The 2019 USPA Parachuting and Skydiving Nationals determined which teams and individuals will represent the U.S. in every discipline at the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Parachuting Championships Mondial (all-events competition) in Tanay, Siberia, in 2020.

I stood at the deep end of the indoor heated pool while wearing a jumpsuit, helmet, goggles and a training harness connected to a 300-square-foot main canopy and jumped into the water.

Think about the skydivers you’ve met over the years who drifted away. Nothing happened, per se; they just ... well ... disappeared. Some of this attrition is natural. The pressures of finances, family and career come into play. But have you wondered how much attrition owes directly to repetitive stress injuries on these athletes’ minds?

Anais Zanotti, Gabriela Fleury de Castro, Justin Hope and Jake Johnson freefly at Skydive Miami.

Melissa Abner flies her canopy in for landing at the Sisters in Skydiving Boogie at Skydive Tennessee in Tullahoma.

Brought to you by three-time British Freefly Champion Joel Strickland. Strickland is a full-time freefly coach and tunnel-flying professional and a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Artistic Events Judge. Jumpers can read more of his writing or contact him for tunnel camps in Europe at joelstrickland.net.

If you’re instructing AFF students, you are engaging in formation skydiving.

The summer season has faded away, and so have high temperatures, at least in the northern states. Fall is fading to winter, frost is appearing in the morning grass, and if you live north of the Mason-Dixon line, you have probably noticed it is getting colder in freefall.

During a routine repack, a rigger discovered that this Maillon Rapide quick link (aka French link) on the main deployment bag had damaged the pilot chute’s kill line and attachment point, likely from repeated friction between the components.

AFF Instructor Tim Hajewski guides an AFF student through the landing pattern at Skydive Milwaukee in East Troy, Wisconsin.

Jason and Mel Jerusalem, D-26171 and D-26162, celebrate 15 years of marriage by making a jump at Skydive Spaceland-Houston in Rosharon, Texas.

Seven teams consisting of 31 competitors braved the 100-degree Texas heat on August 10 to participate in the 2019 Annual Dallas Super Cup hosted by Skydive Spaceland–Dallas in Whitewright, Texas.

On September 14 at Kapowsin Air Sports’ Fun Jumper Weekend in Shelton, Washington, Northwest Regional Director Luke Aikins presented John Mitchell, D-6462, with the USPA Regional Achievement Award for the Northwest Region.

Jeffery Kuhn says goodbye to pilot and DZO Mike Mullins as he drops from an inverted biplane at West Tennessee Skydiving in Whiteville.

Simon Whittle skysurfs above the World Islands at Skydive Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

John Dobleman, affectionately known as “Mad John” or “M.J.” in skydiving circles, received his USPA Regional Achievement Award for the Pacific Region from DZO Shaun Fenner at Bay Area Skydiving in Byron, California, on September 2.

Jumpers honor longtime formation skydiver and rigger Jim Tafralian, who died in an August plane crash, by building a “JT” in the air at Midwest Freefall Sport Parachute Club in Ray, Michigan.

On August 24, Circle W Restorations hosted the second annual Operation Wings & Wheels event at the Circle W Airfield north of East Berlin, Pennsylvania.

USPA Foreign Affiliate Skydive Empuriabrava in Spain hosted Flock Yeah!, a skills camp for highly experienced canopy pilots, September 18-20.

Six USPA members who reside in the Central Region are on the ballot for the special election to fill the vacancy on the USPA Board of Directors created by the passing of Central Regional Director Gary Peek in August.