{"id":872,"name":"Jim Cowan","url":"https:\/\/flight-1.com\/","description":"Who is Jim Cowan and what makes him an authority on these subjects?\r\nI\u2019m definitely not an authority on them, but I have put a lot of time and effort into studying these subjects with some practical exams that I ultimately passed by surviving just over 24,000 jumps over 45 years!\r\n\r\nBACKGROUND\r\n\u2022\tRaised by a family of skydivers in St.Louis, Missouri.  2nd generation.\r\n\u2022\tParents and uncles were competitors, instructor examiners, riggers, pilots.\r\n\u2022\tUncle Bob Cowan was a freefall photographer pioneer in the late 60s and early 70s, with several cover shots on parachutist magazine and the winning photo in a national contest that made the cover of every Sunday newspaper in the country.  The shot was a 4th of July theme featuring my dad and two other jumpers in freefall wearing a red, a white and a blue jumpsuit each with smoke blazing.\r\n\r\n\u2022\tStarted packing round parachutes at parents; DZ at age 10. $2 a rig for 5 seasons.\r\n\u2022\tLearned to hang-glide at my uncle\u2019s hang-gliding school at age 15.\r\n\u2022\tBegan skydiving at my parents DZ in 1978 at age 16.\r\n\u2022\tWorked at a flight school and soloed an aircraft at age 17.\r\n\u2022\tPartnered with a jump club and bought a Cessna 182 jump plane together.\r\n\u2022\tBecame a jump master and started instructing at age 18.\r\n\u2022\tFirst night demonstration jump into a Cardinals\u2019 baseball game at age 18.\r\n\u2022\tFirst night fixed object jump from a tower in 1980.\r\n\u2022\tResearched, opened, owned and operated a twin turbine, multi aircraft DZ for 13 years.\r\n\u2022\tPersonally trained over 25,000 students in canopy control of all levels and types.\r\n\u2022\tDeveloped, implemented and supervised a wide variety of training curricula including; sport and military tandem, mttb, aff, ram air s\/l programs, comp cf teams, search and \trescue orgs, smoke jumpers, multiple gov\u2019t agencies and military freefall groups in the US and around the world.\r\n\r\nSPORT SKYDIVING\r\n\u2022\tUSPA Safety and Training Advisor\r\n\u2022\tTandem Instructor (examiner for over a decade)\r\n\u2022\tAccelerated Freefall Instructor\r\n\u2022\tS\/L Instructor (examiner for over a decade)\r\n\u2022\tUSHPA P3 Paragliding Rated\r\n\u2022\tFAA Parachute Rigger Technician\r\n\u2022\tFounding Member of the Quantum Leap Canopy Formation Team for over 2 decades.\r\n\u2022\tUS Team at 8 World Championship Competitions (every other year) and 1 World Cup\r\n\u2022\tBrought home 4 gold, 4 silver and a bronze at those championships.\r\n\u2022\tTook the gold 25 times at the US National Skydiving Championships over 9 competitions.\r\n\u2022\tSuccessfully disengaged from over 300 canopy entanglements.\r\n\u2022\tBeen in 140 canopy entanglements where at least 1 jumper had to cutaway.\r\n\u2022\tHave personally cutaway from entanglements 15 times.\r\n\u2022\tHave personally performed over 50 cutaways while making malfunction videos.\r\n\r\nMILITARY EXPERIENCE\r\n\u2022\tNaval Freefall Parachutist Course Instructor and Rigger for 2 years.\r\n\u2022\tNavy Parachute Team \u201cLeap Frogs\u201d Safety Officer and Rigger for 1 year.\r\n\u2022\tUS Marie Corps Multi Mission Parachutist Course Co-Developer, Instructor and rigger, contractor in charge of operations for Complete Parachute Solutions the manufacturer of the equipment and commercial business holder of the contract.\r\n\u2022\tGeneral Manager and Developer of the Tactical Training Facility in AZ for a decade.\r\n\u2022\tFlight-1 Military and Sport Canopy Flight Instructor for dozens of US military, agencies and other countries for nearly a decade currently.","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/","slug":"jim-cowan","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jim-cowan-2-author-150x150.jpg","48":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jim-cowan-2-author-150x150.jpg","96":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jim-cowan-2-author-150x150.jpg"},"meta":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - 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I\u2019m definitely not an authority on them, but I have put a lot of time and effort into studying these subjects with some practical exams that I ultimately passed by surviving just over 24,000 jumps over 45 years! BACKGROUND \u2022 Raised by a family of skydivers in St.Louis, Missouri. 2nd generation. \u2022 Parents and uncles were competitors, instructor examiners, riggers, pilots. \u2022 Uncle Bob Cowan was a freefall photographer pioneer in the late 60s and early 70s, with several cover shots on parachutist magazine and the winning photo in a national contest that made the cover of every Sunday newspaper in the country. The shot was a 4th of July theme featuring my dad and two other jumpers in freefall wearing a red, a white and a blue jumpsuit each with smoke blazing. \u2022 Started packing round parachutes at parents; DZ at age 10. $2 a rig for 5 seasons. \u2022 Learned to hang-glide at my uncle\u2019s hang-gliding school at age 15. \u2022 Began skydiving at my parents DZ in 1978 at age 16. \u2022 Worked at a flight school and soloed an aircraft at age 17. \u2022 Partnered with a jump club and bought a Cessna 182 jump plane together. \u2022 Became a jump master and started instructing at age 18. \u2022 First night demonstration jump into a Cardinals\u2019 baseball game at age 18. \u2022 First night fixed object jump from a tower in 1980. \u2022 Researched, opened, owned and operated a twin turbine, multi aircraft DZ for 13 years. \u2022 Personally trained over 25,000 students in canopy control of all levels and types. \u2022 Developed, implemented and supervised a wide variety of training curricula including; sport and military tandem, mttb, aff, ram air s\\\/l programs, comp cf teams, search and rescue orgs, smoke jumpers, multiple gov\u2019t agencies and military freefall groups in the US and around the world. SPORT SKYDIVING \u2022 USPA Safety and Training Advisor \u2022 Tandem Instructor (examiner for over a decade) \u2022 Accelerated Freefall Instructor \u2022 S\\\/L Instructor (examiner for over a decade) \u2022 USHPA P3 Paragliding Rated \u2022 FAA Parachute Rigger Technician \u2022 Founding Member of the Quantum Leap Canopy Formation Team for over 2 decades. \u2022 US Team at 8 World Championship Competitions (every other year) and 1 World Cup \u2022 Brought home 4 gold, 4 silver and a bronze at those championships. \u2022 Took the gold 25 times at the US National Skydiving Championships over 9 competitions. \u2022 Successfully disengaged from over 300 canopy entanglements. \u2022 Been in 140 canopy entanglements where at least 1 jumper had to cutaway. \u2022 Have personally cutaway from entanglements 15 times. \u2022 Have personally performed over 50 cutaways while making malfunction videos. MILITARY EXPERIENCE \u2022 Naval Freefall Parachutist Course Instructor and Rigger for 2 years. \u2022 Navy Parachute Team \u201cLeap Frogs\u201d Safety Officer and Rigger for 1 year. \u2022 US Marie Corps Multi Mission Parachutist Course Co-Developer, Instructor and rigger, contractor in charge of operations for Complete Parachute Solutions the manufacturer of the equipment and commercial business holder of the contract. \u2022 General Manager and Developer of the Tactical Training Facility in AZ for a decade. \u2022 Flight-1 Military and Sport Canopy Flight Instructor for dozens of US military, agencies and other countries for nearly a decade currently.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/flight-1.com\\\/\"],\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.skydivemag.com\\\/new\\\/author\\\/jim-cowan\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jim Cowan, Author at Skydivemag","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"profile","og_title":"Jim Cowan","og_url":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/","og_site_name":"Skydivemag","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jim-cowan-2-author.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"ProfilePage","@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/","name":"Jim Cowan, Author at Skydivemag","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Archives for Jim Cowan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/","name":"Skydive Mag","description":"Skydiving and BASE jumping information","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/#organization","name":"Skydive Mag Limited","url":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Skydive-Mag-Logo-white-long.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Skydive-Mag-Logo-white-long.png","width":1121,"height":148,"caption":"Skydive Mag Limited"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkydiveMag","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/skydivemag"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/#\/schema\/person\/a7c94a19e663861b76a6f7322ea9be52","name":"Jim Cowan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jim-cowan-2-author-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jim-cowan-2-author-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jim-cowan-2-author-150x150.jpg","caption":"Jim Cowan"},"description":"Who is Jim Cowan and what makes him an authority on these subjects? I\u2019m definitely not an authority on them, but I have put a lot of time and effort into studying these subjects with some practical exams that I ultimately passed by surviving just over 24,000 jumps over 45 years! BACKGROUND \u2022 Raised by a family of skydivers in St.Louis, Missouri. 2nd generation. \u2022 Parents and uncles were competitors, instructor examiners, riggers, pilots. \u2022 Uncle Bob Cowan was a freefall photographer pioneer in the late 60s and early 70s, with several cover shots on parachutist magazine and the winning photo in a national contest that made the cover of every Sunday newspaper in the country. The shot was a 4th of July theme featuring my dad and two other jumpers in freefall wearing a red, a white and a blue jumpsuit each with smoke blazing. \u2022 Started packing round parachutes at parents; DZ at age 10. $2 a rig for 5 seasons. \u2022 Learned to hang-glide at my uncle\u2019s hang-gliding school at age 15. \u2022 Began skydiving at my parents DZ in 1978 at age 16. \u2022 Worked at a flight school and soloed an aircraft at age 17. \u2022 Partnered with a jump club and bought a Cessna 182 jump plane together. \u2022 Became a jump master and started instructing at age 18. \u2022 First night demonstration jump into a Cardinals\u2019 baseball game at age 18. \u2022 First night fixed object jump from a tower in 1980. \u2022 Researched, opened, owned and operated a twin turbine, multi aircraft DZ for 13 years. \u2022 Personally trained over 25,000 students in canopy control of all levels and types. \u2022 Developed, implemented and supervised a wide variety of training curricula including; sport and military tandem, mttb, aff, ram air s\/l programs, comp cf teams, search and rescue orgs, smoke jumpers, multiple gov\u2019t agencies and military freefall groups in the US and around the world. SPORT SKYDIVING \u2022 USPA Safety and Training Advisor \u2022 Tandem Instructor (examiner for over a decade) \u2022 Accelerated Freefall Instructor \u2022 S\/L Instructor (examiner for over a decade) \u2022 USHPA P3 Paragliding Rated \u2022 FAA Parachute Rigger Technician \u2022 Founding Member of the Quantum Leap Canopy Formation Team for over 2 decades. \u2022 US Team at 8 World Championship Competitions (every other year) and 1 World Cup \u2022 Brought home 4 gold, 4 silver and a bronze at those championships. \u2022 Took the gold 25 times at the US National Skydiving Championships over 9 competitions. \u2022 Successfully disengaged from over 300 canopy entanglements. \u2022 Been in 140 canopy entanglements where at least 1 jumper had to cutaway. \u2022 Have personally cutaway from entanglements 15 times. \u2022 Have personally performed over 50 cutaways while making malfunction videos. MILITARY EXPERIENCE \u2022 Naval Freefall Parachutist Course Instructor and Rigger for 2 years. \u2022 Navy Parachute Team \u201cLeap Frogs\u201d Safety Officer and Rigger for 1 year. \u2022 US Marie Corps Multi Mission Parachutist Course Co-Developer, Instructor and rigger, contractor in charge of operations for Complete Parachute Solutions the manufacturer of the equipment and commercial business holder of the contract. \u2022 General Manager and Developer of the Tactical Training Facility in AZ for a decade. \u2022 Flight-1 Military and Sport Canopy Flight Instructor for dozens of US military, agencies and other countries for nearly a decade currently.","sameAs":["https:\/\/flight-1.com\/"],"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/author\/jim-cowan\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users"}]}}