Want a few free skydives? Tell your friends to come skydive with us! Every single new tandem skydiver you send our way gets YOU $30 on your jump account! That’s a free skydive if you’re licensed, or $30 towards your next skydive if not!
Ask our office for a bunch of Skydive Spaceland referral business cards and hand them out to prospective new jumpers at work, at social outings, or distribute them at local businesses. For every new tandem skydiver that brings us one of those cards with your name on it, you’ll get $30 on your account. No bag limit!
You can also send us an email to get an online link just for you that you can share on social media. Skydives booked through that link will give you that $30 credit!
Don’t forget to follow us on social media for the latest news and sales!
If you find yourself at the dropzone, you will most likely be spending some time in the manifest office. With the rapid rate of growth that Skydive Spaceland has been experiencing, we want to spread the word on some general reminders and guides for manifesting and sharing the space of the office.
The Basics: How to Manifest
What to start with:
Number of slots you need
The minimum call time you can make
If we are running more than one plane available for fun jumpers, you can give a plane preference
For example, “Do you have 3 slots, more than 15 min? I’d prefer the Otter if it’s available.”
Before you give us the name(s) of who to manifest, we need to know if you are:
Wingsuiting
Renting Gear (per Jump or Daily rate)
Tracking/Angle
Hop n Poping
Mentoring
Organizing
Renting Gear?
If you are renting gear (Daily or Per Jump), it is important to remind (all that apply):
Manifestor
Mentor
Organizer
Coach
DJ
friend manifesting you
Rental Types
Daily
This means that you have ordered at least 3 pieces of a rig through our Pro Shop. This could be a container, main, reserve, and/or AAD. If you are on the daily rate, you get charged an initial fee of $37.36 and then $8.00 for every jump after for pack jobs. This means every load you get on, we have to add your gear rental and we need your help remembering!
If the gear you ordered comes in, be sure to let us know!
Per Jump
This means that you haven’t ordered gear yet and you pay $26.75 per jump that you use one of our rigs (this includes pack jobs). This also means every load you get on, we have to add your gear rental and we need your help remembering!
Manifest Etiquette
Respect the line
While we appreciate the kind thought of bringing fresh air into the office.. on busy days, drop your gear off before stopping by the office.
WE KNOW YOU’RE EXCITED TO GET ON A LOAD.. but please don’t yell from the door, confirm your load and call.
Communication! Talk to the people you are manifesting to make sure they are going with you and not manifested for another load they can’t make.
Some things we need before you can jump…
Money on your account
If you don’t keep up with how much money is on your account, we will call you over the speaker to refill it. If you don’t want to wait in line to refill it, you can fund your account online! Keep in mind it takes time to process online payments, so it would be best done by the day before.
Your USPA Membership
If your USPA membership has expired, we need you to update it with us by bringing us your email confirmation or new card.
Your in-date reserve card
If your reserve packing date in our system is out of date, we’ll need to see your card to update it.
Know Your Load (Which Plane and Load Number)!
Busy Day = 3 planes = 65 slots = 65 names on one rotation of loads…
and that’s if you’re just looking at the current calls.
***Insert Picture***
This is one load on three planes.. and we manifest up to four or five loads out per plane!
That means when you don’t your load number, we look through up to 12 loads with on average 20 names each.. That’s 240 names to find yours! Load times change, load numbers don’t!
Know your load number!
Know your load for changes too
When you are
adding friends
pulling off
putting yourself on with others
you need to know what plane and load number you are looking for.
Are we on a call?
There are a couple of locations all over the DZ that display the load and timer so you know the call.
That timer never stops! Even if something isn’t on a call, we can’t hit pause or 0 it out.
Be sure to listen for calls and ask if it looks like a turn or shutdown load when you manifest.
* Pro tip: When you see canopies landing you should be in the loading area.
20 minute call
Our calls are done based off of
Average plane time up and down
The altitudes we hear from the pilot on the radio
The calls can vary based on
Weight of the plane (jumpers, plane, gas)
Number of passes (hop n pop, team, STP) and any go-arounds
Air traffic control
Weather
Based on what the pilot tells us on the radio, we adjust calls accordingly.
5 min call
When you hear the 5 min call, you should be making your way to the loading area! We understand it’s hot in Houston, but…
It’s important to set up your loading order before the plane gets there
The pilot looks to see if people are out there to know if he is turning if we forget to tell him
The loader has to check to make sure his load sheet matches the people before you get on the airplane.
Downtime
We love working in the office and because operations can’t pause, we spend a lot of time behind the counter! You are welcome to spend some time in the AC office, however if you don’t need anything, please hang out at the tables and not leaning on or around the counter so people who need us can get to us. Also, given how much traffic we have though the office, we appreciate our quiet downtime. If you are having a conversation with someone who doesn’t work in the office that doesn’t relate to office things, we invite you to take that chat to any of the other 130 acres that we own.
Thank you Spacelanders!
We love our jumpers and we thank you for your patience on busy days! We love our jobs and seeing everyone progress in a safe and positive environment makes us proud to be part of such an awesome place!
Don’t forget to capture your tandem skydiving adventure forever with our professionally edited high-resolution (1080p) video of your jump set to your choice of music style! Let us document your skydive so you can relive your experience of a lifetime with friends and family (and prove that you actually did it)!
No matter which package you choose, your video/photos will be delivered to you before you leave the drop zone on a Spaceland Flash/USB drive–this makes sharing your video and photos with your friends and family via Instagram, email, Facebook, Youtube, etc., as easy as stepping out of a plane. 🙂
Selfie Video
$129 + tax
If you just need proof, this is it! Video of your jump, parachute flight, and landing filmed by your instructor.
PRO Video+Photos
$179 + tax
Professional videographer flies with you to film your experience from gear-up to landing! Includes video and photos.
ULTIMATE Video+Photos
$229 + tax
Everything in the Selfie and Pro packages COMBINED! You get all the best angles and have the most fun!
Hey, new skydiver! Do you feel confused when picking your gear up off the field? Do you constantly hear “YOU’RE DRAGGING!” being shouted from across the landing area? Do you want to look more like a PRO on your way in?!
There’s a whole lot of information thrown at you as a new skydiver, and some of the finer details can slip through the cracks. Hopefully you get a laugh or two while learning a thing or two in this great video.
Following these tips after every jump will help reduce wear on the gear and also make you a lot more popular with the packers and riggers! (These are two groups of people you really want on your side!)
Have you ever struggled to understand what a parachute landing pattern is and how to modify it for different wind conditions? Check out this video! (Another fantastic edit by Nick Lott!)
Welcome! We look forward to making ALL the jumps with you, ALL YEAR LONG!!! Here are a few tips about Skydive Spaceland Atlanta that you might find useful if you are moving here from afar.
Skydive Spaceland Atlanta
1195 Grady RD
Rockmart, GA 30153
Phone 770.748.2200 manifestGA@SkydiveSpaceland.com
You can get mail and packages sent to the DZ in your name.
You can pop tents or park RVs / Campers onsite for the weekend. There is NO hookup for electricity or water. Please let us know if you plan to camp.
DZ Layout/Details, Showers, Laundry
If you’ve never jumped at Spaceland Atlanta before, please see our New Jumper Briefing for an overview of landing areas/facilities and basic safety policies.
For more details on our safety policies, packers, locker rental, pet policy, full-service pro shop, full-service rigging loft, and much more, please visit the experienced jumper information page on our website.
Local Stores
Walmart in Rockmart, 1801 Nathan Dean Bypass, Rockmart, GA 30153. Open 6am-11pm daily.
There are also several restaurants and stores in nearby Rockmart and Cedartown, and anything you need in Atlanta about an hour away.
We have drink and snack vending machines on site.
Get the Most Out of Your Unlimited Package!
Jumpers who maximize their jumps on the package often come here with skydiving goals in mind (learn to wingsuit or angle fly, get instructional ratings, etc.) and a path mapped out to achieve them.
Every Spaceland has tools to help you grow and succeed in skydiving! We have mentor programs with free coaching for skydivers with 100 jumps or less, then we have organizers. We have highly skilled coaches who will be happy to focus on you and keep your learning curve steep. And we regularly hold coach and instructor rating courses by The Ratings Center to help you achieve goals of working with students.
We also are located conveniently to a 14-ft iFly wind tunnel in Atlanta.
Let’s see what you can do with YOUR unlimited jump year!
You’re almost done!!!! Welcome to Dive Flow 18 in Skydive Spaceland’s Skydiver Training Program. On your 18th solo jump, you will get to plan your own jump! Select skills you enjoy or those you need to practice more, with your instructor’s guidance, and make sure you have a good grasp of the survival skills you’ll need to stay safe for the rest of your skydiving career.
Welcome to Dive Flow 17 in Skydive Spaceland’s Skydiver Training Program. On your 17th solo jump, you will exit from a lower altitude and deploy quickly to simulate an emergency exit (in case of an in-flight emergency).
Welcome to Dive Flow 16 in Skydive Spaceland’s Skydiver Training Program. On your 16th solo jump, you will get to plan your own jump! Select skills you enjoy or those you need to practice more, with your instructor’s guidance.
Welcome to Dive Flow 15 in Skydive Spaceland’s Skydiver Training Program. On your 15th solo jump, you will demonstrate to your instructor that you have the skills for that A license!
Welcome to Dive Flow 14 in Skydive Spaceland’s Skydiver Training Program. On your 14th solo jump, you will practice skills you learned on earlier jumps with your instructor’s guidance.
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your 13th “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will continue to practice swooping down to dock on your instructor, and you’ll also work on side sliding. Relax and have fun!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your twelfth “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will work on your diving exit along with swooping down to dock on your instructor. Relax and have fun!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your eleventh “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will work on controlling your fall rate (speeding up and down), continue to develop a more powerful track, initiate your ‘break-off’ from the jump, and scan your airspace before deploying the main parachute by 4,500′. Relax and have fun!
If you’re reading this, chances are you tried to buy something here and received this error message: “The provided address does not match the billing address for the cardholder.”
Please do not continue to submit the transaction without fixing the error!
This message is telling you that either the numeric part of the street address you submitted at checkout (such as the 123 of “123 My Street”) or your zip code did not match the address information on file with your credit card issuing bank. All declined transactions tie up funds on your card as “pending charges” for a few business days, so you already have the charge amount tied up as a pending charge. If you continue to resubmit the transaction with incorrect information, it will keep declining due to address mismatch and each attempt will result in a new pending charge. For example, if your $200 order is declined five times, you’ll have $1000 in pending charges on your card. No bueno!
Wait, what? Wasn’t the charge declined? How am I still being charged?
When you make a purchase online, your credit card is not actually charged at that moment. The card processor first checks with your bank or credit card issuer to make sure you have enough available credit to complete the purchase. If so, your bank or credit card issuer places a hold, or pending charge, on the amount of the intended purchase against your card. The card processor then makes sure the other information you entered (for instance, your address) is correct, and if all is well the transaction is processed. If not, such as if you enter an incorrect address, then the transaction is declined and the pending charge will disappear from your account within a few days.
Not all online merchants require that the billing address submitted with a transaction match the one on file with the bank. We have chosen to do so to reduce fraudulent charges, protecting our customers and our business. The down side is when customers make a mistake in the billing address they submit and accidentally tie up funds on their cards as pending charges due to the mistake.
Quite often, we find people experiencing address mismatch declines have simply forgotten to change their billing address with their bank after a move. On rare occasion, the address on file with the bank has an error in it. Regardless of the reason for the mismatch, your purchase will not go through with the information you’ve provided. Please verify your address information is correct and try again online if you prefer, or you can simply show up during our normal business hours with a card or cash to pay on site.
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your tenth “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will float out, docked with your instructor, and work on tracking flatter and farther!!!!! Relax and have fun!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your ninth “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will dive out docked with your instructor and start working on forward movement and backsliding!!!!! Relax and have fun!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your eighth “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will dive out solo and practice front and back flips!!!!! Relax and have fun!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your seventh “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will exit solo and practice barrel rolls. Relax and have fun!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your sixth “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will practice turns, forward movement, and docking on your instructor. It’s getting real now! 🙂
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your fifth “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will practice turns, forward movement, and your instructor will dock on you.
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your fourth “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will practice turns and forward movement. It’s time to start really flying!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your third “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will practice deploying your parachute, stable freefall, and altitude awareness. Your goal is to fly smoothly and stable so you can earn your release from your instructor, truly skydiving solo for the first time!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your second “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will practice deploying your parachute, stable freefall, team turns with your instructor, and altitude awareness. Watch the video to see how it’s done!
Welcome to Skydive Spaceland’s exclusive, innovative Skydiver Training Program! On your first “solo” skydive, wearing your own parachute system, you will practice deploying your parachute, stable freefall, and altitude awareness.
Skydive Spaceland is thrilled to announce the full-time addition of longtime competitive skydiver Scott Latinis to the Skydive Spaceland team as Organizing and Events Director.
“My parents will be so thrilled that I got a real job,” Latinis jokes. “But seriously, it’s a really great thing to be able to work in and give back to the sport we all love so much.”
Latinis brings decades of high-level competitive formation skydiving experience, three world records, nine USPA National Skydiving Championships, and his trademark energy to this new position, which serves all four Spaceland drop zones.
“Scott is an extraordinary competitor, coach, and organizer, and he’s exactly what we need to continue growing the Spaceland family of drop zones,” said Spaceland’s owner Steve Boyd. “We’re all in this business because we love skydiving passionately, and Scott is going to help us share that love with our customers by blowing their minds with more and bigger events in all disciplines, for all of our locations.”
Boyd opened the first Skydive Spaceland just south of Houston, Texas, in February of 2000, followed by expansion to Clewiston, Florida, near Miami in early 2013; to Rockmart, Georgia, near Atlanta in May 2015; and to Whitewright, Texas, near Dallas in April 2016. Spaceland Houston conducts more than 100,000 skydives per year and has hosted major skydiving competitions including the U.S. National Skydiving Championships. It is also the busiest civilian skydiving school in the country.
Building on Spaceland’s successful Skydiver Training Program and Transitions programs that support new skydivers, Latinis plans to grow Spaceland’s organizing program to fully support licensed jumpers of all experience levels and all disciplines.
“No matter what your skill level is, we’ll have something fun for you to do at Spaceland,” said Latinis.
Latinis is already working on some innovative events, including FlySight-aided tracking competitions at Houston and Dallas in 2016 and the Pre-Nationals Meet in 2017 for competitors to pre-test themselves against peers before the National Skydiving Championships.
“We have a ton of great ideas, and I’m excited to be a part of this team as we take all of the Spacelands to the next level,” Latinis added.
Water fascinates us. How else do you explain the price premium on beachfront, lakefront, and riverfront properties? As skydivers, water should fascinate us for another, very important reason–it moves and responds to physics much like air, only we can actually see and thereby learn from it. As such, water has a whole lot to teach us about airflow and, more importantly, turbulence.
Air turbulence is something most of us understand conceptually, but not so much in practice. Why? We can’t see it. And if we’re on the ground, it usually doesn’t even affect us that much unless winds are extreme, so we don’t think about it that much. But when you’re flying a parachute, turbulence can radically affect your parachute’s flight and change your life very quickly. A little turbulence might feel like driving over a bumpy road, but severe turbulence can partially or completely collapse your canopy. Canopy collapses can cause radical, diving turns and even put you back in freefall at an altitude where you absolutely never want to be in freefall!
The good news is that turbulent airflow does follow the laws of physics, just like a river flowing around rocks. (Watch that closely next time you get a chance.) Thus, we usually have a pretty good idea of where it will appear when winds pick up. Turbulent airflow exists downwind of obstacles, extending to 10-20 TIMES the height of the obstacle horizontally! It also exists behind moving objects, and very much so behind airplanes with props turning, even if they are parked. Winds can also affect the location of turbulence generated by aircraft.
If you went through our Skydiver Training Program, you might remember learning this with the following graphic:
Let’s put this into practice. For example, with our 34-foot-tall hangar at Skydive Spaceland Houston in a north wind, turbulence could be expected at distances of up to 340-680 feet to the south. Measuring directly south of the middle of the hangar’s edge, the runway is about 450 feet away. Thus, the entire area between the hangar and the runway would be considered a hazardous landing zone in a north wind. This is why you generally see even highly experienced jumpers landing east of the hangar in north winds; it’s just safer.
Take another look at the turbulence graphic above with the airplane. Notice the turbulence behind the airplane? This is essentially the same situation we have at Spaceland Houston if an aircraft is turning hot and loading at loading area 2 just west of the hangar, facing north. Turbulence from this aircraft, especially but not only with a west wind, will affect the west-most edge of the staff/D-license landing area, making it a very good place to avoid no matter how many jumps you have or what kind of canopy you’re flying. The laws of physics do not bend for skydivers, no matter how many jumps they have!
A good rule of thumb is to never land anywhere behind a running airplane or close to and facing an obstacle.
A good rule of thumb is to never land anywhere behind a running airplane or close to and facing an obstacle. Just downwind of an obstacle, any significant wind will create turbulence right where you can least afford to deal with it–close to the ground where you have very little time and altitude to recover from a canopy collapse. Besides, if you overshoot while facing said obstacle, you might end up pulling a Wile E. Coyote faceplant on the obstacle, risking injury, embarrassment, and lots of beer owed.
Turbulence is a potential factor on any skydive whether you’re landing on or off the DZ. Before you make a skydive, consider the likely areas of turbulence in today’s conditions and plan to avoid those areas. If you need a little help, take a look at the aerial cheat sheets we’ve put together to help you sort it out.
Now to the really cool stuff: Here’s a video to help you visualize air turbulence using smoke, put together by our awesome staff members Ken Stone, Rosy Booker, Ben Nelson, and Nick Lott. As you watch this video, note the extreme change in both direction and speed of the wind when the smoke canister is placed downwind of obstacles. Now imagine what your canopy will do when flying through the same highly variable wind conditions.
Do you really want to fly there? I absolutely don’t!
Now here’s a video of what can happen to a canopy that does run afoul of turbulence. It’s a tandem, so it’s a lighter-loaded and lower-performance wing than what many skydivers fly. This result is quite ugly, and it could have been even more violent with a higher-performance wing.
For more information and several first-hand stories about skydivers battling dust devils (which in a sense are just visible turbulence), see this article from Skydive Mag. Note that one of the big differences between a “dust devil” and “turbulence” is that you can see a dust devil coming as it has picked up dust. In grassy areas, turbulence is invisible unless it picks up something you can see being flung around. This is why an understanding of where turbulence develops, and avoidance of those areas, is your best defense.
“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, team and risk.” ‑‑http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Airmanship
Airmanship is a trait that we as skydivers should aspire to master, particularly with relation to our canopy flight. As with a pilot being aware of a powered aircraft’s abilities, the environment in which it operates, and of his/her own capabilities, we also must possess the same type of awareness and discipline when flying our canopies in order to fly safely. An aircraft pilot has many tools to help fly safely, including (sometimes) a co-pilot, radio/air traffic control, radar, and the ability to power down and up and go around to avoid airspace conflicts. We as canopy pilots do not have these luxuries. Takeoffs are optional, but landings are mandatory and imminent. We need to rely on our own skill and the awareness and skill of others to avoid airspace conflict.
We need to rely on our own skill and the awareness and skill of others to avoid airspace conflict.
So how can we be better canopy pilots (airmen/women) and safer airspace users? By developing an intimate understanding of our environment and striving to obtain a professional mastery of our knowledge, actions, and learning. Improving airmanship takes effort! Make the effort to improve and learn on every jump.
Knowledge
We need to fully understand parachutes and parachuting to be safe, effective canopy pilots. Do you completely understand your parachute systems, emergency procedures, canopy flight characteristics, and operating limitations? Do you know how meteorological conditions affect your parachute? (such as wind strength, turbulence, updraft/downdraft, and convection, just to name a few) How do they affect your flight and that of fellow jumpers? Do you understand, or are you aware of, your dropzone environment, our freedoms and limitations (regulatory restrictions, local rules, exit order, landing areas, hazards, etc.) and the challenges they pose to our airmanship? Most rules are not there to limit us, but to ensure we all have a safe environment to work and play in.
Knowledge of Risk
Having sound airmanship helps mitigate risk and sets the conditions for a safe airspace in which we can enjoy canopy flight. Identify the risks to define your limits (note: they may not be the same as other people’s limits) and thereby increase your personal safety. What are the risks on this skydive, you may think to yourself? The risks may include but are not limited to:
Identify the risks to define your limits (note: they may not be the same as other people’s limits) and thereby increase your personal safety.
Suboptimal weather conditions,
Your or others’ lack of self-discipline (not flying in a safe manner and rapid downsizing being prime examples),
Limited skill and proficiency as a jumper (risk would be being un-current or under-skilled for the jump at hand),
Limited knowledge (risk would be not knowing what you must know to do this jump safely), and
Poor situational awareness, or SA (which can be compromised by clouds, tinted eyewear, and/or lack of attention to our immediate environment).
All of these risks can result in injury or worse due to unsafe actions by ourselves or others.
Once we identify risks for a jump, we can create contingency plans to mitigate them (just like your emergency procedures). A simple way to think of this is prior to takeoff, ask who is doing what on the jump and look at the size container they have or better yet, ask what they’re flying to get a rough idea of what to expect under canopy. While under canopy, constantly scan all around you and identify all the other canopies in the sky with you by color, size, speed, and position relative to you (high, low, left, right). You will know some by sight, while others you will just be able to observe in flight. You are now actively and continuously assessing your airspace (smart!).
Scenario: You are flying a cross-braced 90sq ft canopy. You have opened safely, stowed your slider, moved to the holding area, and are now at 1200 ft, looking to enter the pattern. You spot a canopy below you.
Now think to yourself the following questions:
Who is that? (do you know them, or do you recognize the canopy?)
That’s Bill, a known culprit for poor landing patterns by spiraling down past other canopies, then floating in brakes to land at his intended point.
What is he flying?
Sabre 190 (or look at size, speed, color, if you do not recognize it).
What is his most dangerous course of action/path of flight?
Continuing his usual erratic flight through the pattern, cutting me off.
Once you answer these simple questions, you have recognized the threats and begun to prepare contingency plans. Likely, you will fly to stay far from Bill, allowing you to avoid the threat, fly a safe pattern, and land in a place of your choosing. You are using good airmanship to combat poor airmanship.
Scenario 2: You are flying a lightly loaded 190 sq ft canopy. You have opened safely, stowed your slider, moved to the holding area, and are now at 1200 ft, looking to enter the pattern. You spot a small cross-braced canopy nearby and above you.
Now think to yourself the following questions:
Use good airmanship to combat poor airmanship.
Who is that? (do you know them, or do you recognize the canopy?)
That’s John, known to spiral down past other canopies at any altitude to swoop at all costs.
What is he flying?
Velocity 90 (or look at size, speed, color, if you do not recognize it).
What is his most dangerous course of action/path of flight?
Spiraling in the pattern, possibly overtaking and colliding with me from behind and above.
With your answers, you have recognized the threats and begun to prepare contingency plans. Stay far from John by allowing him to pass you up high (much safer than down low where everyone is closer together and has less altitude to deal with problems). You might fly wide and even apply some brakes and kick your feet to communicate that you are letting him by. Again, you are using good airmanship to combat poor airmanship.
We all know a Bill and a John, who fly like they are the only ones in the sky. They are often unaware of their surroundings during flight and often after touchdown (i.e., not checking back up the line of flight for other canopies after landing). They are dangerous to all of us. Don’t be that guy!
Be vigilant.
Fly a predictable pattern.
Give way to other canopies as required.
Avoid target fixation when landing.
Avoid S turns in the landing pattern, as they are dangerous and unpredictable to following canopies. If you miss your landing point, there is always next time!
So you are ready to get that shiny new wing, or sell your current canopy. Well caveat emptor[1], good readers. Are you making good decisions about this purchase, or the sale of your “old” wing? We are seeing a disturbing, fatal trend among skydivers worldwide as newer, faster wings come onto the market and older wings become perceived as less high-performance. To help combat this, we all need to examine our mindsets when it comes to buying and selling canopies.
Canopy changes affect other skydivers as well as ourselves; we must do our due diligence on preparing that person to fly that wing safely, whether it’s ourselves or the people buying our old wings.
Canopy changes affect other skydivers as well as ourselves; we must do our due diligence on preparing that person to fly that wing safely, whether it’s ourselves or the people buying our old wings. We may not be in a position to train a buyer to fly the wing safely, but we absolutely are in a position to assess that person’s skill and determine whether he or she is a good fit for that wing or if it will be a loaded gun in untrained hands.
This article is not designed as a guide for canopy progression (which should be done with the help of a suitably qualified canopy coach, instructor, or subject matter expert), but rather to get you to think about the evolution of wings and how we can all continue to push the limits of our sport without needlessly increasing our risk. You don’t have to be an expert canopy pilot or a sponsored athlete to enjoy flying a high-performance wing, as today’s wings offer many advantages over their ancestors in performance, design, and construction. And this, sports fans, is the very heart of the problem.
What’s Trending?
People always want more. Release a new sports car, digital altimeter, or mobile phone and pretty soon a lot of people want it. Parachutes are no different; every time a new canopy design is released, a glut of “last-generation” high-performance canopies hits the market as people buy up the new canopies and sell off their old wings.
This has happened with every new advancement in the canopy market, whether it was the release of the Performance Designs (PD) Stiletto in 1992 or the recent release by NZ Aerosports (NZ Aero) of the Leia. Once the new canopy arrives, the sales begin as skydivers sell the old to purchase the new, or purchase the latest and greatest to keep up. A quick search of Dropzone.com today found about 220 used Crossfire, Katana, Stiletto, Velocity, JFX, and JVX canopies for sale (2/10/16); all of these could be considered “previous generation” high-performance wings.
Every time a new canopy design is released, a glut of “last-generation” high-performance canopies hits the market as people buy up the new canopies and sell off their old wings.
There is nothing wrong with wishing to upgrade your wing or sell the old. This is the evolution of our sport, but the key to buying or selling a canopy is to keep that skydiver on the new wing—yourself as the buyer, or your buyer if you’re selling—within their capabilities. Putting a skydiver under a higher-performance wing without the pre-requisite experience to fly it safely is creating a whole new type of problem. This problem is being observed at dropzones around the world, and is well summarized by comments from Bryan Burke of Skydive Arizona, who is one of the world’s foremost experts on skydiving safety.
“I’m very concerned that a lot of people will be buying used canopies as the more ‘expert’ jumpers sell off their Velocities, Xaos’, and JVXs to get Leias and Valkryies,” says Burke. “The latest fatalities [at Skydive Arizona, early 2016] were visitors from out of state, uncurrent, and especially in the latter case, not trained. One individual had downsized to the Velo from a Spectre 120! I never would have let him jump it if I had known. Now it seems like we might need to start screening visitors for appropriate choice of main and adequate training and supervision.”
Skydivers don’t want dropzones to screen their canopy choices, and trust me, drop zones don’t want the hassle of doing it either! But some drop zones may choose to screen canopy choices if it seems that this will help protect their customers and their business. The way to avoid external regulation like this is always with education and self-regulation, so let’s work on that.
Perception vs. Reality
Some seem to think that certain high-performance canopies have lost performance or become more forgiving just because newer technology is available. Not so! Not a single thing changes about a wing when another wing comes out; what changes is our perception.
Perception: As the newest wings such as the NZ Aerosports Leia and PD Valkyrie are beginning to circulate more, the number of used canopies for sale such as the JVX, Xaos, and Velocity is increasing. This has led to a perception that canopies such as the Katana, Crossfire 2, or Stiletto are now mid-range or newbie canopies. Some seem to think that these canopies have lost performance or become more forgiving just because newer technology is available. Not so! Not a single thing changes about a wing when another wing comes out; what changes is our perception.
Think of it like a car. The 2006 Ferrari Katana is not any less capable because the 2015 Ferrari Valkyrie has been released. The 2015 model will have a new shape and upgrades that make it more desirable; however, they are both high-performance machines capable of getting you into trouble more quickly than your 2000 Dodge Navigator (which don’t forget is also a more than capable canopy. What has actually happened is that the older canopy is now perceived to be slower relative to the new design. This creates a perception that it has magically transformed into a lesser or more mid-range canopy.
Reality: The reality is that all ram-air parachutes are high-performance. They are highly maneuverable whether you’re flying a 365-sq-ft tandem or a 67-sq-ft Petra. Make the wrong decision when flying any canopy, and the consequences may be dire. The reality is that most people downsize too rapidly without spending enough time on their first wings to develop the survival skills they’ll need to safely handle a canopy with increased performance.
Managing the Risk
How do we mitigate this new perception vs. reality risk? As buyers, we must select a canopy that is appropriate for our currency, skill level, and experience, and by being brutally honest with ourselves about our level of proficiency. This may mean we have to swallow some bitter pills from more experienced jumpers and canopy coaches, but this is how we’ll learn what we need to work on before we progress to higher-performance wings. As sellers, we must be selective when we sell a canopy to another jumper.
When buying and selling canopies, we have a responsibility to each other to make sure the right canopy is finding the right user. Random canopy sales/purchases without due diligence are careless and are not in the best interests of our skydiving family.
Selling and Buying
You have a responsibility to people with lesser knowledge and experience.
Sellers
If you are a seller, maybe the guy with low jump numbers is not the person to whom you should be offloading that Katana 107. You have a responsibility to people with lesser knowledge and experience. Maybe it is someone on your DZ, or maybe it’s a faceless someone replying to your advertisement. Either way, it doesn’t take long to ask a few questions to confirm their level of expertise with regards to their ability to safely fly your canopy. If you don’t know this person, you may not want to take their word for it, so ask for their home drop zone and contact management and/or instructors there about this person’s abilities. Taking this time to find out might save a life, prevent an injury, and/or stop your DZ making the news in the wrong light, which hurts everyone in the sport. Don’t be an accessory to injury–or worse!
Buyers
If you are a buyer, be honest with yourself as to your level of skill and knowledge. Are you really ready for that canopy, or are you just trying to look good? Have you fully exploited the capabilities of your current canopy? Have you discussed your intended canopy purchase with experienced canopy pilots, and completed suitable canopy training that sets you up for success? Can you safely land your current canopy in any given weather or situation? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you are not ready for a higher-performance wing. Spend more jumps on your current wing and consider canopy coaching to turn any “no” answers into “yes” ones.
Be proficient before transitioning, so you don’t become just another injury or fatality statistic. Approximately 30% or greater of all of our fatalities are due to bad landings under perfectly good wings.
Take the time and seek help to identify a canopy that is suitable for your skills before you start looking to buy. This will help you make good choices, grow your skills, and enjoy your new canopy rather than risking injury or grounding by safety staff.
Conclusion
We all want to progress in our canopy flight, whether it be for competition, licenses, or just plain old fun. And I’m pretty sure we can all agree that no one wants to be hurt or killed doing it. So when you are looking at selling or buying a new canopy, just ask yourself a simple question:
Sellers: Are they ready for this canopy?
Buyers: Am I ready for this canopy?
If the answer is no from either party (or even “I’m not sure”), seek advice from an expert as this strongly suggests that you require another canopy that better meets your requirements. There are many excellent canopies for all levels of experience on the market, both new and used. Take the time and seek help to identify a canopy that is suitable for your skills before you start looking to buy. This will help you make good choices, grow your skills, and enjoy your new canopy rather than risking injury or grounding by safety staff.
You will always have enough knowledge and experience to get into trouble. The question is, do you have enough to get out?
[Latin, Let the buyer beware.] A warning that notifies a buyer that the goods he or she is buying are “as is,” or subject to all defects. When a sale is subject to this warning, the purchaser assumes the risk that the product might be either defective or unsuitable to his or her needs.
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Skydive Spaceland is thrilled to announce the full-time addition of longtime competitive skydiver Scott Latinis to the Skydive Spaceland team as Organizing and Events Director.
Once we identify risks for a jump, we can create contingency plans to mitigate them (just like your emergency procedures). A simple way to think of this is prior to takeoff, ask who is doing what on the jump and look at the size container they have or better yet, ask what they’re flying to get a rough idea of what to expect under canopy. While under canopy, constantly scan all around you and identify all the other canopies in the sky with you by color, size, speed, and position relative to you (high, low, left, right). You will know some by sight, while others you will just be able to observe in flight. You are now actively and continuously assessing your airspace (smart!).
