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Flip through the pages of back issues from September 1957 to today as if you were holding the real magazine! Once you open an issue, swipe the hand icon to the left to begin reading. (You may need to disable your pop-up blocker to view.)
Hard-impact freefall collisions resulting in serious injuries and fatalities were once a common issue with formation skydivers and freeflyers, and now they’re an issue with wingsuiters. Modern wingsuit flying—which now has had more than 20 years to develop training methods and equipment and build a foundation of knowledge—cannot truly be considered a new discipline any longer, but it continues to struggle with injuries and fatalities from collisions in freefall, as well as collisions with the aircraft on exit.
Brought to you by Niklas Daniel and Brianne Thompson of AXIS Flight School at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. Photos by David Cherry. Information about AXIS' coaching and instructional services is available at axisflightschool.com.
USPA’s Airport Access and Defense Fund started in 1991 with the primary purpose of helping DZs fight governmental decisions that unfairly or illegally interfere with or negate skydiving operations on airports. As it has been from the start, one condition of using the fund is that winning the battle would set national precedent so that other DZs and skydiving in general derive future benefit. The AAD Fund is entirely dependent on donations from skydivers, who give about $20,000 annually. The fund has now grown to just over $344,000.
THIS MAY BE OUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE SKYDIVING FROM DIRE CONSEQUENCES The proponents of the bad idea of stripping air traffic control from the FAA, and handing it to a new private corporation are planning to have the House vote on their bill--HR 2997--next week. All of the general aviation (GA) groups, including USPA, are opposed. If you have not called your Congressional Representative and secured their "no" vote on HR 2997, please do so now!
Two weeks of non-stop action completed Saturday night at Skydive Perris in California, as the 2017 USPA National Skydiving Championships came to a close. More than 500 competitors from across the U.S. and abroad filled the skies over Southern California each day, vying for the title of national champion in multiple events—wingsuit flying, artistic freeflying and freestyle, formation skydiving, vertical and mixed formation skydiving, and speed skydiving. Skydive Perris proved to be a superb host, holding Nationals for the first time since 2005. The final events—16-way and 10-way formation skydiving—were a fun finish to the excitement, with GKXP winning gold in 16-way and Arizona Airspeed taking the top spot in 10-way. Competitors, judges, staff and friends celebrated at the final awards ceremony and banquet poolside Saturday night. Full scores are available on OmniSkore.com, and Skydive-TV’s daily broadcasts of all the action appear at skydive-tv.com. Look for a complete report in the December issue of Parachutist.
The annual audit of USPA for 2016, which Rogers & Co. of Vienna, Virginia, completed in August 2017, reported sound fiscal management and accountability measures. In 2016, revenues of $3,486,623 exceeded expenses of $3,467,585, leaving USPA with an operational excess (not including investments) of $19,038. USPA had a total excess of $218,957 after including investment gains, interest and dividends.
Have you ever thought about how parachute designers take an interesting idea and turn it into a real-live piece of nylon? As you might imagine, the story of a canopy is never as simple as scratching down some math and heading over to a cutting table. Since the first parachute designer put his idea to paper, the process has been as much about the people manning the pencils as it has been about the parachute that’s born of the process. And in the last scant handful of years, the story has taken on another plotline entirely.
Jen Domenico, D-22977, is a women’s world record holder and has been a member of USPA for 21 years. As a big-way skydiver, she coordinated many P3 events with Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld at Skydive Perris in California. She’s also an active 4- and 8-way formation skydiving competitor.
There’s a moment that happens in skydiving where my mind calms and the only thing that exists for me is the present moment. I always have some nerves as I climb to altitude. The objects of my anxiety run the gamut from second-guessing gear checks and dive flows to unfounded fears of disappointing strangers.
At the July USPA Board meeting in Seattle, Washington, the Safety and Training Committee spent most of its meeting time discussing the instructional rating process. The results were multiple changes, some of which went into effect immediately and others of which will come into play at a later date.
It took almost 25 years of skydiving, but I finally experienced an aircraft emergency as a skydiver. Actually, I would not even classify it as a true emergency, since the engine loss happened at 13,000 feet. As a pilot myself with many hours in this King Air, I knew what was going on and I had a good idea of how the pilot who was flying was going to handle the situation. But seeing how everyone reacted was interesting. Some looked nervous, and some seemed confused about what to do.
Think of what might go through the mind of a racehorse in the starting gate: “I’m here to race. I was born to race. I live to race.” Compare that to the thoughts that fi ll the minds of a talented team of experienced skydivers at a world record event ... when they are stuck on the ground due to weather. Perhaps thoughts like: “I’m here to jump. Let me jump. I’m dying to jump.”
The length between the “cat’s eye” (the opening in the line where you set your brakes before packing) and the steering toggle can greatly influence whether you have smooth flights and great landings. An incorrect brake length can hamper ideal performance from your canopy, and the causes vary. Working with your rigger, you should be able to address any issues without spending a lot of money.
Photo by Kin Lon Ma After dropping the final jumper during the Solar Eclipse Boogie at Skydive Awesome in Madras, Oregon, pilot Alex Luke descends in front of the eclipsed sun in a Twin Otter provided by Skydive Arizona in Eloy for the occasion.
This bag-lock malfunction occurred when one of the packing tabs on the canopy entangled with the last closing-stow band on the deployment bag. Although this is a very unusual malfunction, jumpers can help avoid it by making sure that the stows are not near the packing tabs when closing their deployment bags.
At its July meeting, USPA’s board of directors approved a resolution that, eff ective November 1, USPA “will not use association resources to support the sport of ‘indoor skydiving,’ except to nominate international judges to such IPC [International Parachuting Commission] events as appropriate. USPA will seek to encourage, foster and cooperate with any emerging national governing body for tunnel flying.” As a result, effective next month, USPA is officially out of the wind-tunnel business.
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