posted May 14th, 2006 - DeLand Fire and PD Factory Team members Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo were recently honored with Skydiving Magazine's "Skydiver of the Year" award for 2005. The NSL News was interested in the relationship between the athletes and their strongest supporter, Performance Designs, and interviewed PD's Marketing Director, Rob Wilson. The interview was posted with the NSL News story on February 24.

The topic of another interview with DeLand Fires's front piece, Natasha Montgomery and Gary Smith, was the challenge for the team to handle the two commitments of the rear piece members. This interview was posted with the NSL News story on March 30, shortly after the conclusion of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2006.

The only missing piece in the complete DeLand Fire picture was feedback directly from Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo. The extremely busy schedule of the PD Factory and DeLand Fire members made it quite difficult to find the right time for an interview. The last day of the 4-way training in DeLand finally turned out to be the last chance for a quick visit in the NSL office before DeLand Fire will leave the USA heading for Europe.

Jonathan Taggle was also invited for the interview and took the time to visit. He shares the whole skydiving agenda with Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo since he serves as the videographer for DeLand Fire and is a full-time member of the PD Factory team, as well. Jonathan Taggle is one of the top competitors and recently won the Canopy Piloting competition in Lake Wales. He commented the DeLand Fire performance from his perspective in the interview, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Saturday, May 13, was the last training day for DeLand Fire. The three PD Factory Team members completed the debriefing and then quickly headed over to the NSL office, while Natasha Montgomery and Gary Smith finished the day with a cold beer in Skydive DeLand's restaurant, the Perfect Spot.

The whole team travels to Europe next week and still has different destinations. Coaching jobs and PD Factory Team obligations are a part of DeLand Fire's summer schedule in Europe. However, the end of the training in DeLand was not the end of the team training before the World Meet 2006. Additional camps will take place in Texel, Netherlands, and Kassel, Germany.

Gary Smith has his summer home on the island of Texel where he works as a full time coach. DeLand Fire trained there last year, as well. The last training before the World Meet will take place in Kassel, Germany. The drop zone is operated by the same company that will host the World Meet in Gera in August.

Shannon Pilcher, Ian Bobo and Jonathan Taggle had just returned from a PD Factory Team adventure trip to the Italian Alpes before the last team training with DeLand Fire started. PD's Rob Wilson had mentioned in the NSL News interview that the parachute manufacturer plans to send the PD Factory Team all over the world to explore new dimensions of the "Dream of Flight".

The recent trip to Italy' Alpes was the first one for the new project, and the team brought back breathtaking footage that will be edited and offered to the skydiving community soon. However, the PD Factory Team had permission to provide the NSL News with a few of the pictures from this trip.

PD's marketing manager Rob Wilson had mentioned in the interview that the PD Factory Team will find full support in the pursuit of new dimensions in parachute flight. The three team members confirmed the extremely productive cooperation between the team and the company in the interview.

Finally, the NSL News was interested how the team members master the challenge of being fully involved with DeLand Fire, the competitions of the PD Factory Team and the adventure trips for the Dream of Flight project. Ian Bobo, who is married to Sandy Bobo, commented that he enjoys full support from his wife. All team members admitted that it is a very challenging schedule, however, they added that the journey is worth the efforts.

August will show how well prepared DeLand Fire goes into the 4-way competition at the World Meet 2006. Shannon Pilcher mentioned that the team attended only one competition this year, the FSL Shamrock Showdown in March. DeLand Fire had much more competition practice in 2005. The team trained together with Sinapsi PD and Norway Arcteryx at the camps in DeLand and arranged a few training meets. However, real competition is different, as Shannon Pilcher added.

DeLand Fire is still confident that the team will be able to handle a tough race with Sinapsi PD for the gold medals. The team members also expect competition from other teams, as France, Belgium, Russia. They were impressed with Spa Hayabusa's 45-pointer. The whole interview can be viewed by clicking here.