Competing  in  4-way  formation  skydiving  can  be  a  lot  of  fun  and  also  very  challenging.  It’s  the  kind  of  sport  you  can  enjoy  casually  on  the weekend  or  devote  your  life  to  (like  the  members  of  SDC  Rhythm  XP  do)! If  you’re  thinking  of  participating,  you’ll  first  need  to  learn  a  little about  the  formations  and  the  five  positions  on  the  team.

For skydivers, two things keep us in the sport—our passion for human flight and the amazing friendships we build with others who share that passion.

Welcome to the front office! This new bimonthly column will take you behind the scenes of jump piloting to give you insight into the job and why your pilots do what they do. Author Chas Hines, C-41147, is an airline pilot and certified flight instructor who spent five years as a jump pilot at various drop zones. He has logged more than 5,000 hours of flight time, 500 of those instructing other pilots. He’s also been skydiving for 13 years and has more than 1,500 jumps. He can often be found load organizing at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. 

In May, USPA promoted Steve Hubbard to director of the competition and records department, which is responsible for the USPA National Championships, the U.S. Parachute Team, competitive events and skydiving records.

By Gary Patmor | D-720

"Over 18 years, through profound changes in skydiving equipment, procedures, and methods of instruction, Jim has worked hard to produce the dramatic decline in serious accidents in our sport."

While her skydiving accomplishments were incredible, it was her humanity and her love of friends and family that made her such an icon in the skydiving world.

In a sport that requires correctly functioning equipment for your survival, how much do you really know about your skydiving gear? Each year, fatal and non-fatal accidents stem from issues with skydiving equipment. The vast majority of these could have been avoided had the jumpers simply known more about their gear or performed basic gear checks to discover the problem before boarding or exiting the airplane. 

Tony Bourke uses humor and colorful language to get across his points during a Safety Day presentation at Skydive Oregon in Molalla. 

 Photo by Mark Leglise | C-44062 

On June 1, USPA began the process that culminates in its members electing the 2019-2021 USPA Board of Directors. All USPA members in good standing who are at least age 18 on or before August 1, 2018, are eligible to run for one of the 14 Regional Director or eight National Director seats.

Skydive Atlas in Holdrege, Nebraska, recently won the Visionary Rising Star Award from the Holdrege Area Chamber of Commerce. The award goes to a Chamber member who has been in business five years or less and has demonstrated business success and community leadership.

In April, Advanced Aerospace Designs released Public Service Bulletin PSB-01-2018 regarding certain Vigil 2 and Vigil 2+ automatic activation devices.

On April 2, the International Skydiving Museum and Hall of Fame announced that Marylou Laughlin and Gill Rayner have joined its board of trustees.

Four skydivers in Eloy, Arizona—Sara and Steve Curtis, Jason Peters and George Reuter—recently purchased Firebird Skydiving, maker of the EVO harness-and-container system (and previously, the Omega sport and tandem harness-and-container systems and the Contrail, Demon, Cayenne and Chilli canopies).

A Federal Aviation Administration Senior Rigger found excess wear on the top and bottom of this reserve parachute closing loop during an inspection.

Photo by Carlos Felix |  D-36519
Steve Verner swoops in for landing after a hop-and-pop skydive during a cloudy day at Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Rochelle, Illinois.

Photo by Roy Wimmer-Jablom | USPA #279679
Team Zion Freefly makes a practice jump at Skydive DeLand in Florida.

 Photo by Seth Kuttruff | D-32445

On a drizzly day during the Cheese Boogie at Skydive Milwaukee in East Troy, Wisconsin, Vanessa Mohawk follows four jumpers out the door (from left, Joshua Gifford, Adam Wirtz, Dan Wagner and Tim Hajewski) as they launch a head-up round.