Niklas Daniel wins 2022 USPA Speed Skydiving Nationals

The 2022 United States Parachute Association National Championships were held at Skydive Chicago September 2nd – 21st. AXIS Flight School coaches Brianne and Nik participated in speed skydiving, which had a total of 14 competitors (see scores below).

Over the course of two days, the competitors completed 8 jumps to attempt their fastest terminal velocity. This is measured by a Speed Measuring Device (SMD) worn on their helmets. This device records GPS positioning and the judges use the data to view the speeds reached on each jump. The fastest 3 consecutive seconds recorded during a jump determines the final score. The competitor with the highest accumulative score at the end of the meet wins. For more information about speed skydiving, check out the USPA Skydiving Competition Manual (SCM Chapter 15).

2022 National Speed Skydiving Champion Niklas Daniel. Photo by David Cherry.

Nik took first place with a total of 4,043.62kmh (2512.59mph), averaging 505.5kmh (314.10mph). He is only the second person, after Marco Hepp during the German Nationals 10Sep22, to consistently break the 500kmh barrier in all 8 rounds. 2021 World Champion Kyle Lobpries reached a total of 4,021.04 (avg 502.6kmh) for second place, and TJ Landgren got third with a total of 3,865.45kmh (avg 483.2kmh).

In Time Scoring

In addition, Brianne and Nik set two Illinois state records with their highest scoring rounds in the female and open categories respectively:

Brianne – 395.20kmh / 245.57mph

Nik – 509.45kmh / 316.56mph

Both Nik and Brianne secured their slots on the USA Speed Team for the 2023 World Cup in Prostejov, Czech Republic.

Illinois State Speed Skydiving Record – Nik’s round 8: 509.45kmh / 316.56mph in score
Illinois State Female Speed Skydiving Record – Brianne’s round 1: 395.20kmh / 245.57mph
Nik and Kyle on the podium during the awards ceremony. Unfortunately TJ was not present. Photo by David Cherry.

With the World Championships with less than a month away, Nik is looking forward to competing at his home dropzone – Skydive Arizona.

AXIS Flight School would like to thank all of its Sponsors for their continued support!

CYPRES How to Videos

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.

What is an AAD?
Switching On and Off
CYPRES Models
Changing modes on C-model
Changing the Scale
Setting the Activation Altitude
DZ Offset
Unit Information
Traveling with a CYPRES outfitted rig
AAD information for jump pilots
Is there anything a CYPRES cutter cannot cut though?

2021 Chicks Rock Boogie recap

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.

AXIS Decennial at Skydive AZ!

November 2020 marks AXIS Flight School‘s 10 year anniversary at Skydive Arizona!

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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.

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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 2010AXIS 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.

2019 USPA Nationals Recap

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

IMG_6660.JPGDuring 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.
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SDC Core once again took the gold medal and Arizona Anthem took bronze. To view all scores and competition videos, check out OmniskoreArizona 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!

611.jpgAfter 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.

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

Mixed Formation Skydiving Team EagleBear

70513305_2481228832154797_2104329066445275136_n.pngI 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.

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Congratulations EagleBear!

Let’s fly together at WINDOBONA Berlin!

Niklas Daniel and Brianne Thompson of AXIS Flight School are coming to Berlin this fall! This camp will be a very personalized and focused two day event of flying aimed at honing your skills when it comes to personal progression and or formation flying skills. These flight sessions will have detailed briefs and video debriefs to help you work on your skills in a controlled environment. You will have ample opportunity to ask questions and get feedback on your flights! Bilingual instruction is available as Nik is a German speaker.

Get to know the coaches Nik and Brianne, and check out their story.

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Camp Format

  • One hour minimum (10 slots available)
  • Participants will be organized into one hour groups, flying 15 minute sessions.
  • 1.5 – 2.5 minute rotations depending on skills worked on.
  • Plenty of breaks for rest, prep, and debriefing.
  • Campers can choose between working on personal body-flight skills or formation flying skills.
  • AXIS Coaches are available to coach teams! (4-way FS and VFS disciplines).

Qualifications

There are no prerequisites. All skill levels and experience welcome. AXIS Coaches can sign off IBA flyer ratings, as well as provide AXIS Merits after a skill has been acquired.

When and Where

Oct. 24 – 25
at WINDOBONA Indoor Skydiving Berlin,
Landsberger Allee 268, 10367 Berlin

Price

€725.00 per hour, which included tunnel time and coaching. Participants may use their personal block time, but must make special arrangements to do so. In that event, the coaching cost is €250.00 per hour.

LIMITED SLOTS AVAILABLE

Oct 24th 0900 – 4x 15minutes 1100 – 4x 15minutes 1230 – 1330 Lunch Break 1400 – 4x 15minutes 1600 – 4x 15minutes 1800 – 4x 15minutes

Oct 25th 0900 – 4x 15minutes 1100 – 4x 15minutes 1230 – 1330 Lunch Break 1400 – 4x 15minutes 1600 – 4x 15minutes 1800 – 4x 15minutes

SIGN UP!

Please register for this event by sending us an e-mail to info [at] axisflightschool.com

We look forward to flying with you!

AXIS on Skydiving and Bodyflight

This overview lists all of our articles (140+; Foundations of Flight as well as Feature Articles).

Find the AXIS videos on skydiving on our YouTube channel.

Fly Smart. Train Hard.

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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.

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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.

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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.

AZ X-Force takes 3rd at 2019 USIS Nationals!

imagehandlerwithresize.ashximg_5880The 2019 US Indoor Skydiving Open National Championships were held at iFly Virginia Beach on January 11th – 13th. Arizona X-Force attended its first indoor competition with its current line up established early last year. Some of the same teams competed at last year’s USPA Skydiving Nationals: SDC Core, Army Golden Knights, SDMW Chemtrails, and Collective Pitch.

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Arizona X-Force by Ray Kubiak.

 

Arizona X-Force had a strong showing with two new personal bests: Highest indoor average of 26.1 points over 10 rounds, and single highest scoring round of 46 points in 35 seconds. Please click here to view the competition videos.

 

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Results by intimescoring

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Statistics by intimescoring

The team’s next major competitions will be the USPA Skydiving Nationals in Reaford, NC at the end of September, immediately followed by the FAI Skydiving World Cup in Eloy, AZ in early October, which the team qualified for at last year’s nationals.

The USIS draws were powered by the AXIS Flight School Draw Generator, which was used for all disciplines (Vertical Formation Skydiving and Dynamic).

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USIS 4-way VFS Open draw powered by AXIS Flight School Draw Generator

Day 2 Live feed recording / rounds 1-8 (VFS starting at 11:00:00)

Day 3 Live feed recording / rounds 9 and 10 (VFS starting at 2:50:00)

AXIS HQ Coffee on the go

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Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes at AXIS Flight School knows that we are addicted to coffee. What makes matters worse is that we are snobs, too. Some of our favorite coffee brands include: illy, Black Rifle Coffee Company, and Flight Coffee. Our espresso machine of choice is made by Breville. The only downside is that the crown jewel of our office does not travel well due to its size and weight. So what are we to do when convenience (Starbucks) and compromise (drinking less) won’t do when we are on the road?

Enter the AXIS Mobile Espresso Kit to the rescue!

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This durable, compact, and light weight barista station sets up in seconds. If you would like to build your own “take-anywhere-caffeine-delivery-system”, check out the shopping list below.

illy Y3.2 iperEspresso Machine

Espresso Capsules 

Nespresso Milk Frother

Pelican Case 1520