Members are reminded that annual membership renewal falls due on 1 April 2016.

PASA fees for the 2016/17 membership year were set at the recent AGM at R500.

As in the past, PASA will collect Aero Club fees from licensed members and pay them across on your behalf.

• The Aero Club fees, as set by the Aero Club, are R425.
• New licence/new rating application fees remain unchanged at R100.
• Rating renewal fees for all ratings (except Jumpmaster, Coach and Evaluator ratings for which there are no renewal fees) remain unchanged at R100.
• New tandem rating applications remain unchanged at R600 (this is in addition to the R100 new rating admin fee).
• SANDF/SAPS members: PASA members who are currently serving in the SANDF and SAPS and hold NO PASA ratings, pay R100 PASA fees.
• PASA members who are currently serving in the SANDF and SAPS and DO hold any PASA ratings, pay the full PASA fee – R500.
• All licensed PASA members currently serving in the SANDF and SAPS pay half the Aero Club fee – R212.50.

The online renewal process will get underway on or about 20 March. All current members with a valid, listed email address will receive an automated email renewal reminder containing a link which you will need to click on in order to update your data online. Once updated, you will be prompted to make the required payment. For those members who have no ratings to renew or who are not applying for any new licences or ratings, this will be all that is required.  

Those applying for new licences/ratings and/or rating renewals will be able to complete these applications online this year.

Please refer to the user guide for details on the system.

PASA Office Bearers

The following PASA Office Bearers for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 were ratified at the AGM:

PASA Management Council:
Graham Field (Chairman)
Henk van Wyk (ADZO)
Julie Teague (SSA)
Mark Bellingan (NSTO)

Association of Drop Zone Operators (ADZO) Executive Committee:
Graham Field (Chairman)
Henk van Wyk
Vernon Kloppers

Sport Skydivers Association (SSA) Executive Committee:
Julie Teague (Chair)
Claire King (Vice-chair)
Mohan Chudalayandy (Secretary)

Non-Executive Directors (NEDs):
Steve Bartels
Colin Rothman
Eugene Potgieter
(Any one NED also serves on the Management Council)

Contact details are available on the Contacts page of the PASA website (new office bearers to be updated effective 1 April 2016).

SSA Committee Members

The SSA committees for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 were all elected prior to, and ratified at, the AGM as follows:

Contact details are available on the Contacts page of the PASA website (new office bearers to be updated effective 1 April 2016).

SSA Discipline Activity Plans

The outgoing committees presented their feedback reports for the previous 12 months at the AGM. These reports are available here.

The new committees’ activity plans for the year ahead are set out in the following articles. Members’ funds are allocated according to your ticks on the annual renewal forms, so, please consider the plans of each committee carefully and ensure you tick the box/es of the discipline/s you would like to support for the coming year. Only skills development and related plans are listed below. For the detailed budgets and activity plans, click here.

Formation Skydiving

• 2 x 8-way licence days using the proven formula of subsidising 50% slots of a reliable base for ready candidates. (R5 000)
• Various skills camps spread over different drop zones, customised to the skills needed at each. This could take the form of big-way skills, more 8-way licence days, 4-way basics camps. We are prepared and equipped for any of these as we read to be most beneficial. (R10 000)
• Coach evaluations at a coastal DZ. (R4 000) Flights for evaluators to evaluate candidates. 2 evaluators will be sent and, if candidates are not ready or demand is insufficient, unneeded evaluation capacity will be used instead to do general FS coaching and seminars if there is interest.
• Most likely need will be an 8-way licence day. This benefits jumpers country-wide, and is a rare opportunity for 8-way lift capacity and coaching at the coast while still reaching many jumpers. J-Bay Boogie has long proven its commitment to sport skydiving an FS in particular and has invested significantly over the years. The FS Committee would like to join forces to increase their impact. (R5 000)
• Medals sponsored for a National 4-way league to be run over the course of the year. (R2 000) All DZs will be included, submitting jumps electronically, to be judged by PASA judges. 6 competition days planned.Ad hoc Events – Shake the bag weekend, FS Cameraman training, additional junior skills camp, etc. [R5 000]
• Seminars will continue to be run at drop zones and at Icarus as topics and speakers arise as well as on request by members. From fundamental skills and topics to Cat II Coach seminars.

Artistic Events

• We are using the 2015/16 left over budget to host events in Robertson (R3 000) and Rustenburg (R3 000) in preparation for Nationals.
• We are waiting on Drop Zones to confirm boogie dates and places we can expect, as we would like this years coaching to all take place at National type events which can attract skydivers from all drop zones. Preference will be given to boogies which are away from home dz’s. R6 000 budgeted for this.
• We have allocated R3 000 to coach development.
• R1 900 is set aside to cover travel costs.

Canopy Formation

• 2-3 skills camps are planned for the year at R2 500 per camp plus rig hire (R500 per camp) and possible travelling (R1 000 per camp)
• KZN is earmarked as a priority.
• A camp also planned in Bloemfontein if demand exists and/or there will be a follow up camp in the Gauteng area.

Freefall Style, Accuracy Landing and Paraski

• This is an area that we simply must pay more attention to. R4 500 is budgeted for this.

Canopy Piloting

• We are planning 3 skills camps throughout the year which will target junior to intermediate jumpers. (R3 000) The intention here is to teach safety at grass root level. This is a subsidy towards the coaches’ costs.
• We will host 1 money meet during the course of the year. (R1 000) 1 Intermediate jumper will team up with 1 senior jumper. The team composition will be done by random draw to promote competition. The combined scores over 3 distance rounds will be used to find the winner. This is a great way to introduce intermediates to the competition and get senior jumpers to give advice during the meet.

Wingsuiting

• We are intending on adding another medium sized wingsuit to our equipment, as this size suit is in high demand. We have provisionally allocated a budget of R5 000, which can cover around 50% of a new suit.
• We are budgeting R2 100 for Skills Camps and boogies, which will mainly go towards covering of slots.
• We are budgeting R1 200 to assist potential coaches with further skills development and mentorship, particularly at drop zones that do not have a regular wingsuit coach.
• R1 000 is set aside to cover travel costs.
• The Wingsuit SSA has seen bigger growth than any other SSA discipline for two years in a row now. We aim to continue to drive this forward and bring in additional funds across all allocations in the budget plans for this year.

For more information contact the Aerodyne Parachute Factory:
mailto:dalej@flyaerodyne.com / 079 888 3008