Bill Booth

Bill Booth is a legendary inventor, entrepreneur, and safety pioneer whose innovations have fundamentally shaped modern skydiving. Beginning his own skydiving journey in 1965 and becoming an instructor by 1967, Bill has earned 12 U.S. and international patents covering core safety systems—including the hand‑deploy pilot chute, the Skyhook reserve-deployment system, and most notably, the three-ring release system, which is widely regarded as one of the most important safety innovations in the history of the sport.

Introduced in the late 1970s, the three-ring system revolutionized emergency procedures by allowing jumpers to cut away their main canopy with unprecedented ease and reliability—a design that remains virtually unchanged and universally adopted in parachute systems today.

In 1972, Bill founded the Relative Workshop in a Miami garage, later rebranded as United Parachute Technologies (UPT), now based in DeLand, Florida. Under his leadership, UPT introduced transformative harness-container systems—including the Wonderhog, Vector (1980), and Vector II & III—becoming the preferred rigs for competitive teams and recreational skydivers worldwide.

Bill’s contributions have earned him the 1983 Parachute Equipment Industry Association Achievement Award and the 1984 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Gold Medal—one of the highest honors in parachute safety design.

In the 1980s and ’90s, Bill co-developed tandem-jump systems with Ted Strong, helping shape FAA acceptance of tandem skydiving—a breakthrough that revolutionized the sport’s accessibility. He later founded Polar Expeditions, Inc., leading six parachute expeditions with Russian partners to the North Pole.

A lifelong innovator, Bill has appeared in major TV series such as Modern Marvels and National Geographic Explorer—and even had a cameo in The Firm. He is also a highly experienced pilot, with over 5,000 flight hours in single/multi-engine, rotorcraft, and seaplanes.

Inducted into the International Skydiving Hall of Fame in 2011, Bill Booth’s legacy stands as a testament to fearless engineering, tireless advocacy, and unwavering dedication to saving lives and advancing skydiving performance. His iconic beard may be immediately recognizable, but it’s his transformative inventions and leadership—particularly the game-changing three-ring release—that earned him legendary status in the sport.