{"id":34833,"date":"2021-06-22T15:21:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T15:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=34833"},"modified":"2021-07-24T09:36:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T09:36:50","slug":"always-innovative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/always-innovative\/","title":{"rendered":"Always Innovative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Always Innovative, Always Relevant, Always Vector<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Image: Greg Crozier by Ewan Cowie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Necessity is the mother of invention<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is no doubt innovation has always been at the forefront of Bill Booth\u2019s mind. Never satisfied, his constant passion for research and development led to many huge advancements in skydiving technology through his company, United Parachute Technologies, aka UPT. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we take a look back at a timeline of events, highlighting the main inventions throughout UPT\u2019s impressive history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s in Bill’s nature to answer complex questions with simple inventions. Most of these innovations were developed by Bill in what he describes as a necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of my inventions are a result of problems I have had, or watched others have, in dealing with malfunctions of existing equipment. As they say, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’ It doesn\u2019t make any sense to invent something that isn\u2019t needed. For instance, I was tired of pilot chute hesitations, so I invented the hand deployed pilot chute. I was tired of worrying about what first jump students would do if they had a malfunction, so I developed tandem jumping. There were two tandem fatalities involving jumpers tumbling into reserve lines after a cutaway, so I invented the Skyhook.\u201d<\/p>Bill Booth<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The people on the first tandem jumps \u2013 Bill Booth, with Connie Simpson, photographer Norman Kent, and Ted Strong, with Mary Jobe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1970s<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like most good things, it all started in a garage in Miami. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not satisfied with the current skydiving equipment systems, Bill began experimenting and building harnesses on a rented sewing machine. By the mid 70\u2019s he had already made two monumental discoveries. In 1975, Bill developed the Hand-Deploy Pilot Chute System, which revolutionized the way sport skydivers deploy their main canopies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n