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Paul and Jen Illingworth are the DZO's of Skydive San Marcos. Paul started jumping in the UK in the mid 70's and still likes to do the odd "round" jump, although his favorite discipline is freefly. Jen started jumping in Australia a while back and now likes freefly and RW as part of the DZ's resident 4 way team "4Fun". Paul and Jen both hold USPA Instructor ratings and are also licensed pilots. |
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Eric Butts is the DZ Manager, as well as the Chief Instructor and USPA Safety & Training Advisor. He has more than 7,000 skydives and is a USPA Tandem Examiner, Course Instructor, AFF Instructor, senior rigger, and canopy test pilot. When he is not working at the DZ he’s out in the woods bow hunting. |
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Matt Wampler is the Chief Pilot of Skydive San Marcos. Matt started flying as a career after working in the IT industry, following in his Dad's footsteps as a commercial pilot. Holding Commercial, Instrument, and Multi-Engine ratings as well as being a licensed skydiver, he feels right at home being a jump pilot for SSM. Matt will be the first to tell you that flying jumpers has it's "ups and downs". |
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Dave Heinrich has been jumping for 8 years and has more than 2,500 skydives under his belt. He is a USPA AFF and Tandem Instructor. A practicing dentist in Fredericksburg Texas for more than 20 years, Dave spends the first 4-days of the week working in the tight constraints of dentistry, then enjoys the great release to work and play in the wide open spaces of the big blue sky. |
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Jeff McVey came to Skydive San Marcos from Southern California as an experienced USPA Tandem/AFF Instructor & holds a PRO rating. Jeff has been skydiving since 1973 & has 7000+ jumps. He was a participant in the 2002 World Record 300 person formation. When not skydiving, Jeff teaches Chemistry at Texas State University. |
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Paula Hunt began her skydiving career in 1988 as an Army Parachute Rigger for the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, but has been taking care of her family at Skydive San Marcos for more than 8 years (as a packer) and for the past 3 years 3 years as Head Packer/Staff Rigger. She has more than 650 reserve pack jobs and 24 saves to date, to which she attributes her professionalism, skills and of course some divine intervention. |
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Erik Santee is a USPA AFF Instructor, Tandem Master and Coach as well as a keen Basejumper. He has more than 11,000 skydives and has been a permanent fixture at Skydive San Marcos for many years.
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Ford Strawn is the DZ's chief Tandem Packer who says he's never got enough rigs to pack (but we like to keep testing him). Not much is known about the mysterious Ford, except that he likes Football and rumor has it that he also has a special place in his heart for Heather. |
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Yoshi Ishihara holds USPA AFF and Tandem Instructor Ratings and is also one of the DZ's Videographers. With almost 12,000 jumps under his belt, he must be doing something right! When not jumping, Yoshi earns his living as one of Austin's top Sushi chefs. |
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Joe Neal is a USPA Tandem Instructor and Coach. Denise actually took Joe for his first jump in 2002 and now Joe takes Denise as a tandem instructor with over 2000 jumps. Joe also does videography and both Joe and Denise have done photography for the DZ. Joe has been a Waco police officer since 1988. Joe & Denise have been married since 1976. |
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Jason Lemley is a Tandem Instructor and USPA Coach and has been jumping for more than 10 years. He has accumulated over 4000 jumps, has competed in national competitions and holds a bronze medal in skysurfing earned as the videographer during the 2005 USPA National Championship. When not skydiving, he owns a deposition video business, enjoys time with family and friends, cooking and brewing beer. |
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Kevin Hawkins is a USPA Coach, with more than 700 skydives. Kevin began skydiving at San Marcos in 2000 and also has a day job as a University administrator in San Antonio. While Kevin may be 20 years older than his freefly partner Josh, he doesn't look a day over 35 (so he says). |
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Thomas Fortner grew up in Colorado and began jumping in 1999. He has more than 5000 jumps, is a USPA Tandem and AFF Instructor, Coach, IAD Instructor and rigger. His favorite fun jumping discipline is canopy piloting. |
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Ray & JL Cordova are a very unique skydiving couple. Ray has been in the sport for 16 yrs, has over 2500 jumps and is a USPA AFF and Tandem Instructor. JL is a USPA Coach who has been jumping for 5 years and has more than 500 jumps, and is also the DZ's unofficial masseuse. Outside skydiving Ray and JL are both Firefighter / Paramedics in Corpus Christi who enjoy riding motorcycles and taking their 4 legged kids on road trips. |
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Connie did her first jump in 1993 in Hawaii and has never looked back. 3 weeks after graduating from the student program, she was offered a job at the drop zone where she learned, and has been a full time skydiver since. Connie is an AFF Instructor and a Tandem Instructor/Examiner. With over 8,500 tandems, she is one of the most experienced female tandem instructors in the country. Connie has been an aerial videographer, and even spent a season competing in canopy piloting. So ladies, if you want to learn to swoop, she’s got some tips. Connie, along with her husband Vic have moved around quite a bit, so they consider themselves to be from where ever they live at the moment. With over 12,500 total jumps, it’s best not to judge Connie by her size. |
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Todd Fey is a former Marine with 6000 jumps. Todd is one of our Freefly Coaches and also shoots an awesome Tandem Video. Todd has been at Skydive San Marcos since 2006. |
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Wilson Goodrich is one of the DZ’s tandem packers and has been packing Tandems since before years had numbers. A Texas State graduate, he grew up in Austin, works hard, and loves the Dallas Cowboys. |
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Nick Gartner has been skydiving for 8 years and holds USPA Tandem Instructor and Coach ratings. He is one of the DZ's video guys and full time Tandem Instructors. His favorite discipline is freeflying but he says he really enjoys teaching the newbies new skills. |
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Henry (Hank) Prewitt AKA Rumbum made his 1st at Skydive Lake Tahoe in 2000. When winter broke he became an A licensed jumper, learned to pack and cut away from the "real world". He Packed and jumped in Lodi CA, Blue Sky Ranch NY, and moved to San Marcos where he gained his Coach and Tandem Instructor qualifications. From there the wonderlust took him to Sussex NJ, then to Skydive Spaceland in Houston where he gained his AFF instructor rating. Hank is now finally back at Skydive San Marcos. He has more than 4500 total jumps. 2400 tandems, 600 video jumps, 300+ AFF jumps and the rest are mostly free fly. �Turning folks on to skydiving is my passion� says Hank, but if it's not jumpable you can find me surfing, golfing, or fishing. |
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Cheryl Johnson started skydiving in 1998 at Skydive Houston, and became a packer shortly after. She has traveled all over the country working, and currently has almost 900 jumps. |
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Travis Jones AKA Chunks, is a native Texan that started jumping at Skydive San Marcos five years ago. He is a Tandem instructor, Coach, and wingsuit developer/designer with more than 800 jumps. When he isn't skydiving you can find Travis working on a new wingsuit or Base jumping off some random object. During the week he works on computer software but would much rather be jumping than doing anything else. Travis' favorite skydiving discipline is wingsuit flying followed closely by canopy swooping. |
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Vic started jumping in 1993 on the same day as his wife Connie, with a tandem over Hawaii, while he was stationed there in the Coast Guard. Over the next few years, he gradually worked his way into aerial videography, and then instructing. After retiring in 2002, he started skydiving full time, and spent the next 8 years co-managing a drop zone in California with Connie. It was there that he got tagged with the nickname El Jefeâ. Vic is a Rigger, videographer, AFF Instuctor, and Tandem Instructor with over 6,000 tandems, and 10,000 total jumps. He has also competed in canopy piloting, and in 2005 was the Northern California champion. |
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Lance Boyd has been skydiving since 1997. He is a USPA qualified Tandem Instructor who also doubles as a Freefall Videographer & Cameraman, which is his real passion. During his time jumping, he has been fortunate enough to work with many of the great cameraman in the industry, and has been invited to work on video teams for some of the biggest events in the world of skydiving, including the World Freefall Convention and several Canopy Formation World Records. Lance says “my favorite skydives are when I'm videoing people experiencing their first tandem jump, which always reminds me of my first jump”. |
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Ryan Lohrer started jumping in 1999 in Colorado but really got into the sport in 2004 at Skydive Houston, then moved onto SSM in 2005. He says he stopped counting jumps a long time ago, but has at least a couple of thousand to his credit. |
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Josh Smith AKA Happy Feet, made first jump at Skydive San Marcos and now has more than 3000 jumps to his credit. Josh is a USPA qualified Tandem and AFF Instructor who loves introducing new faces into the sport of skydiving. When not jumping, Josh is a Deputy Sheriff and after completing graduate school he says he “wants to run to be a Texas State Senator or Representative…. Good Luck! |
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Aaron Erikson is a USPA Coach, AFF and Tandem Instructor from South Austin who did his first skydive at Skydive San Marcos in 1999. He currently has more than 4500 jumps logged, the majority being Tandem and AFF working jumps. Aaron is a passionate skydive instructor who really loves to be in the air, so come on out and jump with him soon! |
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John MacHarg was born and raised near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has been living in Austin since 2002. He has nearly 1000 jumps and holds AFF and Tandem instructor ratings. Jon enjoys formation skydiving and has been a Nationals four-way competitor the past two years. |
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Brian Ganousis did his first jump in 2005 in Colorado and has been hooked ever since. Brian is a USPA Coach/ IAD Instructor/ AFF Instructor and a Tandem Instructor and is also one of the DZ's videographers. He has more than 2000 skydives and loves taking individuals on their first jumps. Brian is also very enthusiastic about his job and learning new skills. |
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Joey Mire made his first jump at Skydive San Marcos 7 years ago, and has since completed more than 1600 skydives. As a USPA coach and one of the DZ's videographers, he is a Vertical Texas State Record holder with a passion for freeflying and teaching.
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Kara Latimer took her first “leap of faith” in may 2001 right here at SSM. She then went thru and completed the student program here and has been flying ever sense !
In 2010 she won a Nationals silver medal, and holds several women’s Texas state records and was an important part in the non-profit skydiving company “jump for the rose”. After 10 years and over 1000 skydives she became an AFF Instructor – to give back to the sport. You can check out her videos at www.youtube.com/skydivekara. |
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