Planet Skydive

Some of you might find this a bit disturbing to watch, but luckily this BASE jumper survives after hitting the water from a dirty low pull. If this was a low pull contest, I’m pretty sure he won. Don’t forget to pull, people. It’ll save your life.

This exit is just plane painful. Pun intended. Excuse me one moment while I put on my helmet… I was just reminded why we (should) all wear one. I might even consider wearing two after watching this :)

I've been wanting to take a nice shot of the skyline in Denver for some time now.  So when I saw we were about to have a Super Moon coming up right behind the city, I packed up the tripod and camera gear and off I went.  The clouds were a little iffy, but when I showed up and there were already 3 others setup with tripods as well, I knew I was in the right spot.  By the time it was done, there were over a dozen people taking pictures.  Unfortunately the moon only peaked out between the buildings for few minutes, partially covered by clouds.  Before too long, it was lost behind the clouds.  Nevertheless, the night shots of Denver paid off.

For a few more shots or to purchase a panoramic, click here for the gallery.

This is what it looks like to do a HALO skydive from 30,000 feet (otherwise known as High Altitude Low Opening)… pretty quiet in the airplane before exit, sipping on oxygen. Mmm, delish. I love how this tandem student was like, “13,000 feet?? No way. I wanna jump from 30,000!” Hardcore. Now that’s some decent freefall time right there. For more HALO happiness, check out this other civilian HALO skydive from 30K.

Featuring aerial footage from the world’s top skydiving cinematographers, Pink Skies is an inspirational documentary about the empowerment of women. It’s about overcoming obstacles as athletes and as human beings. The film covers an extraordinary event, Jump For the Cause. JFTC brought together 181 women from 31 countries who jumped out of 9 planes to create a new all-women’s skydiving formation world record! They also raised nearly $1 million dollars for breast cancer research!

Hahahaaha! We’ve all been there, and if you haven’t, you will be. And by “there” I mean funneling your friends, flipping onto your back, etc. Funny compilation of some skydiving chaos and mayhem at Skydive Empuriabrava. Sometimes the most fun is when it doesn’t go to plan… right?

Like children in a sandbox, skydivers love to play in the sky. It’s our playground; our sandbox. This edit is perfect for hump day to get you pumped for a weekend of jumping. Play nice :)

The New River runs through some beautiful areas here in West Virginia. This is evidenced by the six State Parks located in close proximity to the New River Gorge. The closest to the New River Gorge Bridge is Hawks Nest State Park. Its name is very representative of its location.

Seated right on the rim of the Gorge about 3 miles west of the Bridge, this Park offers not only wonderful views but plenty of recreation. Let’s take a look at why Hawks Nest is a great place to visit.

The Lake

Hawks Nest Lake was built in 1936 as a result of damming off the New River to produce power for a Union Carbide-built metallurgical plant. Its 250 acres now provide recreational activities like swimming, boating, and fishing. The tunnel built to move water to the hydroelectric plant is still in use.

Located directly below the Lodge in the park, the lake can be accessed by driving down what was once a narrow gauge rail line into Ansted or by taking the aerial tram out of the Lodge. For the more adventurous types, park at the top of the Hawks Nest Rail Trail and hike to the bottom. Once there you can catch a jet boat that offers tours of the lake, culminating in a view of the New River Gorge Bridge.

Hawks Nest Lodge and Nature Center

The 31-room Lodge was built in 1967 and offers some of the most spectacular views from guest rooms of any State Park in WV system. Accomodations are reasonably priced and the Lodge is very close to many area activities. The Lodge also has a full service restaurant that allows guests to dine with a “birds eye” view of the Gorge, courtesy of a wall of windows.

The Hawks Nest Nature Center is located at the bottom of the aerial tram by the lake. It is filled with nature exhibits and interactive displays.. There are also many hiking trails on site. The newest of these is the Hawks Nest Rail Trail, based out of the Nature Center.

Other Activities

The 276-acre Park has lots of places to explore within its boundaries, but is also close to the heart of the New River Gorge. That means there’s plenty of fun to be had within minutes of the park. Here’s a list of recreation opportunities either in Hawks Nest State Park or close by.

• Hiking
• Biking
• Golf
• Whitewater rafting
• Kayaking and Canoeing
• Rock climbing
• Zip lining
• ATV riding
• Boating
• Fishing
• Horseback riding

Need another reason to make Hawks Nest part of your New River Gorge visit? Views from the overlooks are spectacular, the people are friendly, and you’ll really be able to get back to nature and relax.

Have you visited Hawks Nest?

Whether or not you’re interested in CRW (Canopy Relative Work), this footage from the China International Air Festival is most definitely worth checking out. Not only does it show them building a killer diamond formation, it shows the super cool showmanship of the formation, with giant streamers trailing. Oh, and it kicks off with fireworks… check it. P.S. Holy hot air balloons!

A day blazin’ BASE jump off an antenna… somewhere… with some cool footage from a hovering tricopter. I’d tell you where this jump took place and who these guys and glas are, but then I’d have to kill you.

Land of fire and ice – and land of god damn never-ending nonstop effing wind. That part of it is less routinely advertised when Iceland attempts to lure over tourists with pockets full of foreign currency. But, it’s home. And there is no place in the world like it.
Anita and Ása, two very cool Icelandic chicks, embarked on a journey with their paragliders, a tired 4×4 and lots and lots of warm clothes. Mission: fly Iceland. They have charted some of their missions around the world on their website, the Flying Effect, but the video below was shared on the pages of XC Mag (a paragliding magazine).

Enjoy watching – and then let’s go for a visit. There is a skydiving club too, if paragliding isn’t your cup of tea.

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In honor of the late Ted Strong (D-16), owner of Strong Parachutes and one of the sport’s giant figures, a memorial skydive was done over Skydive DeLand during the 2012 Skydive Expo in Florida. There are too many stories to write about the legend that is Ted Strong, but he will forever be missed and never forgotten. Blue skies brother. RIP.

Awesome video. Period. Our friends at 5D Wingsuit and the Soul Flyers teamed up again for their second annual wingsuit camp, where 38 wingsuiters from around the world came together for some wicked wingsuit flying at Skydive Ramblers (Toogoolawah Dropzone) in Australia. And just for good measure, check out the first 5D / Soul Flyers wingsuit camp.

Talk about a close call. This has to be one of the LOWEST cutaways I’ve ever seen. Two paratroopers get wrapped up and one of them chops his main less than 50 feet (give or take) above the ground, and luckily his reserve opens 15 feet before impact. Pardon me while I change my underwear!

What do you do when your AFF student’s toggle comes unstowed in freefall? Do nothing? Watch it flop around like spaghetti? The instructor in this video had a pretty sweet (slash scary, slash dangerous) save, and managed to unstow the other toggle on deployment. Luckily it worked; the student had a nice on-heading opening and the instructor landed with all 10 fingers. What a lucky grab.

Okay. Not really. But yeah, kinda. So we had the whole “eat a cheeseburger in freefall” video a few weeks ago, which was a mix between disgusting and amazing. Now, for your daily sugar rush, we present to you… skydivers eating a chocolate bunny in freefall. You’re welcome.

A very talented and good friend of mine Jonathan Pears shot some footage and used some of my jump footage in an edit of Skydive Sebastian's March Madness Event back in March.  Take a few minutes and enjoy his work with some of my outside video.

To see some of my still photography from this event visit my gallery here.

This episode was recorded at the Body Pilots tunnel camp at Skyventure Colorado. Is the AFF rating too easy to get? Safety First with Brian Germain discusses small people and small canopies. Pic of the Week - Mickey Nuttal of Body Pilots LLC fly's in the SVCO tunnel. Photo by Dave Schwartz. Roundtable discussion on tunnel flying. Jump for diabetes coming to Skydive Chicago and Skydive the Farm.

The upside-down-bad-asses from Eloy,recently launched a new website. On there you can find out all about the team members, their services (civilian and military) along with their calendar. The 2012 lineup consists of Brandon Atwood, Amy Chmelecki, Sara Curtis, Steve Curtis, Ty Losey and alternate Niklas Daniel.

Sewell is another once-bustling area mining community. It was carved into the hillside of the New River Gorge to take advantage of the abundant coal reserves found there. But Sewell had a greater distinction at one time.

Curious?

Sewell used to be known as Bowyer’s Ferry, after Peter Bowyer. Peter not only established a ferry across the New River there around 1798, but he is also credited as the first white settler in the Gorge. This small settlement was right where the road from Charleston to Lewisburg met the New River. It was nearly 80 years before the CSX line was built through the Gorge. A depot went in at Bowyer’s Ferry and the name of the town was changed to Sewell Station. It was later just shortened to Sewell.

The name Sewell comes from Stephen Sewell, a European pioneer, among the first to settle and explore these mountains. From this name, it is fitting that this little town became the first commercial center for the Gorge’s small mining communities, with the first store being built by 1871.

Sewell had amassed a population of more than 300 by 1880. Even one of the coal seams running through the Gorge bears Sewell’s name.

Mining

The Longdale Iron Company from Virginia acquired land and opened a mine near Sewell Depot in 1873, the same year the railroad was complete. The Sewell mine was the first operation to have coke ovens in the Gorge, building 50 of the beehive design ovens in 1874. Eventually it was expanded to almost 200 coke ovens, the largest in the Gorge at the time.

Even later when the Sewell mines had been worked out, the town remained a vital link in the Gorge. Mines from the Clifftop area shipped coal down Mann’s Creek Railroad, through what would now be Babcock State Park. That coal was burned in Sewell’s coke ovens. These ovens burned coal until 1956, and were some of the last ovens used in southern WV. The towns last official resident, a railroad employee, moved out in 1973.

What’s Left

The remains of the old community are located just upstream, but across the river from the rafting access point at Cunard. The remains of some of the foundations and the coke ovens can still be seen. Many rafting companies use the areas between the river and the town for lunch and camping areas for overnight trips.

It’s easy to see why CSX chose this area to base a depot. There is a lot of flat area associated with it between the water and the steep mountainside.

How many mining towns of the Gorge can you name?

Arizona Drive, a 4-way VFS (vertical formation skydiving) team is one of the coolest teams around. And I don’t mean too cool. I mean, awesome people who train hard and do the work so they can kick ass. And they do kick ass. Check out this compilation of their training jumps and tunnel. Awesomeness fo SHO. A must watch for any competitor, aspiring 4-way flyer, or skydiver in general. Word.

I’ve never seen CYPRES tubes and the Skydive Expo look this beautiful. And the music makes me think of Zihuatanejo, like in Shawshank Redemption. The truth is, this is a stunning tribute to a company that literally saves skydivers’ lives, and helps us feel even more peace when we fly in skies like these. Beautiful. Thank you, Airtech/CYPRES.

It’s almost time for one of the most fun boogies on the East side of the country – Carolinafest 2012.
The most important item of any event is the boogie t-shirt – and for Carolinafest the design usually a closely guarded secret until you arrive at the event. But this year, we applied some pressure and squeezed the secret out of the Boogie Master.
Shirt is designed by Justin Carmody, photographer and designer extraordinaire and is pretty sweet.
We’d love to show you the full glory, but since we don’t want to have our arms broken, this will have to do.

Hope to see you there.

Yves “Jetman” Rossy once again pushed the boundaries of human flight to make history by completing an 11 minute flight with his jet-powered carbon wing over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, including his first-ever flight past the “Christ the Redeemer” statue. Since flying across the Grand Canyon and alongside two fighter jets, and now this, what’s next for Jetman?

Thanks to this 2011 REWIND edition of the Super Frenchie Diaries, you can vicariously live life to the fullest for the next 2 minutes and 16 seconds. Here are the best of Matthias Giraud’s crazy shenanigans from 2011, including the insane ski-BASE jump where he narrowly escapes the deadly path of an avalanche. And you can thank our friends at WIDSIX for the day-dreaming session. Now back to work people!

<script src="http://storify.com/blueskiesmag/this-can-t-be-a-coincidence.js?header=false&amp;sharing=false&amp;border=false"></script><noscript>View the story “This can’t be a coincidence” on Storify</noscript>

Bitchin’ footage from the European Red Bull Skydive Team‘s recent wingsuit training camp at Skydive Sebastian. Yeah, I said “bitchin’.” This edit has it all, from wingsuit vertical stacks and flat formations to CRW swoops and even a few Otter fly-bys. Mm mm, Red Bull never looked so good. It’s fun, check it out :)

Whoa. We think of skydiving as fast and furious, but this video slows us all down and focuses on the pure beauty that is our sport — as seen through the lens of Team 4Loko (now known as STF Block Party). At the very least, check out Angela’s freestyle. Stunning.

To take advantage of the SALE, use Coupon Code: newsite15 during checkout.  Offer expires at the End of May, so take a look around and then get your order placed.  Prints usually take about a week to be delivered and Canvas and Gallery Floats take about 2 - 3 weeks.

You read it right!  These guys each have about 50 - 60 jumps and just took the AFF Instructors Course.  How is that possible you ask?  Well, for starters they are both Tunnel Instructors at SkyVenture Colorado and can fly circles around me.  They teach students to fly every day, so why not in the sky???  If you're as curious about this as I am, wait and read about it in upcoming issues of Blue Skies and Parachutist.  Keep your eyes open, it will probably be a few months away.....  In the mean time, nice job Nate and Jason!  Great Flying!  To see the FULL GALLERY CLICK HERE.

A few weekends ago I headed up to Snowmass to check out the 36th Annual Snowmass Balloon Festival.  I've only jumped out of a hot air balloon once and it was an amazing experience.  But this was more about seeing lots of balloon all right next to each other.  Between the evening glow session where they just fired up the burners and inflated the balloons to actually launching them in the early morning hours attempting to capture that still air it was an amazing experience to see that many, balloons that close together.  For a photographer, photographing balloons is almost too easy.  They always launch early in the morning because of the favorable wind conditions and at the same time for us, it's that magic hour of the day when the light is warm and just begging you to take a picture.

With all of that said, here are a few of my favorites from the session.  If you'd like to SEE THE ENTIRE GALLERY CLICK HERE.








Again, if you'd like to SEE THE ENTIRE GALLERY CLICK HERE.

Another Epic Chicks Rock at Skydive Elsinore along with a stop on the Size Matters Tour with SkyVenture Colorado!  The turn out was huge and the 4 turbine planes were starting to back up.  There was so much going on I didn't even get to jump with all of the organizers!  Heaven and Hell was the theme this year and you'll see in the shots below, the costumes lived up to it!  Looking forward to next year!

To jump STRAIGHT TO THE FULL GALLERY CLICK HERE.

Skydive Sebastian hosted their Annual Halloween Freefly Extravaganza this past weekend, but someone forgot to put the Freefly part in there.  Remnants of Hurricane Rina covered southern Florida and put a stop to all jumping with winds and rain.  Aside from a few hop n pop loads on Saturday, there wasn't one jump to be had.

It's a sad thing really to travel across the country and spend a bunch of money getting there to end up not making one skydive.  It does happen from time to time, but that still doesn't make it any less sad.  With that said, the saving grace to this trip were the Halloween Costume Party and the Fear Factor Food contest that were held Saturday night.  Jumpers weren't going to let the fact that they couldn't jump get in the way of the party!

Here are some of the choice shots from the event.  If you'd like to check out the ENTIRE GALLERY CLICK HERE.







Again, if you'd like to check out the ENTIRE GALLERY CLICK HERE.

Black Friday has come and gone and you still don't know what to get that skydiver on your x-mas list?  Well, let me suggest you get them something that you wouldn't mind looking at either!  All of my in stock Gallery Wrapped Canvas Art is on sale.  Make sure to order early if you'd like it in time for Christmas!  See what is left by visiting my website and ordering online.

With years of planning behind us, it was time to take on Mt. Kilimanjaro.  Team Tsunami gathered its forces and assembled in Kenya where we drove to the base of the mountain that stands 19,340 feet tall.  With 11 of us in total, we had chosen the Lemosho route.  It's a newer route that takes 7 days and approaches from the north side, descending on the south side.  Day 6 was brutal.  I can honestly say that day 6 was easily the most physically challenging of my entire life.  It started as early as any day can start, at midnight.  Headlamps on and all the layers we could wear, we started the slog up the side of Kilimanjaro.  This day would result in climbing to the summit over 4,000 feet above us and then descending over 9,000 feet back into the oxygen.  It took us just under 16 hours to complete.  Lack of oxygen for sustained amounts of time begins to do funny things to the human body.  Some don't react well, others feel just a little off. In our group we had all of the above from potential brain swelling to vomiting to head aches to just simply not remembering parts of the summit day.  All in all we managed to make it to the top and down safely.  The funny thing about getting to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro is that once you reach it, the only thing you want to do is get away from it....and that means going down.

To see the Full Gallery click here.







Once we finished the climb, we went on Safari in the Serengeti.  Pictures coming soon.  In the meantime, if you'd like to see the Full Kilimanjaro Gallery click here.

Well, it took me a while but I finally got the Safari and Zanzibar pictures posted.  Traveling halfway around the world for 3 weeks was a privilege and I'm fortunate to be able to undertake such journeys.  Bringing those stories and pictures back home and sharing them with everyone is one of my biggest joys.  However I must warn you that when going on Safari, it's hard not to take a lot of photos.  In this album there are just over 200 shots.  With that said, sit back, go direct to the gallery, enjoy the slideshow and look at all of the shots!  In the meantime, here is a sample of what you'll find.

Another March Madness and Casino weekend at Skydive Sebastian!  This year's event was dominated by the 70 freefliers trying out during the World Record Tryout Camp.  The record will take place this summer at Skydive Chicago and it's an invite only event.  10 invites were handed out to the 70 jumpers trying out this weekend.  Along with the tryout's was the Casino Weekend where the grand price was a free Micron from UPT.

Here are some of the highlights.  For the FULL GALLERY CLICK HERE.








For the FULL GALLERY CLICK HERE.

Wrecks, crashes, a little chaos, and funny moments from the tunnel at Vegas Indoor Skydiving.

This has to be one of the longest parachute malfunctions I’ve ever seen. In fact, I made a sandwich halfway through it. Long story short, Niklas Daniel of AXIS Flight School intended to do a high altitude hop and pop to work on some canopy flocking, but got an interesting malfunction instead. Sure, a hook knife might have done the trick, but Nick opted to ride it out until 4,000 feet before chopping so that his canopy wouldn’t drift too far away from the DZ. And of all the days for this to happen… it was April Fool’s Day.

There were well over 60 mining camps and communities located within the New River Gorge at one time. Many of them were no more than a few miles from the New River Gorge Bridge. The Industrial Revolution fueled a need for natural resources. The Gorge area, with its vast coal reserves, was able to prosper from this.

One of the towns that developed from this boom was the mining camp of Kaymoor. A little over a mile from where the New River Gorge Bridge is now, Kaymoor was home to one of the last operating mines in the Gorge. What is left today are a few of the old buildings, coke ovens and a couple mine openings that have been gated off for safety.

Let’s take a look at a little of the history of the Kaymoor mines and camp.

The Beginning

The Kaymoor mine was opened by the Low Moor Iron Company around 1899 to supply coal for its iron furnaces in Low Moor, Virginia.  This mine was a bit different than most because they built two complete coal camps for it, one at the top of the Gorge and one at the bottom. There were no churches, banks, saloons, or town halls associated with either one of these areas. Only company stores, a pool hall, and a pair of segregated schools were part of the camps.

Kaymoor partly gets its name from James Kay, the man in charge of building the town. In all, close to 130 houses were built to house the miners. In order to get these workers from the town to the mine, a single track incline was built to transport workers and equipment over a 1,000 foot slope. A similar double track incline was built to move the coal down to the processing plant and coke ovens. Both inclines were in operation until the mine closed in 1962.

The Decline of Kaymoor

Low Moor owned the mine until 1924, when, after the processing plant burned, they decided to sell. It was purchased by the New River and Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company. They modernized the mine over the next couple of decades, including building a brand new processing plant.

The Kaymoor bottom camp was abandoned around 1952, with any remaining residents moving to the top. This made life more convenient for them because the bank the townsfolk used was in Fayetteville. Most of the structures that remained were destroyed by fire in 1960.

Kaymoor is unique too in that the average existence of a coal town was around 25 years, but Kaymoor was inhabited and worked for 62 years.

Today

Some of the remains of the Kaymoor Mines are still standing today. A short hike down the side of the Gorge will take you to the area with the old mine openings. Here you can also see the remains of some of the structures that were part of the mining operation.

The National Park Service has worked on preserving much of this area, and it is a neat look back at the past. You can also access the 800+ steps here that follow the same path as the old double incline , taking you to the bottom. There you can see a few more of the remains including the coke ovens.

It’s a strenuous hike into Kaymoor, but if you’re into history, it’s well worth it. Just be careful and keep your eyes open. There’s no telling what remnants of the past you might see.

Do you have any memories of Kaymoor?

Just watch this. Seriously. This is the “Best Of” the freefly division at the Bodyflight World Challenge 2012. Did you start watching yet? Great. Now go to the closest tunnel and buy an hour. Just because. Or, if you can’t make that happen, at least check out the highlights from the 2011 Bodyflight World Challenge.

Cliffs are cool. We get it. But cliffs that drop off to crashing waves and huge rocks? Stunning. Check out this gorgeous footage of Simon Brentford’s sweet BASE jump off of St. John’s Head. Oh, did I mention Simon is possibly the first person in the UK to BASE jump off this 1,125 foot cliff?

Online content related to the Spring Fling 2012 feature in the magazine.

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All disciplines of skydiving are fun and exciting, but canopy test piloting is in an altogether different category. Exiting a plane with a canopy that no one has ever jumped before is always an adventure.

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For several years now, the number of U.S. judges certified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (international parachuting’s governing body) has been declining. The U.S. skydiving community faces a very real challenge—it needs more judges, plain and simple. USPA has been planning courses to offer opportunities to existing national and regional judges who may want to upgrade to FAI ratings and to new judge candidates who may want to start on the path. Skydiving needs more people to step up: Are you in?

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Brought to you by Axis Flight School at Skydive Arizona in Eloy.

Photos by Niklas Daniel.

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I am in love.  That's right, I said it.  Once I saw the new Gallery Float Mounts and how they pop and jump off the wall, I had to have them in my line up.  Gallery Wrapped Canvas Art is still high on my list of favorites adding texture and character to prints, but the Gallery Float Mounts offer a cheaper alternative to framing and canvas and can stand alone in any environment.


What are they you ask?  They are regular photos printed and then mounted using a UV protected laminate onto a rigid MDF board.  The edges are then beveled down and sealed with a finishing tape and mounted on a French Cleat.  The Gallery Mount Floats away from the wall 3/4 of an inch and the Crystal Laminate makes the colors pop off the image.  Here are side views so you can understand what I'm talking about:

The French Cleat allows you to fine tune the positioning by moving it side to side an inch or two so you don't have to mount it perfectly the first time.

Again, these Gallery Float Mounts and all other products are STILL ON SALE (15% Off) through the end of May.  Just enter Coupon Code: newsite15 during checkout and you'll save 15%.  Visit My Gallery to place an order.

Now this is what I call a hot threesome: parachutes, planes and wingsuits all flying together in formation! You’ve likely seen some pretty cool XRW formations before, and an aerobatic airplane do barrel rolls around a wingsuit, so naturally the next step was to mash them together. I know I had you at “threesome,” but you’ll want to stick this one out ’til the end. Project XXXRW is skydiving porn at its best.

Well, maybe not that dangerous… these girls just wanna have fun.

Coaches, instructors and drop zone owners are always trying to find ways to improve student training and save time during busy days at the drop zone. USPA provides a very inexpensive tool that accomplishes both of those things: the flight planner.

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A rigger found this "repaired" line-stow band on the packed main canopy deployment bag of a used rig brought to him for inspection. The risk of a hard opening or malfunction from an out-of-sequence line deployment is probably not worth the miniscule savings from reusing worn stow bands.

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The skydiving community has improved its safety record and reduced its number of fatalities over the past decade—mostly due to improved training and better equipment—but there is no such thing as a risk-free jump. Human nature being what it is, many people choose to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that they will never be injured. But given the nature of the sport, it makes sense for skydivers to prepare—to have plans in place that will protect themselves and their loved ones—in case they are seriously injured or even killed.

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by Paul Yeagley | D-29153
Bossier City, Louisiana

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by Jessica Kniffen | A-35942 | Phoenix, Arizona

It all started on Christmas Day in 2002 when my mom gave my dad a gift certificate to make a tandem. Curiosity got the best of my mom and me, and in the summer of 2003, we also made a tandem. I made a second in the spring of 2004, and then in May of 2005, I decided I would do one AFF jump in order to say that I had gone skydiving. (I never felt that a tandem was skydiving.) After my first AFF, I was addicted. In August 2005, I earned my A license and before I knew it, I was at the drop zone every opportunity I had.

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Luke Aikins, D-21189, has a long skydiving heritage. His grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins are all skydivers at Kapowsin Air Sports in Shelton, Washington. Aikins is a member of the Red Bull Air Force and travels the world with the team, performing exhibition jumps, VIP tandems and more. Aikins is also the owner of Para Tactics, which provides advanced skydiving training to elite military forces such as the U.S. Navy SEALs.

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The slow economy has hit state and local governments hard in recent years, and it’s no surprise that many have acted to address their budget woes by targeting business sectors with new tax initiatives. In the past couple of years, several states have begun imposing new sales-and-use or amusement taxes, collectively known as “transaction taxes,” on skydiving business owners. Several DZs were forced to pay back taxes and interest totaling thousands of dollars, which in some cases threatened the DZs’ continued viability and in all cases increased the cost of skydiving. When DZs began asking for assistance, USPA—helped by several DZOs and their tax attorneys—carefully researched the applicability of state and local taxes to aviation businesses.

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Nick Vujicic is a true inspiration — not only because he’s a motivational speaker, but because of his story. Born without limbs due to the rare Tetra-amelia disorder, life hasn’t been easy for Nick. But this video is proof that he’s living a life of dreaming big and not giving up. Skydiving has been on Nick’s bucket list for a while, so the team at United Parachute Technologies (UPT) built a custom harness for Nick’s first tandem skydive at Skydive DeLand in Florida. What’s next Nick… a tandem BASE jump?

Yet another winner from Team Polte. These guys know a thing or two about freeflying and how to slice up a solid skydiving video. Don’t believe me? Start with this one, then check out their other edits — What It’s All About and Call of Dubai: Modern Freefall — and let me know which one is your favorite.

You can’t be badass if you have B.O. Miles Daisher of the Red Bull Air Force talks about his passion for BASE jumping off bridges, buildings and cliffs, and his love for men’s deodorant.