James Paul Slaton (born December 31, 1970, in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Co ...

) is a professional

skydiver Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...

and founder of the Pro Swooping Tour, the Canopy Piloting Circuit, and the Ground Launch Center.

Military career

Slaton signed up with the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

as a

forward observer An artillery observer, artillery spotter or forward observer (FO) is responsible for directing artillery and mortar fire onto a target. It may be a '' forward air controller'' (FAC) for close air support (CAS) and spotter for naval gunfire su ...

in 1991, and graduated from the Air Force's Close Air Support School, the US Army's

Air Assault School The United States Army Air Assault School, officially the Sabalauski Air Assault School (TSAAS), is a Army Forces Command Table of Distribution and Allowances unit located at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Its primary task is training leaders and soldie ...

, and then the US Army

Airborne School The United States Army Airborne School – widely known as Jump School – conducts the basic paratrooper (military parachutist) training for the United States Armed Forces. It is operated by the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 507th Infantry, Unit ...

and the 75th Ranger Regiment Ranger Indoctrination program at Ft. Benning, GA. He also completed the Navy's

Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) is a training program, best known by its military acronym, that prepares U.S. military personnel, U.S. Department of Defense civilians, and private military contractors to survive and "retur ...

and Cold Weather Environmental Survival training at the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, and was honorably discharged from the US Army as a Sergeant in 1998.

Parachuting career

In 1999 Slaton signed on with NZ Aerosports flying their Icarus Canopies range and later that year he started a parachute factory team in the new sport of

canopy piloting Canopy piloting (also known as swooping) encompasses several disciplines, all involving the flight of a skydiving parachute. "Swooping" is a form of canopy piloting associated with advanced skydiving. Given the close proximity to the ground dur ...

, or "swooping." In 2000 he produced the swooping competition, the Para-Performance Games (PPGS), and hosted the first event at Skydive Houston in Houston, Texas. The PPGS had three competition events in Speed, Accuracy and Distance. In 2001 he produced the

Canopy piloting Canopy piloting (also known as swooping) encompasses several disciplines, all involving the flight of a skydiving parachute. "Swooping" is a form of canopy piloting associated with advanced skydiving. Given the close proximity to the ground dur ...

School that teaches parachute swooping at Perris Valley Skydiving, California, and in 2003 created the first professional swooping, the Pro Swooping Tour. He produced, directed and edited the Pro Swooping Tour's 2003 DVD entitled "The year of Canopy Piloting" in 2003, and with members of Team Extreme produced the documentary "Out of the Blue". He got the new sport of canopy piloting accepted at the 54th annual meeting of the

International Parachuting Commission The International Skydiving Commission (ISC) of the ''Fédération Aéronautique Internationale'' (FAI) conducts the FAI's parachuting and skydiving activities, particularly the World Records and International Competitions. The commission was forme ...

in Brazil in 2003, after which he helped organize the 1st World Cup of Canopy Piloting at Perris Valley Skydiving, California, in 2003. In 2004 he was the 1st U.S. National Canopy Piloting Champion at Perris Valley Skydiving, California, flying his own signature series parachute called the "JVX. In 2005, he started Ground Launch Center, the first school for the sport of ground launching. He created the World Parachute Stunt Team and the first amateur swooping tour, the Canopy Piloting Circuit in 2005. In February 2006, he and his associate Duane Hall flew into each other while filming a parachute stunt in

Lake Isabella, California Lake Isabella (formerly, Isabella) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, United States. It is named after the Lake Isabella reservoir and located at its southwestern edge, south of Woff ...

. Slaton survived but was in a coma for three days, suffering a shattered hip, broken leg, broken shoulder and frontal lobe head injury. He organized the annual Swoop Week Championships of canopy piloting between 2007 and 2009 in Longmont, Colorado and Houston, Texas.

References

External links

Slaton's website

Canopypiloting.com

Pro Swooping Tour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slaton, Jim P. 1970 births Living people United States Army soldiers Sportspeople from Amarillo, Texas American skydivers