * A Safety Meeting and Registration on Thursday August 26th, at the Sea Brook Beach Club, 3345 NASA Rd.1, (281)326-5819. (It is not necessary to attend this meeting to participate but you must manifest to participate in the event.) * Event Registration will be held Friday August 27th, at the Holiday Inn NASA (1300 NASA Road One) from 3:00pm - 5:00pm. A Friday Night Steak Dinner at Space Center Houston will be provided for each registered skydiver. The Dinner starts at 4:30 and is over at 6:00 some come early! Here's when you find who your team mates are and start your dirt diving! If you would like to bring a Guest to dinner, please fill out the form below and add $10.00 to your check. * Friday Night includes.... Meet your Team at Space Center Houston, have a great dinner and head over to NASA’s Johnson Space Center for Dirt Dive’s and A Hot Air Balloon Glow! * On Saturday and Sunday for the Jumps we will meet at the festival and travel by bus to South West Services Company at Ellington Field. Each Team will have a different jump schedule but there will be at least three hours between your jumps, giving plenty of time to enjoy the festival and work on your dive plan. The first jump for the Red Team is at 9:00am into the Space Center. We plan to make three jumps a day, Saturday and Sunday. (Note: The festival closes at noon on Sunday, so we might accelerate the jump schedule!) Video dudes will shoot each jump! They will be your team mates throughout the competition. The video dudes must get the jump for your team to score. There will be no re-jumps for any reason, YIKES! At least one USPA certified judge will judge the competition, and video playback will be shown to the general public at the festival site and on the air-conditioned buses for post diving. (There are no protests and the Judge is always right!) * To support our Skydiving Event at the Festival, the Red, White, and Blue Teams will be sold to Corporate Sponsors. WE STILL NEED SPONSORS to provide the Uniforms (shirts & caps) and Prizes!! If you think you might know an organization interested in gaining the publicity of sponsoring a team, please contact Al Saylor at (281)435-8586. (We still need Team Sponsors for everyone to get Uniforms and Prizes!) Great Party Plans are in the works! All participants will receive V.I.P. passes to Space Center Houston and all events that are a part of Ballunar Liftoff 2004! Be prepared to do the "demo stuff", hand shaking, autographs, talking and mingling with a LARGE CROWD, kissing babies, etc. We will be providing a covered packing area, Busses to take us back to Ellington, riggers and packers on site, free drinks all day during the jumping and much more! Visit Our Web Site at http://www.ballunarfestival.com What you need to do to play is... This is UNBELIEVABLE!!! $16.00 JUMPS ! 1. Send a check for $121 to reserve your slot. That's a $25 registration fee and six (6) $16.00 jumps. Make your check payable to Ballunar Liftoff Festival, Inc., and send to Ballunar Liftoff Festival - Skydiver Registration, 1201 NASA Road One, Houston, Texas 77058. 2. Add $10.00 to your check if you want to bring a guest to dinner on Friday Night. 3. Indicate if you want a packer reserved to pack your rig. Packers will be packing for $6.00 per rig. 4. Mail your check made out to Ballunar Liftoff Festival Inc., to: Ballunar Liftoff Festival - Skydiver Registration 1201 NASA Road One Houston, Texas 77058 5. Your check must be received by August 10th to reserve your slot. Please note that this is an invitational event for D-licensed Skydivers. We are fortunate to have an excess of skydivers interested in participating in this event. You have been selected from a list of qualified skydivers and we need you to confirm your slot as soon as possible by sending in your check. If you can not attend, please e-mail SkySaylor@aol.com. 6 . Make sure your Square Reserve is in date and that it has a seal. These jumps have been approved by the FAA and are considered Demo Jumps. We will be ramp checked by the FAA. Do to the nature of this event hook turns will be strictly forbidden. A map to Ellington Field, the Space Center, hotel information and the final details of the location of the Safety Meeting and Registration will be mailed to you following our receipt of your check. This is going to be an outstanding invitational event with some great skydivers attending. We look forward to seeing you there!!! Blue Skies, Al Saylor Brad Lambert Larry Hinson Chuck Akers Bill Runyon Bryan Moffett Manifest Now! Send your Check for $121 And this Registration Form to : Ballunar Liftoff Festival Inc. Skydiver Registration 1201 NASA Road One Houston, Texas 77058 Hey! I ______________________________, would like to play! Enclosed is my check made out to Ballunar Liftoff Inc. for $_____________. I would like to bring _______, additional guests to Dinner on Friday Night. I have enclosed an additional $10.00 per guest. (Circle One) Yes - I would like to have a packer. Packers will be charging $6.00 per pack job. ( No Guarantees) No - I don't need a packer. Name:______________________________ Address:____________________________ City, State Zip:______________________ Hm #_______________________________ Wk #_______________________________ E-mail:______________________________ USPA #_____________________________ D License #__________________________ Number of Jumps:_____________________ Largest Formation:____________________ Circle One > RW CRW Freeflyer T-shirt Size___________

this is a pretty big place. where ya goin' in tejas?

YES!! Everything is still a GO!! The party supplies are in the making (my kitchen is now filled with 500 jello-shot cups), the booze is bought, the kegs are on reserve, and the booze luge is ready! Bring friends..and aspirin.

Hey everyone, Well, we’re now less than a month away from the Skydive USA (SUSA) Reunion Boogie, so I thought this would be a great time for an update. Please read to the end, as there’s been a lot of developments. In case you’re not aware, the SUSA Reunion is being held at Skydive Spaceland June 24 – 27, as a chance to get gulf coast jumpers together for a weekend of great vibes, fun skydives, and a Skydive USA style party!! We threw some pretty mean gatherings at SUSA, and this time around we intend to take things to a whole new level!! After all, I don’t have to clean the place or answer to the mayor!! Now on to the update. Eric Harper has been confirmed as our RW organizer. Eric is a very talented and respected skydiver. More importantly, he’s great fun to be around and organizes awesome skydives!! On the crazy side of things, we are also planning some novelty jumps like hoop dives, pylon races, etc. These will also be organized jumps, so just bring a desire to have fun…oh yeah, bring your rig too. The helicopter and balloon are now confirmed. Call the DZ to schedule jumps. There are limited slots, so make your reservations NOW!! You want entertainment – we got it! We have secured a killer band for the party. My good friend Stacy Steele has assembled some of the best professional rockers in Houston to blow the house down. This is NOT a garage band – all these guys play major venues in Houston and beyond. There’s even a chance that Ty Tabor of “Kings-X” fame may join in. By the way, the band members are making tandem jumps that afternoon, so they’ll be on quite an adrenalin buzz all night! That should take care of the rock. The drop zone is going to set up a big screen (or maybe even a giant projection screen) T.V., and we’d love to see everyone’s SUSA videos. Bring ‘em all (even those embarrassing first jump vids, yikes!). We’ll make sure they get returned at the end of the weekend. Same goes for pictures and albums. I’m putting one together, but yours are needed too. Knowing that our parties can get a bit out of hand, the folks at Spaceland have offered the bunkhouse for everyone free of charge! First come, first serve, but there’s plenty of floor space as well, so nobody has an excuse for driving after partying. Besides, you can’t drive if you can’t make it to the car!!! And now here’s some important stuff. WE NEED PARTY SPONSORS!! As the old SUSA jumpers will remember, we used to charge a boogie fee to offset the costs of throwing the party. Between the band, the booze luge (with the associated booze, of course), jello-shots, kegs, etc., our little gatherings get quite expensive. The DZ doesn’t want to charge a boogie fee, so instead we’re looking for sponsors to help with the party costs. We did this at last year’s Ballunar Liftoff party with great success. The bottom line – 100% of all sponsorship dollars will go DIRECTLY and EXCLUSIVELY to the party, and the more dollars we raise, the bigger the party will be!! All sponsors names will be announced and listed on a sponsor board prominently displayed during the boogie, and if we get a big enough sponsor, we’ll give you the naming rights for the party!!! (c’mon all you business owners, here’s your chance to be our party hero). Delia and I are contributing the first 50 bucks. I am keeping the running tally of all donations, so e-mail me at chuck@chuckakers.com or call 832-630-1213 to make your contribution. One last item – Saturday is not only party day, it’s also BRING A TANDEM DAY! As with past SUSA events, we encourage jumpers to bring friends, family, and co-workers for a thriller day and a killer party. Everyone you bring will be under the SUSA Reunion group, so the group rates will apply. If there are folks you know that have expressed an interest in jumping, this is definitely the event to bring them to!! That’s it for now. We’ve been looking forward to this event since the last load at SUSA, AND WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!! Blue Skies, Chuck & Delia Akers

I know Gerry, but haven't seen him since he left the Ft. Hood SPC years ago. If you find him tell him I said hello! Chuck Akers

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Looking for Wendy's e-mail address. Thanks! Chuck Akers

Hey Everyone, We are now just a month away from the Skydive USA (SUSA) Reunion Boogie, so I thought this would be a great time to give you an update and a reminder to clear you schedules!!! We are really looking forward to this event and to seeing and jumping with everyone!!! We are going to get started on Thursday June 24th. We would really like to see as many of you out as possible to get things fired up. The ladies are going to be doing ladies-ways that day!!! Even if you can’t get out for the entire day, please come by for a sunset load (and subsequent beers of course). We’re also going to hit a local eatery Thursday evening and we’d love to have you there – even if you can’t make it for jumping. There will be organized loads all weekend. Eric Harper is scheduled to organize, so expect to have a great time!! We have a helicopter lined up and maybe a second!! Same with balloons. I will let everyone know when we start taking reservations. We have live music on tap for Friday and Saturday nights, and the legendary (if not infamous) Saturday night party is shaping up nicely. REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR “BEST” BAD TROPICAL SHIRT FOR THE PARTY!!! For those who have never been to a SUSA event, the Saturday party is not to be missed!! Don't take my word for it, ask those who have attended...if they can remember it!! Also, in classic SUSA tradition, everyone is encouraged to invite friends, family, and co-workers out for tandem jumps and the Saturday night party. As the SUSA jumpers will remember, bringing folks for first jumps AND the party always proves very popular and definitely makes the experience special for the newbies. This event is no exception. If you know folks that want to jump and attend the party, have them make a reservation for the 26th – afternoon is preferable for party attendees. I am taking RSVP’s for the first 50 Booze Luge Shots!! The first 50 to e-mail me get numbers 3 thru 50…I’ve reserved the first 2 for Dee and I. This is also being e-mailed to our lists, so these will go fast. Just to make it easy, e-mail chuckakers@houston.rr.com to RSVP your shot! Also – and this is ultimately important – we need YOU to help spread the word about this event. PLEASE forward this to your skydiver e-mail list. Yes, I know this will create a lot of repetitious e-mails, but we want everyone to know about the reunion, and our e-mail lists are not current. Thank you for your help in making this event successful. We are so excited and hope to see everyone at the SUSA Reunion. This is going to be a great weekend!! The Akers Family Chuck and Delia Akers & Heather and Justin Price