The 2016 USPA National Championships of Wingsuit Flying completed Wednesday, August 24—two days ahead of schedule—at Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Rochelle, Illinois. This marked the second year for USPA’s newest Nationals competition, both years hosted by Chicagoland.

Photo by Paul-Henry de Baère | D-30471

Omar Alhegelan takes freeflying to the Himalayas during the May 2016 Skydive Everest expedition in Nepal.

Photo by Caroline Layne | D-14528

On Flag Day, Team Fastrax performs a demo jump into downtown Philadelphia in front of Independence Hall, where the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and adopted.

Photo by Norman Kent | D-8369

Jaime Tristancho (left) takes on Milton Pachon in a game of Quidditch during filming of a television commercial by Plan 9 Films for telecommunications company EBT at Skydive Colombia.

Longtime Florida drop zone owner and instructor Paul “Pop” Poppenhager, D-47, was born in June 1934 and became interested in skydiving at a young age while watching his father jump at airshows.

Photo by Javier Ortiz | D-28774

Olga Naumova (center) celebrates her birthday with Jakud Sklenka (left) and Joao Paulo by making a balloon jump at the Skydive Dubai Desert Campus in the United Arab Emirates.

Advanced Aerospace Designs has recently released an Information Bulletin as a reminder regarding battery replacement intervals required for their Vigil 1 and Vigil 2 automatic activation devices. The bulletin reminds jumpers that battery replacement is mandatory when “Bat Low” or “Bat Rpl” appears on the controller screen or when the Vigil has reached a maximum of 10 years plus three months.

Airtec, GmbH, maker of the CYPRES 2 automatic activation device, has announced a change in the maintenance requirements for all civilian CYPRES 2 AADs manufactured after January 1, 2016.

Photo by Tom Sanders | D-6503

During the Party on the Playa II boogie in Tambor, Costa Rica, (clockwise from bottom left) Andy Harris, Mike Bess, Larenda Graham and Mark Schrag fly a 4-way over the Gulf of Nicoya.

Photo by Laszlo Andacs | D-22468

Zach Vasnick demonstrates that with great sport accuracy comes great responsibility (as well as the intermediate gold medal) at the USPA National Collegiate Parachuting Championships at Skydive Lake Wales in Florida.

Currently with more than 18,000 jumps and 300 hours of freefall time, Carolyn “the Queen” Clay, D-3347, from Williamsburg, Virginia, doesn’t show any signs of slowing down after 47 years of continual skydiving.

Photo by Juan Mayer | D-26130

The U.S. Army Golden Knights 8-way formation skydiving team makes a practice jump for the World Air Games at Skydive Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where the team took the gold medal and set a single-round world record of 33 points.

Fear does not stop death; it stops life. Learning to skydive has taught me this lesson and helped shape the person I am today. I was never one of those people who had always wanted to skydive. No bucket list, dare or any amount of peer pressure was going to get me to jump out of a plane. In fact, I had never even considered skydiving until my husband made his first tandem. He was hooked immediately and got his license that same year.

Photo by Martin Lemay | D-33608

Team Super Serious exits a Twin Otter for a round of vertical formation skydiving at the USPA National Skydiving Championships.

Photo by Rick Winkler | D-32647

Team Wicked Wingsuits - on its way to winning gold in the first USPA National Championships of Acrobatic Wingsuit Flying.

I was born with a heart condition. I've always known that I would have to get surgery to replace a heart valve, but the prognosis was that this would not be necessary until I was around 60 years old.

When I started skydiving, it was the first thing I had actually done just for me. In 1997, I made one tandem for my 30th birthday. I fell in love with skydiving, but I was a single mother of two children and my most important goal was to raise them.

Photo by Raymond Adams | D-30158

Jeff Kauffman (top) and David Hanley of team Skyscrapers take a stand above Skydive Dallas. 

Have you ever wished your school had a skydiving club? Stop wishing and get it started! Founding a college skydiving club is a unique and memorable item on a resume—it’s a great way to stand out from the crowd during school and after graduation while supporting your favorite sport. And you’ll have a ton of fun skydiving with your friends and introducing others to skydiving, guaranteed!

Photo by Gustavo Cabana | USPA #80952

During Summerfest at Skydive Chicago, 164 skydivers set the World Record for Largest Head-Down Formation Skydive.