The USPA Board of Directors, with guidance from seasoned mixed formation skydiving competitors, approved changes to the MFS event for the 2019 National Skydiving Championships. Based on competitor feedback from the 2018 Nationals, changes were made to allow for closer synergy between the advanced and open classes, as well as to continue to increase national (and hopefully one day international) participation with the addition of an entry-level intermediate class. MFS is one of the fastest-growing disciplines in skydiving and strives to provide a multi-orientation playing field for all levels of freeflyers.   

Many randoms and blocks in the dive pool have been edited, and two new open block moves have been added.

All Class Updates

Alternates: All classes of MFS will now allow for an alternate (fourth team member), much like the formation skydiving competitions. Only one member may serve as a videographer in any given round.

Dive pool: These changes are included in the dive pool:

2-Way MFS Intermediate Test Event
A new class will be tested in 2019. This exciting new addition has been included with the goal of enticing more teams to enter the discipline. The key thing for this class is that for the vertical rounds, only one person needs to be proficient at flying head down. Intermediate will consist of eight rounds with three to four points per round:  

Three rounds of belly/back drawn from blocks 7, 8, 10, 12 and randoms G, I, K, L, Q, R.

Five rounds of vertical drawn from blocks 4, 5, 6, 11 and randoms B, C, E, F, H, J, O, P.

An open-class competitor WILL be allowed to shoot video for the intermediate event during the test event of 2019 in order to help boost participation.

2-Way MFS Advanced
The biggest change coming to the advanced class is three true mixed rounds have been added; there will no longer be belly/back-only rounds. MFS advanced will now consist of three mixed rounds (combining belly, back, sit and head down) and 5 vertical rounds. The two new approved blocks (13 and 14) will NOT be added to the advanced class.

Another notable change is the addition of some of the randoms not formerly within the class.

Three mixed rounds drawn from blocks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 and randoms B, C, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, O, P, Q, R.

Five vertical rounds drawn from blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11 and randoms A, B, C, D, E, F, H, J, M, O, P.

2-Way MFS Open: Two NEW blocks are being added to the open dive pool:

Other Important Information

• All current information and rules regarding competition can always be found in the most recent version of the Skydiver’s Competition Manual (SCM), which is located on the USPA website. MFS information can be found in Chapter 9, with draws located in Appendices L, M and O.
• Information on the intermediate test event can be found here.
• Mark your calendar: USPA National Skydiving Championships at Skydive Paraclete XP, Raeford, NC, September 11-27. MFS is being held September 13-16.
• Training dive pools and dive pool generator can be found on the Axis Flight School website.