Skydiving Airmanship Part 1: Knowledge

“Airmanship is the consistent use of good judgment and well-developed skills to accomplish flight objectives. This consistency is founded on a cornerstone of uncompromising flight discipline and is developed through systematic skill acquisition and proficiency. A high state of situational awareness completes the airmanship picture and is obtained through knowledge of one’s self, aircraft, environment, …

Landing/Canopy Safety

Canopy Safety Wind indicators: Landing direction arrow, flags, wind sock. The landing direction arrow is an air-traffic control device that sets the landing direction on the north side of the runway. Know the landing direction before takeoff, and check the landing direction indicator (LDI) north of the runway after you open and check canopy in case …

Avoiding Turbulence

It is bumpy up there! Turbulence is the Rodney Dangerfield of skydiving…. It doesn’t get respect. Turbulence is a challenge for jumpers for at least two reasons: It is invisible and unpredictable. Because turbulence is invisible, we must actively anticipate where it may be. Most new jumpers (and a lot of more experienced ones) vastly underestimate …

The New Beer Line

Ah, the beer line–that line close to the hangar that causes all skydivers in sight distance to yell “BEER!!!!” with glee if you land on the hangar side of it. Did you know we now have one of these in the student/A-B license landing area at our Houston location in addition to our regular beer …

Parachute Landing Patterns

Wind conditions anywhere can be extremely inconsistent… from 30mph to dead calm conditions, it’s important that we have a consistent canopy landing pattern plan that keeps everyone safe. Following are several guidelines we follow here at Skydive Spaceland to keep traffic moving consistently and predictably, thereby reducing the chances for a collision. Take heed of …