Afternoon rains, gusty winds and low clouds greeted the competitors who arrived at Skydive Pretoria in South Africa in the weeks before the 10th Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Cup of Canopy Piloting.

Jumpers fly a head-down formation during the Live Bigz event at Skydive Spaceland–Dallas.

Flanked by wingsuit flyers Andy Kenny and Melissa Pettito, Richo Butts flies his canopy atop a backflying Kenny David Covel during Wingsuit Weekend at Start Skydiving in Middletown, Ohio.

USPA Safety Day is just around the corner—on March 14—and most DZs are gearing up for the event.

Chances are, you know very little about your reserve canopy (after all, it’s packed away out of view most of the time), but you should. It’s an important piece of equipment, and although you hope to never use it, you probably will at some point. (Photo by David Cherry.)

A main parachute that opens quickly and hard can be extremely dangerous. A hard opening can break suspension lines, tear canopy fabric, and injure, kill or incapacitate the jumper.

Organizer Christy Frikken smiles for the camera while leading a jump during the P3 Sequential Camp at Skydive Perris in California.

Monica Dunigan (10 o’clock), B-51298, celebrates her 100th jump with friends during the Ladies by the Lake Boogie at Cleveland Skydiving Center in Garrettsville, Ohio.

In December, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (the governing body for world air sports) announced that it appointed Markus Haggeney as acting secretary general following the departure of Secretary General Susanne Schödel.

In December, Advanced Aerospace Designs, manufacturer of the Vigil automatic activation device, issued reminders to Vigil owners about battery replacement.

Executive Director Ed Scott presents departing Director of Sport Promotion Nancy Koreen with a personalized gift thanking her for her years of service to USPA.

Each year, the Colorado Aviation Business Association and the Colorado Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars arrange for aircraft to collect tens of thousands of pounds of canned food and toys at Centennial Airport near Denver and distribute them to distant towns across the state where volunteers distribute them to veteran families in need.

On December 1, the Texas skydiving community said goodbye to Bob Hunter, D-15030, who passed away of natural causes in October. Hunter, a USPA Tandem Instructor who had made more than 8,000 jumps, was an integral part of the Texas skydiving community.

Over adult beverages at Tsunami Skydivers’ 2019 Party on the Playa boogie in Costa Rica, photographer Bruno Brokken was talking with a group of friends when he had a question: How would they like to make a jump over Meteor Crater in Arizona so he could photograph it?

In November, a team of formation skydivers and night-jump enthusiasts gathered at Skydive Arizona in Eloy to build large, multi-point formations with complete breaks between points.

At Skydive Perris in California, John Miller releases the ashes of his newly discovered half-brother, Randy, whom he met through DNA tracing for the first time last year and who died of natural causes before being able to make a skydive with his sibling.

Max Cohn, D-20252, made a name for himself in the 1990s as an East Coast freefly talent when most of the evolution of the discipline was occurring in the West and in Florida.

As an experienced skydiver, I’ve competed in 4-way [formation skydiving] in the advanced class at Nationals multiple times.

“Fly Free #4”
Acrylic on canvas

Lily Sayre | B-50998
Somerville, Massachusetts
Skydiveart.com