For Immediate Release

Parks College Parachute Research Group web site updated and expanded, with research projects of interest to all.

The Parks College Parachute Research Group, which has been one of the most active groups in parachute related research in recent years, has updated and expanded its web site at http://www.pcprg.com, and has made much of the results of their research available on their web site.

This research group, which is beginning its third year, consists of Dr. Jean Potvin of St. Louis University Parks College of Engineering and Aviation, Gary Peek, a computer and electronics consultant, and various students at Parks College.

The Group has done an impressive amount of parachute related research and has produced a number of technical papers which have been presented at the PIA Symposium and AIAA conferences.

But in addition to these technical projects and papers, the Group has performed some simpler studies of special interest to skydivers.

"Scientific studies do not all need to be extremely technical and filled with math," says Gary Peek, who has done several research projects just for the interest of skydivers. "Some research needs to be done simply to verify the correctness of the theories proposed by knowledgable experienced jumpers, or to simply produce some concrete numbers for things like speed, force, and timing.

Visitors to the new Parks College Parachute Research Group web site at http://www.pcprg.com will find:

• Research projects, an area where you can find technical detail about the Group's projects that have produced papers presented to the AIAA and PIA.

• Instrumentation, a section describing the unique electronic devices and instrumentation the Group uses to collect data for their projects.

• Skydiver area, containing some less technical studies of special interest to skydivers.

• Student area, for high school and college students doing basic research on the aerodynamics of parachutes.

• Consulting services, where you can find out about the Group's affordable services, whose proceeds go to Parks College's educational programs.

or contact:
Jean Potvin   Phone: (314) 977-8424   Email: potvinj@slu.edu
Gary Peek   Phone: (636) 723-4000   Email: peek@pcprg.com