James P. Slaton (born Dec 31, 1970 in Amarillo, Texas) was a an airborne Ranger with the U.S. Army between 1990-1998 with an MOS of 13F (Forward Observer)but he is better known as Jim Slaton the professional skydiver and producer of the Pro Swooping Tour, Canopy Piloting Circuit and the Ground Launch Center.

1990-1998-Was a sergeant and airborne Ranger in the US Army. As a Forward Observer (13F) he graduated from airborne school, air assault school, Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) school, RIP school (Ranger Indoctrination Process), Naval gunfire school, close air support school, U.S. Army Field Artillery School, Extreme Cold Weather Survival School, Combat Lifesavers school, Expert Infantryman Badge, Physical Fitness School, and the non commission officers academy.

1999-Slaton signed on with Icarus canopies parachute company and created the first high performance parachute team called "Team Extreme".

2000-Slaton produced the swooping competition known as the Para-Performance Games (PPGS) and hosted the first event at Skydive Houston in Houston, Texas. The PPGS had three competition events in Speed, Accuracy and Distance. At the time there were very few parachute swooping competitions and not much structure to the sport.

2001-Slaton produced one of the first Canopy Piloting Schools to teach parachute swooping at Perris Valley Skydiving, California.

2003-Slaton with partner Lyle Presse they created the Pro Swooping Tour (PST).

2003-Slaton produced, directed and edited the Pro Swooping Tour's 2003 DVD entitled "The year of Canopy Piloting" in 2003.

2003-Slaton with other members of Team Extreme produced the documentary "Out of the Blue" which won at film festivals and created a whole new generation of canopy pilots. The "Out of the Blue" documentary demonstrated a new type of flying using high performance parachutes as tools for exploration over Europe's highest mountains. The highlight of the film is when the team lands their parachutes on the summit of Mount Blanc in Chamonix, France which is the highest point in the European Alps.

2003-Slaton along with his partner Lyle Presse were responsible for delivering the new sport of Canopy Piloting (a.k.a. swooping) to the International Parachute Commission which got accepted at the IPC's 54th annual meeting in Brazil.

2003-Slaton produced the 1st first online community built specifically for Canopy Pilots called www.canopypiloting.com

2003-Slaton with his partner Lyle Presse organized the 1st World Cup of Canopy Piloting at Perris Valley Skydiving, California.

2004-Slaton became the 1st U.S. National Canopy Piloting Champion in winning the event in California with his own signature series parachute called the "JVX".

2004-Slaton produced the "Ground Launch Center" to teach and promote the sport of "ground launching"or "foot launching" small parachutes into flight.

2005-Slaton produced, directed and edited the film "Gravity Pilots" which highlighted competition swooping and Ground Launching. Scenes from this film were seen around the world which inspired the paragliding community to design and create a spin off of the sport called "Speed Flying" or "Speed Riding".

2005-Slaton produced the World Parabatic Stunt Team (a.k.a. World Parabatic SWOOP Team) which is recognized by the "IEG" as the first swoop teams of its kind.

2005-Slaton produced the first amateur swooping tour called the Canopy Piloting Circuit.

Feb 12, 2006-Slaton had a near fatal parachuting accident while filming a stunt in California. Slaton survived but was in a coma for three days and suffered a shattered hip, broken leg, broken shoulder and frontal lobe head injury.

Aug 25, 2008- Slaton hosts his last set of canopy piloting competitions (high performance parachuting) called "Swoop Week". He turns his attention to his new venture with an Event Management and Production Company. www.jimslaton.com