Tim Mace

It was with sadness that I heard yesterday of Tim Mace’s death. Tim had been suffering from cancer, and was a registered competitor last month in the Speed Skydiving World Cup at Prostejov. It was clear at that time that Tim was not well, and his illness forced him to withdraw.

In 2012, IPC awarded Tim the FAI Gold Parachuting Medal, which he received in front of many of his peers during the course of the Dubai Mondial 2012.

Tim will be sadly missed. The brief that accompanied Tim’s nomination for the FAI Gold Parachuting Medal makes for interesting reading and is reproduced below.

Tim Mace started skydiving in 1977, and has 8100 jumps. In that time he has competed as a performer in every IPC discipline at World Championship level. He is probably the first person to do this in modern times when so many disciplines are active. He has competed in more than 150 competitions, including 23 First Category Events in which he has obtained 6 medals and placed in the top-ten 16 times. He competed in FAI World Championships in Formation Skydiving in Yugoslavia1985 and Spain 1989, Freefly and Freestyle in France 2003, Freefall Style and Accuracy Landing in Croatia 2004,Skysurfing in Germany 2006, Paraski in Montenegro 2005,Italy 2007, Austria 2009 and 2011, and Canopy Piloting in Russia 2010. Tim is joint holder of the current 400 person FAI Formation Skydiving Large Formation World Record, and has been on two previous FAI Large Formation records (282Thailand 1999, 357 Thailand 2004). Tim was also on the team that set the 16-way Formation Skydiving Sequential 12 point World Record in France in 1998.

He has been an AFF instructor since 1984, and a wingsuit instructor since 1999. He received the Royal Aero Club Prince of Wales Cup in 1990 for performance in 8-way at the 1989 FS World Championship. By profession he is an experimental test pilot. He is also a former astronaut, and received the Royal Aero Club silver medal in 1991 for his work as an astronaut on the UK-Soviet space programme, which included high altitude parachuting.

Rest in Peace, Tim

Graeme Windsor, IPC President