USPA Chooses The Canopy Piloting Team, And Skydivers Set A Formation Record

The National Aeronautics Association (NAA) informs us about happenings in the world of skydiving competition. While skydiving is a popular sport, it can be celebrated as an individual challenge, or you can add the extra challenge by participating in various types of skydiving competition.

The news from the NAA is that The U.S. Parachute Association has named its 2016 U.S. Canopy Piloting Team at the United States parachute Association’s (USPA) National Championships of Canopy Piloting on April 6-8 at Skydive City Zephyrhills in Florida. In canopy piloting, often called "swooping", skydivers fly their high-performance parachutes through narrow slalom-like courses for hundreds of yards across the ground and over water at speeds approaching 90 mph. The championships drew 55 competitors and included speed, distance and accuracy events.

This year's championships had high stakes, as the top eight finishers earned slots on the prestigious U.S. Parachute Team that will compete at the 2016 World Championships this August in Farnham, Canada. The new team includes National Champion Curt Bartholomew, Thomas Dellibac, Ian Bobo, Greg Windmiller, Matt Shull, Gage Galle, Mikeal Stevens, Albert Berchtold, and alternate Joe Abeln.

In other skydiving news, the NAA tells us an international team of 72 skydivers claimed a new world record for largest upright formation on April 9th at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. The group surpassed the previous world record of 52 set in November 2014 at Skydive Arizona. For the record, the skydivers exited four aircraft in formation at 18,000 feet to link up in a pre-determined formation while flying in an upright, or sit-fly, position. This record is pending approval from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

If you’ve ever thought about skydiving but just never quite took the steps to make it happen, there are numerous USPA approved skydiving operations that provide tandem introduction skydive flights. The whole process doesn’t take much time and it’s a great way to “take the jump” to see if this is a sport that trips your trigger.

(Photo by Curt Vogelsang furnished by NAA)

FMI: www.uspa.org/  www.naa.aero/