Congratulations Skydive Coach James Burlas

Since September 18 of 2010, my little brother Jim has had a love affair with skydiving. Since then, his logbook reflects 171 official jumps and both his A and B licenses. Every weekend for the last two years, weather permitting, you would be hard pressed to find him anywhere else but a drop zone waiting on the next load of jumpers to depart. Next to our family, sky diving is Jim's true passion.

As with anything that involves an airplane, sky diving is expensive and time consuming. Jim has worked really hard to put in both the time and the money in order to get where he is at and I'm very proud to announce that as of the past month, he is now an official skydive coach! The official requirements for the Coach Rating include a B-license, a minimum of 100 jumps, ground instruction to new jumpers and equipment checks, conducting a debriefing after a jump, and satisfactorily passing a Coach exam. It makes me very proud as his brother to say that he's done all of these things!

Above is Jim's rating in the United States Parachute Association magazine Parachutist! Click on the image to make them larger! A video of one of his jumps can be viewed below. He's the skydiver in blue with the American flag patch on his shoulder.

Blue skies and soft landings, Jim. You deserve it!

"I was on the point of cutting the cord that suspended me between heaven and earth... and measured with my eye the vast space that separated me from the rest of the human race... I felt myself precipitated with a velocity that was checked by the sudden unfolding of my parachute." - André-Jacques Garnerin, World's First Parachutist (22 October 1797)