Soutter is the only Harvard undergraduate serving as an executive member of the C.P.C., which includes many students from other New England colleges. He heads up a group of about ten Harvard students who jump regularly as members of the C.P.C at Mansfield, the traditional headquarters for Crimson teams. Presently, this group is preparing to represent Harvard in the national intercollegiates, to be held in Orange in May.

Sport parachuting in this country has boomed over the past few years, as it has throughout the world. Jumping centers are specially popular in California and Arizona, as well as in Massachusetts.

But like most modern sports such as sports car racing, motor-cycling, or skindiving, parachuting is not inexpensive. At Mansfield, for example, a first jump costs $25 the following two $15 and the next two $10--a total of $75 for the five static-line student jumps and membership in the C.P.C. The cost of each subsequent free-fall jump averages only about $3, however.

That sport parachuting has caught on at Harvard can be seen by the fact that an increasing number of students are jumping to enhance their "variety of experience", and by the fact that at least one member of the faculty has started to jump.

Take, for example, Samuel H. Beer, professor of government, who began parachuting last July at the age of 50. With six static-line jumps to his record--plus one broken ankle--Beer has got the bug.

But he, like every other person who has jumped, warns, "By all means, don't try it unless you are absolutely convinced that you'll make it.