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The USPA Board of Directors, with guidance from seasoned mixed formation skydiving competitors, approved changes to the MFS event for the 2019 National Skydiving Championships. Based on competitor feedback from the 2018 Nationals, changes were made to allow for closer synergy between the advanced and open classes, as well as to continue to increase national (and hopefully one day international) participation with the addition of an entry-level intermediate class. MFS is one of the fastest-growing disciplines in skydiving and strives to provide a multi-orientation playing field for all levels of freeflyers.
The 2019 USPA National Canopy Piloting Championships at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina, this September will now include a freestyle test event. The three-jump event is scheduled for September 10, with official registration on September 9.
Follow all the scores at OmniSkore.com, and check out USPA’s Facebook page for photos throughout the event, which continues until September 18.
After nearly two full days on the ground due to weather, the first events wrapped up at the 2018 USPA National Skydiving Championships at Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Rochelle, Illinois.
Each year, the National Aeronautic Association selects what it considers aviation's most memorable records from the previous year and honors those records at an event near Washington, D.C.
The 2017 USPA National Collegiate Parachuting Championships wrapped up Tuesday, January 2, at the Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales. The competition, the longest-running collegiate event in history, drew 82 college skydivers from across the U.S. As always, The U.S. Military Academy and U.S. Air Force Academy were well represented, as were the U.S. Naval Academy and University of Connecticut. Students also competed from Fort Lewis College, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Kansas State University, Northeastern University, University of Georgia and University of Massachusetts Amherst. Despite some clouds and rain, jumpers completed at least the minimum number of required rounds in all events.
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 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.
An international group of formation skydivers has set a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale sequential formation skydiving world record (pending ratification) with a two-point 202-way. The group completed the jump Tuesday, September 29, at Skydive Perris in California. Dieter Kirsch, Milko Hodgkinson and Patrick Passe organized the event, which they called the Sequential Games. For the past five years, a number of attempts at this record have come close, but none has succeeded—until now.
An international team of skydivers from 23 nations built a 164-way head-down formation on Friday, July 31, at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, eclipsing the 138-Way World Record for Largest Head-Down Formation set at the same location in 2012. It took 13 attempts to build the formation, which resembled a giant flower. International formation skydiving judges Randy Connell, Marylou Laughlin and Jami Pillasch certified the performance, which will now go to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale for ratification.
Following last October’s world-record-breaking leap from 135,897 feet, Alan Eustace and the StratEx Team are among this year’s nominees for the National Aeronautic Association’s prestigious Collier Trophy.
(More articles being added every day!)