POPS National Skydiving Event to be Held at Chambersburg Airport.

Contact: Jay Frantz, POPS Nationals Committee Chairman, 240-420-5131, or: J.R. and Kathy Sides, Chambersburg Skydiving Center, Inc., 3506 Airport Rd., Chambersburg, PA 17201, (717) 264-1111 phone, (800) 526-3497 toll free, (717) 264-0726 fax, manifest@skydivingcenter.net, www.skydivingcenter.net

POPS National Skydiving Event to be Held at Chambersburg Airport

Chambersburg, PA Augudy 27, 2003 -- Hundreds of parachutes will be billowing over Chambersburg in late September. The "Parachutists Over Phorty Society" (POPS) is holding its POPS Nationals at the Chambersburg Airport on September 25, 26, 27, and 28. According to J.R. Sides, co-owner of the Chambersburg Skydiving Center, "It's going to be very exciting. People from all over the country will be (literally) descending upon Chambersburg for this event. We're very pleased to be the host site for this premier skydiving competition."

The competition is actually pretty friendly, according to skydiving aficionado Jay Frantz, who is also a POPS member. "POPS competitions are fun and low-key meets, where anybody who is over forty, and who is a registered POPS member, can participate." Frantz is a Hagerstown-resident who has been a long-time POPS member.

"Being a long-time POPS member sort of insinuates that I'm old. Well, I've been over forty for quite some time, and skydiving keeps me feeling young. It's always a great time at these competitions, and it's wonderful that this national event is being held in Chambersburg. I'm glad to be a part of helping bring this national event to our area"

The POPS Nationals includes three skydiving events:

These are: "Accuracy" - landing as close to the center of the drop zone target as possible (the targets are pretty small, and in some cases jumpers are landing on a target as small as a dinner plate).

"Hit and Rock" - this event is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek event, where after landing the skydiver takes off his or her equipment, touches the center of the target, and then runs to a nearby rocking chair (all in the shortest amount of time).

"4-Way Relative Work" - this is for teams of four skydivers performing a series of flying formations during a set time period, and the score is totaled after three jumps (the team with the best total points wins).

According to Jay Frantz, "It's amazing to watch these events from the ground, and see what happens. The public is encouraged to come and view some of the best sport skydiving in the nation. Skydiving competitions are obviously somewhat weather-dependent, but there will be some great chances to see the skydivers. Each day's competition starts at about 8:00 AM, and continues through the day until sunset."

Frantz also said that the camaraderie of the event is a lot of fun, "Everyone is there to have a good time. The event is held with the strictest safety concerns in mind. Skydivers from as far away as California and Oklahoma will be coming, along with POPS members from throughout the East. I also look forward to the banquet at the end of competition." Frantz said that the POPS Nationals banquet will be held on the 27th of September."

POPS was founded in the summer of 1966. It all started with an invitation to all jumpers having reached the ripe old age of forty years or over to join. The principal concept of the organization is promote good fellowship between the elder jumpers in the sport. The only obligation on anyone's part was and is to promote parachuting in general and safety in particular.

It was felt at the time that the image of sport parachuting would be assisted if the general public knew there were a group of men and women involved in this sport who were on the more "mature" side, family types in all walks of life and reasonably settled in their community. The POPS idea caught on, and today the organization has thousands of members worldwide, and smaller groups of older skydivers have also been formed within POPS. Skydivers Over Sixty (SOS), Jumpers Over Seventy (JOS), and Jumpers Over Eighty (JOE) are active POPS organizations.

While POPS is a friendly organization, there have been some significant records set by many of the skydivers over forty. Jay Frantz said, "There aren't many old 'poops' in POPS! I was looking at the web site, and noticed that one POPS member made 476 parachute jumps in a 24-hour period in 1999, and there have been many other world and national skydiving records set." The POPS organization's web site is www.thepops.org. Each national chapter of the organization has links off the main site, and there are more than seven national chapters.





This article courtesy of http://www.theskydivingportal.com.
You may freely reprint this article on your website or in
your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author
name and URL remain intact.

Submit Your Article