Word: istel
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Thus runs the evangelical message of Jacques André Istel, 28, a black-browed ex-Wall Streeter and dedicated prophet of parachuting in the U.S. His gospel: jumping, without emergency, out of an airplane can be a safe, exhilarating sport, not a devil-daring performance for iron-nerved musclemen. Europe has been convinced since World War II, and there thousands of men and women of all ages happily spend their weekends halfway between plane and earth. It is time for the sport to flourish in the U.S., says Istel. "There's no more to parachute jumping, done right, than...
...Practiced Preacher. So convinced was Istel of the sport's future that last week he went to Washington to talk to the Civil Aeronautics Administration about safety regulations for parachuting for fun, similar to those in Europe, where jumping instruction is as rigidly controlled as the classics course in a French lycée. At this stage, Istel fears, a major accident would probably give the sport back to the country-fair stuntmen. His gospel spread to another important corner. Istel hustled back to his exurbanite home in New York's upper Westchester County to practice what...
...technique that tamed sport parachuting, according to Istel, is sky diving, in which the jumper controls his body as he hurtles toward earth before pulling his ripcord. The skillful sky diver leaves the plane spread-eagled, looking somewhat like a highboard swan diver, his body horizontal. Despite falling speeds up to 120 m.p.h.. the body is remarkably stable in this position. Properly executed, a sky dive is spinproof (accidental spins can whirl or tumble the body up to three times a second, black out the jumper) and keeps the diver on his belly, so his backpack chute can open...
Competitors and members of the press attended an eleventh hour briefing session in a small farmhouse, a quarter of a mile from the hill farm's landing field. The briefing, and the entire afternoon was dominated by Marine Captain Jacques Andre Istel, iron-willed director of the meet, and captain of the United States parachuting team which competed at the World Championship held in Moscow last year...
Last night Istel discussed plans for a proposed intercollegiate parachute meet to be held this May. He hopes to have representatives from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Williams...