Chasing the Worlds Fastest Man

Posted on October 30, 2021 by AXIS Flight School

The 2021 United States Parachute Association National Championships were held October 18-30 at Skydive Arizona. The aim of the event is to:

1) recognize and honor U.S. National Champions in the following disciplines: Artistic Events, Canopy Formation, Formation Skydiving, Accuracy Landing, Canopy Piloting, Mixed Formation Skydiving, Vertical Formation Skydiving, Wingsuit Flying, Speed Skydiving, and

2) to select the best competitors in the United States to form representative U.S. Teams from the appropriate disciplines for participation in selected international competitions.

Speed competitor Niklas Daniel at the 2021 USPA Nationals at Skydive AZ.

“Speed Skydiving is a new skydiving discipline with as simple a definition as it gets. Achieve the fastest speed possible over a given distance. It has developed over the last few years and represents the fastest non-motorized sport on Earth. In essence, speed skydiving is the discipline where only one aspect of skydiving counts – freefall speed. The speed achieved by a human body in free fall is conditioned of two factors, body weight and body orientation. In a stable, belly to earth position, terminal velocity of the human body is about 200 km/h (about 120 mph). A stable, freefly, head down position has a terminal speed of around 240-290 km/h (around 150-180 mph). Further minimizing body drag and streamlining the body position allows the skydiver to reach higher speeds in the vicinity of 480 km/h (300 mph).” – FAI ISC website

Competitors are not allowed to wear weight and can only use standard skydiving equipment. Performance is recorded using a speed measuring device (SMD), a GPS tracker that is attached to each individuals helmet. For more information and rules of the event, please click here.

A new world record was set in round 1 by the current World Champion Kyle Lobpries (USA) with a speed of 512.97km/h (318.74mph)! Kyle broke his own record he had just set a couple of months earlier at the 3rd FAI World Speed Skydiving Championships in Tanay, Russia.

2021 USPA Nationals Speed Skydiving Results posted on SKYDERBY.

AXIS Flight School coach Niklas Daniel claimed second place with an average speed of 486.86 kmh / 302.52mph. Nik’s single highest scoring round was 495.36 kmh / 307.80mph, which occurred in round 4.

Nik reached a top speed of 502km/h (311.92mph), but unfortunately this peak in performance happened after the end of the scoring window. Joining the 500 club will have to wait 😉

Exit weight 100.8kg / 222.22lbs. Photo by Karl Mayer.

Nik’s gear of choice for the competition was a Cookie G3 helmet, Vertical Suits Speed Suit, L&B Optima II, Freefall Data Systems Color Alti, Cypres 2, UPT Micron (V316), PIG gloves, adidas lite racer adapt 4.0 shoes, and some strategically placed gaffers tape 🙂

Nik’s performance earned him a spot on the USA Team to compete and represent the United States at the upcoming World Championships in Eloy Arizona next year.

2021 Speed Skydiving Podium. From left to right: Niklas Daniel, Kyle Lobpries, Anthony “TJ” Landgren. Photo by Kay Robinson.

Nik would like to thank his sponsors for their continued support. In no particular order: Skydive Arizona, Skyventure AZ, Cookie Composites, Cypres, L&B Altimeters, Performance Designs, UPT, and Vertical Suits.

2021 Chicks Rock Boogie recap

Posted on October 8, 2021 by AXIS Flight School

On September 30th – October 3rd, Skydive Elsinore hosted its annual Chicks Rock Boogie. 2021 marked the event’s 20th anniversary, which had a space odyssey theme. Over the weekend Brianne and Nik of AXIS Fight School organized a variety of jumps including belly, free-fly, tracking, angle flying, canopy flocking, and even an 11-way hybrid with an orbiting wing-suiter. Jumping form Caravans, Otters, and a Skyvan, there was something for everyone. At night there were festivities, live music, and many opportunities to socialize. Brianne and Nik also participated in the night swoops event. Check out the recap video below. Looking forward to next year!

Sunset Canopy Flocking Jump by Brianne Thompson.

Quick Tunnel Edit

Posted on May 15, 2020 by AXIS Flight School

Location: Skyventure Arizona

Skydive Radio Interview on Visualizing

Posted on April 6, 2020 by AXIS Flight School

AXIS Flight School would like to thank Garnett and Dave at Skydive Radio for hosting us on their show (#249). Brianne and Nik discuss the value of incorporating visualization parctices to enhace performance.

Visualizing interview 1:37:20 – 1:55:00

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AXIS introduces new HFS dive pools

Posted on March 25, 2020 by AXIS Flight School

AXIS Flight School has introduced a new discipline – HFS (Horizontal Formation Skydiving), which is intended for indoor skydiving and utilizes both the belly and back-flying orientations simultaneously. It is therefore related to the horizontal rounds drawn during an MFS advanced event, but with an expanded dive pool in order to facilitate more rounds. These disciplines are a great stepping stone for those with formation skydiving experience and are wanting to explore free-flying. There are two versions to choose from: 2-way and 4-way. Both have been added to the AXIS DrawGenerator.

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HFS 2-way

The 2-way HFS dive pool incorporates some elements from the USPA MFS and Collegiate dive pools, as well as the USIS 2-way VFS event. In addition there are some new formations created by AXIS to further expand the pool.

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HFS 4-way

The 4-way HFS dive pool is an adaptation and was inspired by the 4-way VFS discipline.

AXIS Flight School launches its first App!

Posted on December 27, 2019 by AXIS Flight School

Over the past 3 years, AXIS Flight School has been working with Good Goblin Games to develop a new kind of skydiving app. Featuring Woody, an animated and interactive figurine that helps demonstrate body-flight and canopy-piloting concepts. In addition, the app features many more useful tools for everyone from the casual jumper to instructors and competitors.

AXIS Skydiving

Skydiving Tutorials and Tools.

A great compendium of exercises, knowledge, visualizations, and tools for skydivers and tunnel flyers.

Meet Woody! Your interactive wooden dummy guide with comprehensive information using amazing skydiving and canopy animations for a broad spectrum of experience and skill levels. Great for novice jumpers who wish to learn more, and a fantastic tool for coaches who need visuals for their students.

Available in the iTunes App Store, and Google Play.

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Features

● Education:

-Hi-res animations and photos of each exercise

-Easy-to-understand detailed descriptions

-Search by body-flight orientation or canopy piloting skills

● Calculators:

-Exit separation,

-Reserve Repack Cycle,

-Wing Loading,

-Canopy Size Orientation Guide

● Competition tools:

-Adjustable count down timer with audio cue,

-Pace, score and bust tracker

-Draw generator

-Performance analyzer

-Dive pools

If you are looking for more in depth knowledge, consider supporting us with an annual subscription. We regularly update adding new skydive content and features.

Double Bronze for Brianne Thompson

Posted on October 15, 2019 by AXIS Flight School

In addition to competing in 4-way VFS with Arizona X-Force during the 22nd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving, Brianne Thompson also participated in 4-way FS female with team Phoenix XP. Having medaled in both events, Brianne is the first American and third person in skydiving history to medal in FS and VFS at the same World level competition. This feat was first accomplished by the Lemay brothers of the Canadian National Team Evolution in 2014.

Congratulations Brianne on this amazing accomplishment!

Brianne Thompson with two bronze medals at the 22nd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving. Photo Niklas Daniel

To view scores and videos, please choose from the following links:

4-way Female (605 USA 1)

4-way VFS (501 USA 2)

4-way VFS Block videos are online!

Posted on September 23, 2019 by AXIS Flight School

AXIS Flight School has uploaded sample videos of all 22 blocks from the Vertical Formation Skydiving dive pool to its YouTube Channel. You can check out the full playlist here. Special thanks to Arizona X-Force videographer Nathan Roth for the footage.

2019 USPA Nationals Recap

Posted on September 19, 2019 by AXIS Flight School

Silver Medal for X-Force in 4-Way VFS Open!

During the 2019 USPA National Skydiving Championships Arizona X-Force came in second in the 4-Way VFS Open event. The vertical formation skydiving event completed all 10 scheduled rounds, with four teams in each of the open and advanced divisions. One team, “Why Not”, competed in the intermediate division.

X-Force — now in its second year with the current line-up — scored a 16.3 points average, a lower score than last year, however flying at a faster pace – 18.9. The team used this years USPA Nationals as a training camp leading up to the World Cup which will take place in the first week of next month in Eloy, AZ at Skydive Arizona. The team plans to peak next month, having a better understanding of what the judges will be looking for and enforcing.

Watch all 10 rounds here.

X-Force did walk away from this years Nationals with a new personal best, a highest scoring round of 24 points in round 9. Unfortunately this round got busted down from a 33.

SDC Core once again took the gold medal and Arizona Anthem took bronze. To view all scores and competition videos, check out Omniskore. Arizona X-Force would like to thank all of its sponsors and supporters for making a successful 2019 season possible, and congratulate its fellow competitors for a great competition!

Niklas Daniel makes USA Speed Skydiving Team!

After 4-way VFS concluded, Nik tossed his hat in the Speed Skydiving ring. Having previously competed in the discipline two years earlier at Skydive Perris, his main goal was to reach a new personal best – breaking his top speed of 443.32kmh / 275.5mph. Nik accomplished that on six out of the eight rounds, reaching a new top speed of 465.6kmh / 289.3mph in round 3.

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Coming in 5th, Nik’s performance earned him a spot on the USA Team. The 2020 World Championships will be held in Tanay Siberia, Russia.

4-way Team AZ Shift (player coach)

Brianne Thompson brought a 4-way FS player coach team to the 2019 USPA Nationals; competing in the advanced category with the name AZ Shift. This was the team’s first Nationals, finishing with a 9.5 average over 10 rounds.

Congratulations Leanne, Bob, Trip, Brianne, and Tom!

Mixed Formation Skydiving Team EagleBear

I would like to congratulate Joe, Andre, and Leland of team EagleBear who took 3rd in the MFS open category. After a two year break, the team got together at Skydive Arizona one week before the competition in order to prepare for the Nationals. After around 60 training jumps with AXIS Flight School and several hours of tunnel time, EagleBear got onto the podium with a 13.25 average over eight rounds. Truly giving some of the most experienced and trained teams a run for their money, EagleBear was only 5 points behind the first place team, Flightshop.