AXIS Flight School deepdives the use and technical specs of CYPRES AADs in this 11 part video series. For more tutorials and fun videos, check out the AXIS YouTube Channel and subscribe.
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AXIS Decennial at Skydive AZ!
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.
Here is to the next 10 years of Awesomeness!
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.
XF Dive Pool and Rules Updated
On January 4th, 2015 AXIS Flight School created an experimental dive pool for what was then referred to as XRW (Extreme Relative Work). This is a still developing discipline where canopy and wing-suit pilots build formations. In essence, an XRW skydive is a dissimilar formation flight.
Photo courtesy of Dan Dupuis.
The first dive pool developed by AXIS was called XF. The name change from XRW was proposed similar to how RW (Relative Work) was changed to FS (Formation Skydiving); and since CF (Canopy Formation) is already taken, the XF abbreviation was introduced for “Cross” Formation. The first draft only had 3 Randoms and 6 blocks.
Dive pool images from 2015
Since wing-suit technology has dramatically increased flight performance over the past few years, new formations have become possible. The updated 2020 version now features 8 randoms and 10 blocks dispersed over three classes: intermediate, advanced, and open. In addition, the XF rules have been updated to evolve with the times and practitioners can even make use of the AXIS DrawGenerator. There are now two orientations for the wing suit pilot to fly in:
- Normal (belly to earth) – indicated in gray, and
- Inverted (back to earth) – indicated in red.
Back in the day 🙂
AXIS coach Niklas Daniel started experimenting with XF back in April 2010, and has posted videos and written articles about the subject.
2010 – Nik’s first few attempts at Skydive Elsinore.
2011 – Training Camp at Skydive Arizona
2011 – MOAB Boogie.
Photo by Taya Weiss.
2014 – Getting a bit braver. Post by Blue Skies Magazine.
2015 – XF gets some exposure on Discovery Canada with first 3-way Night Formation.
Continued fun, experimentation, and introducing the discipline to others.
Wing-suit pilot and photo by Alex Swindle.
Photography website update
Nik’s photography website recently got an overhaul. It now features portfolios of various topics and new content. Enjoy!
Fly Smart. Train Hard.
Photo by Samantha Schwann
Being competitors at heart, Niklas and Brianne do their best to improve on a daily basis. This applies not only to competitions, but also their business and life’s work – AXIS Flight School. AXIS has gone through an incredible online transformation, which could be called a “Cyber Grand Re-opening”. These changes have been taking place behind the scenes for over two years.
The AXIS website has always been packed with lots of useful tools and information. In order to make the site more user friendly and to keep up with the times more than a facelift was needed. In fact, we started over. Major improvements include a color coded menu system which is easy to navigate, condensed information on every page, and not to be overlooked – The AXIS Skydiving Repository. Here we developed a digital sorting system that categorizes all or our articles and reference materials for faster recall. Now users can search for categories such as solo skills, canopy, camera, and much more to find what you are looking for.
In addition, AXIS Flight School now uses sig.ma, a platform on which you can keep track of accomplishments, IDs, licenses, merits, etc. in a digital form. This allows us to send merits to students who have demonstrated their proficiency to our AXIS Coaches™ and acknowledge their achievements. Available Merits are displayed at the top of each web page, and their colors correspond to the new menu system.
Our online tools are still available to all for free. All AXIS dive pool images, Draw Generator, and ChronoPrism have all been updated with the new 2019 formations.
FOX 10 News Camera flying interview
PICTURE PERFECT: Man takes pictures, 15,000 feet up in the air
“Skydiving, as one can imagine, is dangerous enough, but try to imagine the added element of trying to capture the perfect picture, 12,000 feet up in the air. One photographer does exactly that, as a career.
“As a kid, I’ve always been pretty active, always enjoyed extreme sports, whether it was doing the skateboarding thing or riding bicycles,” said Niklas Daniel. “In this case, this was just another thing I wanted to experiment with.”
One can call Daniel a skydiving expert. To date, Daniel has made more than 10,000 jumps, and counting, and he is now known as one of the best behind the camera, at 12,000 feet.
Daniel’s love for photography began at an early age, and after falling in love with skydiving, he blended his two passions.
“The moment is very fleeting,” said Daniel. “So, if you have a shot in your head that you would like to create, it takes a lot of practice, a lot of training, also a little engineering to try and put that together.”
Daniel also described the difference between photography works that take place on terra firma, and those that take place up in the air.
“If you’re taking a photograph on the ground, depending on the subject, you maybe have the ability to take a test shot, take a look at the settings, and then be able to adjust until you get that right shot,” said Daniel. “Skydiving is more of sport photography, where they’re trying to get that perfect shot and it’s not something that you can recreate necessarily.”
Daniel said in order to be a good aerial photographer, you’d have to be a great skydiver.
“Not is it enough that I have to fly my own body or my parachute for example, but I have to be able to do that without having to think about it that much that I can now focus on the shot,” said Daniel. “In addition to that, I have to be very aware of my closing speeds with other people, the distance I’m away from them and I also have to remain altitude aware. I can’t look at my altimeter constantly, because that would ruin the shot.”
Equipment is also important. Daniel’s helmet works as his rig, and his tripod is his own body.
Over the years, Daniel has documented other people’s jumps, along with the formation of skydiving teams. He has also produced training video. Daniel said some of his favorite pictures to take are during competition with his team.
“I really enjoy the pressure of having to get a specific shot, and then being able to present that to the judges,” said Daniel. “That’s been my expertise, but I also really enjoy the off-the-wall projects, so whether someone wants to light a parachute on fire or something kind of more in that direction. Something you don’t see everyday.”
Besides doing what he loves everyday, Daniel also gets to share his passion with others who might not get the chance to. He and his wife, Brianne, support “Operation Enduring Warrior” by donating their time to help wounded veterans enter the sport of skydiving.
Skydiving, one could say, is a sport that has taken Daniel to heights he never could have imagined.” – reported by Danielle Miller of FOX 10 News
For more information on skydiving photography, please click here, and check out the PictureCorrect interview by Richard Schneider.
Night XRW on Discovery Canada
Rockhouse Motion: Sports & Outdoor Lifestyle Reels
Here are a couple of reels put together by Rockhouse Motion that include some of the wing suit footage I shot back in July.
Skydive Radio Photo of the Week Show #216!
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.
Click here for a behind the scenes look at how the image was captured.
AXIS Flight School on 60 Minutes
Brianne Thompson and Niklas Daniel of AXIS Flight School, with Steve Curtis of Arizona Arsenal, recorded some video footage for Go Pro on October 22nd, 2014. Parts of the video were featured on the 60 Minutes segment “GoPro Moment” on February 4th, 2015. The final edit is scheduled to be released on Go Pro’s You Tube Channel very soon. Special thanks to: Samantha, Trunk, Wade and Robin for helping us get the shots!
60 Minutes SportsGoPro Moment Intro Curtis and Brianne flying head down
Brianne approaching the slip and slide
Brianne on the slip and slide
Curtis demonstrates precision on landing
60 Minutes end credits, Curtis, Brianne and Nik build a “3-stack” over Skydive Arizona with their high performance canopies.
AXIS Flight School 