I would like to thank Dave at Skydive Radio for making my image below their pic of the week! Skydive Radio is the world’s leading internet radio show dedicated to the sport of skydiving. Weekly episodes include commentary, feature interviews with industry insiders, listener-contributed photos, and e-mails from an audience that spans the globe.
To watch the video of the intensional cutaways, click here.
Check out our latest YouTube video where we deep dive the differences between a regular RSL (reserve static line) and a Skyhook equipped RSL. Brianne interviews UPT rep/rigger Greg Rau in the AXIS Flight School studio, as well as enjoying a weekend of intensional cutaways.
Greg Rau: “In an emergency there is a lot of other things involved, and the lower you take it, you’re just buttering up your disaster cake.”
For more information about MARD systems, check out the article “MARDginal Analysis” by Riley Marshall, as well as the UPT website. Special thanks to Greg Rau, Derek Vanboeschoten, Mark Kirschenbaum (Hypoxic), and David Cherry (D-Squared).
November 2020 marks AXIS Flight School‘s 10 year anniversary at Skydive Arizona!
In celebration of our ‘tin anniversary‘, we reflect on some of our favorite highlights and exploits over the past decade and give thanks to our Students, Sponsors, Team Mates, and Skydive Arizona. Without you, we would not be living the dream.
AXIS Flight School® Sponsors
We also want to give a special shout out to the various skydiving magazines who have spent many hours editing and publishing our work with the community.
November 2010 – AXIS Flight School® sets up shop at Skydive Arizona.
April 2011 – AXIS published its first Foundations of Flight article in Parachutist Magazine.
July 2011 – Nik performs his first canopy burn for the music video 4 years by Kid Savant.
September 2011 – AXIS organizes at MOAB.
October 2011 – Nik makes an appearance in the ESPN Body issue with his team mates on Arizona Arsenal.
March 2012 – Nik wins the 10th Annual Freefly Money Meet.
April 2012 – AXIS coaches and organizes at the Skydive Expo in Deland Florida.
May 2012 – AXIS offers canopy flocking courses at Skydive Arizona.
August 2012 – AXIS coaches and organizes in Europe during the summer. Several more trips follow in the future.
June 2013 – AXIS trains the first Operation Enduring Warrior AFF student Todd Love. Many more wounded veterans join the program to receive their USPA A-License and go beyond.
July 2013 – AXIS releases its first version of a free online DrawGenerator for formation skydiving disciplines. More performance tools are added over the years.
September 2013 – AXIS Flight School’s swoop and slide footage airs on VH1’s 40 greatest viral videos.
September 2013 – Nik wins his first US National title in 4-way VFS while on Arizona Arsenal.
December 2013 – Nik is the primary videographer for the Women’s Vertical World Record 63-way over Skydive Arizona.
December 2013 – Nik performs “The Huckleberry”.
February 2014 – AXIS jumps with Cory Remsburg during the Tee it up for the Troops golf outing in Scottsdale, Arizona.
June 2014 – AXIS skydiving video is featured on the TV show Jeopardy.
September 2014 – Nik wins silver at the 21st FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships in 4-way VFS while on Arizona Arsenal.
September 2014 – Nik wins his second US National title in 4-way VFS while on Arizona Arsenal.
September 2014 – Arizona X-FORCE competes at its first USPA Nationals at Skydive Chicago. The team went on to compete and medal (2 silver, 3 bronze) at five consecutive USPA Nationals, in addition to medaling at several indoor skydiving competitions (bronze at USIS). AZ X-FORCE participated in two FAI World Cups, earning bronze in 2019. Peak performances for outdoor included: 17.8 average, 24points single highest scoring round. Peak performances for indoor included: 26.1 average, 46points single highest scoring round.
March 2015 – Brianne receives the Chesley H. Judy USPA Safety Award.
March 2015 – AXIS Swoop ‘N Slide video footage is featured on GoPro, and is featured on 60minutes.
March 2015 – AXIS releases YouTube video “A Case of the Mondays”.
July 2015 – Nik captures epic video footage with a RED camera for Rockhouse Motion.
September 2015 – Ben Lowe joins AXIS Flight School under the label X-Ratings to offer rating courses.
October 2015 – Arizona X-FORCE takes 3rd at the USPA Nationals.
November 2015 – Brianne’s burning parachute jump video goes viral, reaching more than 1M views.
April 2016 – PD’s the Dream of Flight campaign.
April 2016 – First 3-way XRW night jump over Skydive Arizona.
May 2016 – Performance Designs releases the one-year anniversary Valkyrie ad featuring Brianne swooping her canopy through a wall of fire.
August 2016 – Brianne receives the USPA Regional Achievement Award for her involvement in Operation Enduring Warrior.
October 2016 – Arizona X-FORCE takes 3rd at the USPA Nationals.
December 2016 – Skydive Mag publishes Nik’s Body-flight Theory paper in four installments.
February 2017 – Nik’s aerial photography is featured on FOX 10 News.
March 2017 – Nik receives the Chesley H. Judy USPA Safety Award.
April 2017 – AXIS installs a personal weather station as Skydive Arizona and broadcast info online for locals.
April 2017 – AXIS coaches placed 3rd with their player coach team X-Defy at the iFly Virginia Beach Indoor Nationals in 4-way Formation Skydiving.
August 2017 – Arizona X-FORCE takes 4th at the 21st FAI World Cup in Germany.
September 2017 – Arizona X-FORCE takes 2nd at the USPA Nationals.
September 2017 – Brianne sets World Female Performance Record, as well as North American Female Competition and Performance Records in Speed Skydiving.
February 2018 – Brianne and Nik receive their pilots license (ASEL).
March 2018 – AXIS collaborates with the IBA to produce video tutorials.
March 2018 – Nik receives his IBA Trainer Level 4 sign off.
September 2018 – Arizona X-FORCE takes 2nd at the USPA Nationals.
January 2019 – Arizona X-FORCE takes 3rd at the USIS Nationals.
July 2019 – AXIS published its 100th Foundations of Flight in Parachutist Magazine.
August 2019 – AXIS introduces its Merit System.
September 2019 – Arizona X-FORCE takes 2nd at the USPA Nationals.
October 2019 – Brianne is the first American to medal in FS and VFS at the same World level competition.
October 2019 – Arizona X-FORCE takes 3rd at the 22nd FAI World Cup in Eloy.
December 2019 – AXIS collaborates with Good Goblin Games to produce the AXIS Skydiving App.
September 2020 – AXIS hosts its first Crucible Indoor Tournament.
October 2020 – AXIS builds a home studio to produce high quality educational videos.
November 2020 – AXIS continues to support the OEW Skydiving project.
Chris Wolff has reached another milestone by being fully released on his last jump during the Operation Enduring Warrior October training camp at Skydive Arizona. Though there is still much to do before Chris gets off student status, we could not be prouder of his accomplishment.
Just had to share this 🙂
We are looking forward to the Wolff Pack’s return for more jumping and tasty treats.
Back in February, OEW students Ryan Newell and Chris Wolff came to Skydive Arizona to learn how to fly their bodies during an intensive wind tunnel training camp with AXIS Flight School. Eight months later, they are back to start their jump training in pursuit of reaching the USPA A-License and beyond. The long break had several culprits, the largest one being the covid 19 epidemic. However, the months between their last visit also gave the team (UPT, OEW, AXIS) ample time to sort out equipment considerations that have to be addressed with every new OEW student. Each person has unique physical limitations that must be compensated for with custom equipment and training.
On October 21st, Ryan and Chris flew for 90 minutes in the tunnel, courtesy of Skyventure AZ. After getting reacquainted with the wind, Brianne started their first jump course (FJC). Over the next two days, both Ryan and Chris took to the skies learning via training-tandem progression with Adventures in Skydiving instructors Rich and Aaron. As the boys become more aware and comfortable with the demands of the sport, Brianne and Nik conducted more ground training before their first jumps on the 24th. Joost Luysterburg, a local instructor, was kind enough to donate some of his time to help Ryan and Chris during preparations and jumping.
Now about a week and a half into their training, Chris is still going strong with jumping and tunnel flying. Unfortunately Ryan has to take a break due to an injury sustained during a landing. Though his training is currently on hold, Ryan only sees this as a “bump in the road”, and is not deterred by this turn of events. We wish him well and are looking forward to his return.
I would like to thank UPT‘s Riley Marshall, and Lesley Gale at SkydiveMag for showing off some of my photos and videos in a feature article about the Skyhook (MARD). To learn more about the Main-Assisted Reserve Deployment system, and how it differs from a Reserve Static Line (RSL), check out the full article MARDginal Analysis.
Brianne Thompson cuts away with the Skyhook, filmed by Niklas Daniel over Skydive Arizona, Video by AXIS Flight School.
The Crucible is just over a week away!
This fun event, created and organized by AXIS Flight School®, exposes participants to the challenges of competition, while meeting new likeminded flyers. The Crucible is a great learning opportunity for those who wish to take their flying abilities to the next level.
Click here to register (Limited to 12 slots)
The competition format is an all-play-all tournament, in which each competitor meets all other competitors in turn. Each participant flies with every other participant once. Athletes try to accumulate wins into a final statistic by collecting as many points as possible in a 35 second working time. The Crucible round-configuring-system is a fair way to determine a winner from amongst all participants. One or two bad performances do not jeopardize a competitor’s chance of ultimate victory. Therefore the Crucible tournament fosters a fun and inclusive environment.
All participants are guaranteed to showcase their skills for the entire duration of the event. Final scores of the competitors represent the results over a longer period against the same opposition.
On average a Crucible Tournament takes four hours to complete from arrival to departure. This includes the competitors brief, prep time, short breaks, flight time, and awards ceremony.
Each flyer showcases their individual flying skills during two rounds called the Speed Maze. The solo flyer races against the clock in order to collect as many points scattered around the tunnel walls as possible. There will be pads on the tunnel walls, numerically sequenced from 1-10, and the competitors have to tag them with their hands or feet in numerical order. Once a competitor tags number 10, s/he repeats the sequence from number 1 until the end of the 35 seconds working time. The points collected during the speed maze rounds are added up and are part of every athlete’s total score.
Helpful Links:
Register (link to Square online store)
Random Draw Generator (select FS, AXIS, and Open)
Though the Performance Designs Tour Reps were not be able to make it out in person to Skydive Arizona this year – they shipped a whole box of Sabre3 demos to AXIS Flight School instead! Over the weekend, Nik and Brianne helped jumpers demo the new Sabre3. The canopies were 100% FREE to demo and available in 210, 190, 170, 150, 135, 120, 107, 97, and 89 square feet.
Photo by Kay Robinson
If you missed your chance to try out this amazing wing over the weekend, make sure to contact PD and ask them about their “Fly before you buy!” program. FYI, the box is currently on its way to Skydive Elsinore for next weekend 😉
Ray Lardizabal having a blast with the new Sabre3 over Skydive Arizona. Photo by Niklas Daniel.
The best things come in threes. For over 40 years the PD engineering team has challenged and proven what’s possible with modern canopy design. And they did it again. The Sabre3, the third canopy in a lineage of amazing, world-renowned wings, is not just a new wing, it’s a better wing. It redefines the Sabre name. Crisp handling, consistent on-heading openings, huge dynamic speed range, incredible landings, more power, and seriously responsive to inputs. PD Athletes and Test Jumpers agree that this will be one of the most sought-after canopies in the world for intermediate to expert skydivers, the next greatest all-around 9-cell modern canopy.
The goal of any warm up is to prepare ourselves physically and mentally for our upcoming activities. Therefore, we need activity-specific functional stretching exercises that utilize sport specific movements. To implement these, get to the DZ early so you have enough time to warm up. After getting settled and checking all your equipment, we recommend walking or jogging around the landing area for five to ten minutes. That way you can get the blood flowing as well as get a chance to check the wind conditions and any other important information you may have otherwise missed. In the event you do not have the luxury of a lot of room, you can use this small-space exercise routine to get warmed up. When performed correctly, this set of dynamic stretches can result in positive training adaptations to improve performance. They do so by mimicking the activity you are about to undertake. Do not just go through the motions. Set your intentions on using good technique.
Disclaimers: Always consult a physician before starting any exercise program. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. AXIS Flight School will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of information contained in this video including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death.
