Some of you might know that PD does not only support teams & individuals in the sport, but also has a special category for for instructors. Skydiving instructors are pretty important people because without them we wouldn't see any new jumpers!
The instructors we work with are carefully selected, just like our sponsored athletes - and we are proud to work with some of the finest in the sport. You might be able to spot those people in the sky by their good looking canopies, sporting the PD Instructor pattern as seen here to the left (with or without artwork). Please meet the 2 newest additions to the family of PD instructors:
Brian Erler is a well known figure in the sport, accomplished photographer and now a dropzone owner & operator a. We have worked with Brian for several years and are happy to have just renewed our agreement once again with him. Brian has put in hours in just about every corner of the sport, worked as a packer, in gear sales, done video & photography and now lastly as a dropzone owner & manager at Long Island Skydving Center. Back in the day, Brian competed in freeflying and did the pro tour of skysurfing, and with that experience Brian has done jobs working for ESPN at the X-games - not too shabby!
Brian's canopy of choice is a Katana 107, but he has thousands of jumps on Stilettos (and said giggling that he was swooping his 120 back when Shannon Pilcher was still trying to figure out how to pack zero-p - but then added very sternly that it was not because he was old, he just started jumping young).
Aaron Okken is an instructor at Mile-Hi Skydiving Center in Colorado. He grew up at small DZ in Southern CO and became immersed in skydiving at a young age. After slaving away as a packer for a couple of years he started jumping and soon began to film tandems. From there it was on to AFF rating. For a couple of years Aaron has been balancing a life as a professional instructor at Mile-Hi with working towards a degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
He is jumping a teeny little Velocity 79 and does not mind having one of the nicest swoop ponds in the US in his back yard!
We look forward to working with those 2 guys and will be introducing more instructors & athletes to you soon!
