Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Parachute Association of South Africa will be held at Grand Central Airport on Monday, 4 March 2013 at 19h00.

The business of the Annual General Meeting shall be as follows:

AGENDA:

1. To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

2. To present and ratify fees for the next year.

3. To receive and consider the individual discipline’s reports on:

    3.1 the statement of accounts for the previous year.
    3.2 the activities for the previous year.
    3.3 the budget for the next year.
    3.4 the planned activities for the next year.

4. To set the limits of expenditure for the individual disciplines.

5. To elect the incoming Non-Executive Directors.

6. To ratify the office bearers as tabled by the SSA committees:

    6.1 Formation Skydiving
    6.2 Artistic Events
    6.3 Canopy Formation
    6.4 Freefall Style & Accuracy Landing and Paraski
    6.5 Canopy Piloting
    6.6 Wingsuiting
    6.7 Judges

7. Other business.

Motion of any proposal to be put to the GM other than ordinary business or amendments to the constitution, must be lodged with the Secretary at least 96 hours prior to the meeting and must be included by him in the agenda, which shall be made available to the members at least 72 hours before the meeting

Proxy votes are acceptable as long as such votes have been lodged, in writing, at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of the General Meeting, with the Non-Executive Directors, and shall be applicable to specific agenda points on a point-by-point basis. Any one member shall be allowed to carry a maximum of ten proxy votes per agenda point.

Omission of receipt of notice to any member or affiliated body shall not invalidate the meeting.

Directions

By Order of the Non-Executive Directors
Johannesburg, 4 February 2013

Flight Club & Soul 1

Fred Fugen and JP Teffaud of the Soul Flyers, and over 30 Atmo Body Pilots from around SA (raising in excess of R50,000.00) joined in force to produce a historic 4 day Atmo Flight Camp this past October at JSC - in preparation towards the Atmo World Record event in Dubai in December.

42 manifested loads, with premanifest averaging 13 per Atmo load from the Friday to Sunday, were the basis for some of the most exciting angle flying yet seen.

The event was the basis for all levels of Atmo Body Pilots taking to the skies together, from beginner groups to larger advanced groups, organized by Fred and JP.

Vince Reffet, who was due to participate at the event, had broken a leg in free fall just prior to flying to SA, and we wish him a speedy recovery. We look forward to meeting him at Flight Club & Soul 2 in 2013.

Flight Club would like to offer special thanks to each of the participants who contributed towards the event, Red Bull for the mobile music truck, DJ and Wigwam, the PAC Partnership for the sponsored slots and R5000 cash towards expenses, and JSC and its service providers for the use of the wonderful facilities.

Visit or Join the FB groups "Flight Club - Atmo South Africa" and "Flight Club - Angle Body Piloting World Association" for pics and videos of the event, updates, and international pics and clips, or mail marco@macaronis.co.za for more information on how to join Atmo and Flight Club at future events.

See you at Flight Club & Soul 2...!

Atmo World Record (AWR) Event, Dubai Winter Festival, Dec 2012 - Jan 2013

Dubai this past December was a meeting place for some of the very best Atmo Body Pilots from Europe, Africa, North and South America, The East, Australia and New Zealand amongst others, with no contact and sequential (high-speed no-contact, and slower-speed linked) formations.

For the first time, a 19-way Atmo X-Formation record was established, amongst other records.

The Winter festival included, amongst others, participation from Atmonauti Italy, Soul Flyers, Aria, and Volare FF.

Participants included big names such as:
Marco Tiezzi, Gigliola Borgnis, Smiley Yeo, Olav Zipser, Alessandro Corrà, Jean-philippe Teffaud, Michael Swanson, Fabian Raidel, Vince Reffet, Gregor Van Den Eynden, Fred Fugen, Noah Bahnson, Timo Kärnä, Max Manow, Justin De Waard, Sambo Re, Flight Club SA, Douglas Mickle, Raffaele Cimmino, Brody Johnson, Leticia Lauaco, Pepe Pete, Pablo Hernandez, Francisco Cancho, James Throsby, Frankie FreeFly, Patrick Collins, Jay Aven, Rocío Mateo, Pier Luigi Querci, Iván Arzenthal, Paulo Ya Braz, Rocío Mateo, Francisco Cancho, Brody Johnson, Gemma Caballero, Luca Poretti, Leticia Lauaco, Vito Muscolo, Pier Luigi Querci, Adam Mattacola, Mike Wittenburg, Kai Kai Buchholz, Aria Soloperilvolo, Dimitri Didenko, Amer Bennani, Jay Aven, Moses Champoonote, Vito Benassi, Micah Couch (apologies for those we have left out).

A big thank you to the Staff at Skydive Dubai 1 & 2 for an amazing organization, and for the ongoing support to Atmo World Events such as these (the second of 2012).

The Sky is Your Playground tm

(Photographs courtesy of Marco Ciocca, Christiaan Bosch, Fred Fugen, JP Teffaud, Rogan Brent)

The World Parachuting Championships held at the 2012 Dubai Mondial was undoubtedly the largest, and undoubtedly the most impressive skydiving event ever staged. From the 28th of November until 9 December, nearly 2,000 competitors gathered to take part in 14 events.

Although the start was surprisingly wet and overcast, the desert soon showed its true colours. The stage was set for 57 countries to compete at the sport’s highest level.

SA had a fairly small representation, but a massive impact. Not only did we have 13 registered competitors, but also various SA born competitors achieving great results. The innovation of the live scoring system, developed by Claire King and Dirk Venter, was well received and proudly South African. This exceptional system seamlessly managed to update all the competitors and spectators alike through the means of 3 massive electronic billboards. The local and on-line audience was kept entertained and on the edge of their seats. Similarly, Jasper Williams was once again pivotal to the success of the Canopy Piloting competition, as the Course Director and equipment manager of the entire event and designer of the integrated laser gate electronics.

South African born Will Penny took Silver filming the Freefly Open with French team ‘Babylon’. Their remarkable free routine incorporated complex, beautifully executed carves, angled flight and exquisite camera view involvement.

Closer to home, South Africa boasted a delegation of competitors representing the country in 5 events: 4-Way, 8-Way, Classic Accuracy, Canopy Piloting, Paraski and Speed Skydiving.

 The Voodoo 8-Way team had a remarkable start to the meet to make it into the semi-finals. Their 9th round saw them finish in 9th place and caught the attention of competitors who viewed them as serious contenders. Unfortunately they suffered a few slower rounds towards the end of the competition to finish 9th out of 16 teams. The Voodoo 4-Way team was equally up to the task, proving that the hard yards put in at the wind tunnel are well worth it. They finished an impressive 11th out of 38 teams.

One of the most popular and growing events is Canopy Piloting. Chris Teague and Selwyn Johnson both arrived a few days before the competition for preparation. Selwyn enjoyed a superb performance throughout the first 8 rounds, when he was well positioned at 14th place overall. Unfortunately, misfortune on his final round saw him drop to 39th at the competition’s close. Chris once again astounded the Canopy Piloting community, as the only person finishing in the top 20 who is not a professional or sponsored skydiver. Finishing 15th out of 129 competitors, he was invited by the FAI to represent South Africa at the 2013 World Games in Cali, Columbia.

Dave Van Der Merwe must be thanked for his efforts in getting a full sponsorship organised to send Serafim Fernandes to the event to compete in Classic Accuracy. The sponsorship initiative was kicked off with a very generous donation by Helge Harms of an entire rig for auction. From there, Dave ensured that the momentum was maintained and raised all the funds needed for Serafim to travel and compete. PASA sponsored Serafim’s on-site training jumps and Skydive Central have kindly offered to sponsor his Protea blazer. Although Serafim was also unable to train at sea level, and this most certainly affected his performance, he was exposed to skydiving at the very highest level and is hopefully inspired to continue his progress.

Tim Mace also represented us in the demonstration event of Para-Ski. The event was held in the world’s largest indoor ski slope built in the heart of the Mall of the Emirates. Being based in South Africa, training for this event is nearly impossible. Tim secured 37th place.

Dubai must be praised for the hospitality and generosity to all the visitors and competitors. A common talking point amongst all the competitors at the event was the unbelievable scale, planning, money and passion that was put into this world class event. The ice-sculptures at every meal, the aerial display teams, the feast in the desert, the event marketing throughout the Emirates, the free-style motocross displays, the $400,000,000 yacht projection screen were all awe inspiring. Where else would you find Katy Perry and Usher at a closing ceremony but at this incredible event?

South African Delegation:
Vana Parker   4/8 way
Dennis Parker   4/8 way
Dave Sumter   4/8 way
Colin Rothman   4/8 way
Erik Vliegenthart   4/8 way
Amy Kirtland   8 way
Pierre Van den Berg   8 way
Bailey Edmunds   8 way
Paul Leslie-Smith   8 way
Selwyn Johnson   CP
Christopher Teague   CP
Serafim Fernandes   Accuracy
Tim Mace   Para-ski and Speed Skydiving

Competitions Statistics:
57 nations represented
1440 registered participants of which 1280 were competitors
240 teams
Biggest delegation: USA - 83
Second delegation: France - 79
Third delegation: Russia - 74
Smallest one: Chile - 2
Duration: 4 training days - 10 official competition days (from Thursday 29th of November till Saturday 8th of December)
11 408 jumps made during the Mondial

SA Statistics:
Delegation size : 13
Formation Skydiving 4-Way Open: 38 teams in total. 1 team from SA. Team Voodoo finished 11th (with 143 points over 8 jumps)
Formation Skydiving 8-Way Open: 16 teams. 1 team from SA. Team Voodoo made it to the semi-finals and finished 9th overall (with 96 points over 9 jumps)
Canopy Piloting P: 129 competitors in total.  2 South African competitors. Overall ranking: Christopher Teague ended 15th place, Selwyn Johnson in 39th
Accuracy Landing Male Individual: 199 competitors. 1 South African competitor. Serafim Fernandes finished 192 (with 106 cm over 8 jumps) 
Speed (test event): 10 “competitors” / Tim Mace finished 5th (his maximum speed was on round 2 with 429.96 km/h)
Paraski Male Individual: 59 Competitors. 1 South African competitor. Tim Mace finished 37th out of 59 competitors

(Photographs courtesy of Pierre Domps, Christopher Teague and Dirk Venter)

Suppliers & Manufactures of fine Skydiving Equipment

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Contact: Manuel Cordeiro

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Telephone: 011-452-8858 / 083-252-8720

Once again Jeffrey’s Bay was graced with skydivers. From the 19th of December through to 2nd January 2013, EP Skydivers hosted the Jeffrey’s Bay Annual Boogie. People were warned and dogs locked up.

The PAC 750 from JSC was used as our jump ship, always a treat, thank you kindly.

The first load of the day was dedicated to 18000AGL; this was a great experience to all who manifested. A few wing suiters needed therapy after landing. The next 2 loads of the morning were from 14000AGL.

This year we decided to concentrate more on FS due to demand. Lots of people needed bigger way formations for licence progression. Claire King, Dirk Venter and Bailey Edmunds were our FS load organisers for the duration of the boogie. Thanks very much for the effort, we built many 8-12 ways and a brilliant 16 way as well. We will work on our no jump suit BFR for 2013 Boogie, God Save the Queen.

Olli Nöthen and his fellow bird men did some wing suiting and courses. Thanks Olli. Ria sold some goggles and brought his cone along. Please contact him directly for refunds. We had to resurface the runway after Attie’s landings and those wishing to contribute towards his new pair of shoes, contact him at Skydive Witbank.

The weather was brilliant the whole boogie, Blue Skies with only 2 days not jumpable. In total we did 118 loads with 1 381 skydive descents.

Thanks to all the ground staff, Tandem masters, Camera persons and Jet for making this a most excellent and safe event. We have allot of exciting plans for 2013 J-Bay Boogie, make sure you make it.

A special thanks to the skydivers from Robertson and Witbank. Thanks for your support as always.

Last but not least, the lasses from 3 Fat Fish. The morning coffee was a brilliant and moving experience, the food exceptional, and your enthusiasm contagious.

See you in J-Bay again in December 2013.

Blue Skies

James and Joos

(Photographs courtesy of James Williamson)

By Claire King

From World Meets in deserts to Asia in rain,
We’d criss-crossed the globe and arrived home safe again.
Weary from hard work and skydives and tunnel,
We’d no time to relax or collapse in a bundle.

For on the other side of a fairly long haul,
Lay the next cool adventure awaiting us all.
Bailey scouted the talent and found it with ease.
Gazed at his “Sea View” between complaints of his knees.

The Capies were out – they move in a pack.
Vaalies, Lowvelders and Crouts (mostly intact).
For all we requested EP made a plan.
Joos’s response: “Sure! Do more, if you can!”

JBay was everything promised and more.
We binged out on FS and bailed out the door.
2 3 4 5 6-ways,7 8 9s and 10s,
We went bigger and quicker, and over again.

Coaching, a 1000th, 16-way for D’s,
The PAC like a rocket -18k with ease.
Sky-writing and symbols, and cool animations.
A neat spinning prop and other creations.

The outward-faced star required more attention,
Producing a frommel worthy of mention.
Debs’ donut, Spanner’s head-down, Ian’s horrified face,
“Aerial Tea-bagging” put Andi back in her place!

Marcel got some cupcakes and Steve just stole beer.
All the while Erik just kept repacking Claire’s gear.
EP, Joos and James –as usual, great hosts -
Made this a most memorable trip to the coast.

Valentines Weekend at Skydive Rustenburg from 8th-10th February 2013.

Balloon Jumps, Atlas Angel jumps and a possibility of Chopper jumps.

Come join us for a weekend of fun.

For more information, contact:

079 345 7058

SkyDive.Rustenburg@gmail.com

♥ ♥ BREAKING NEWS!! ♥ ♥

Hey all SA Skydivers

We have exciting news:

We are bringing a Bell Jetranger to Rustenburg this Saturday, 9th February 2013 as part of our Valentine’s Weekend.

4 skydivers per load, min. exit altitude 3500ft or altitude achieved after 8 minutes, B-licence min. requirement or otherwise as arranged with Skydive Rustenburg C.I., Graham Field.

Slot Rates R580 pp

Please guys we need urgent confirmation and we need at least 32 slots sold or it’s a no go....Come on people, it’s a novelty jump and you know you want it in your logbook....!!!!!

Please call or SMS Danelle asap on (079) 345 7058 or email to confirm your slot and attendance.

The Parys Skydive Festival hosted by Skydive Parys and Stonehenge in Africa will be held on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of March 2013. The event will take place at Stonehenge in Africa, a beautiful lodge along the banks of the Vaal river in Parys.

Accommodation at the lodge will be available as well as camping facilities at a special rate, just for the festival. Stonehenge will also be catering for the whole event and there will be a special Gala evening held on Saturday 2nd March for all to attend.

Skydive Parys will be offering people the opportunity to experience a Tandem Skydive over the famous Vredefort Dome World Heritage site and the thrill of landing on the banks of the Vaal River. Sports Skydivers will be given the chance to experience a skydive from a Hot Air Balloon or an Atlas Angel turbine aircraft.

Scenic Flights down the Vaal river will be offered for those who are not brave enough to try skydiving but would like to get an aerial view of the magnificent Vredefort Dome. Other activities such as River rafting, Abseiling, quad biking and horse trails will also be available during the Festival.

The Pickled Pig Pub and Pie House will be hosting a Beer Fest on Saturday with a beer tasting on the Friday night and selling a selection of unique beers over the weekend.

Entertainment will be provided throughout the weekend; music, competitions, prize give a ways, jumping castles, water slide, cocktail and drink specials and a whole lot more.

Sport Skydivers Information:
Experienced skydivers (PASA B Licence holders and above) will find Skydive Parys a welcome and attractive alternative Drop Zone due to its awesome locality situated only 100km and less than 1 hour's drive from Johannesburg. We are at present a non-student drop-zone.

All sport skydivers must be members of the Parachute Association of South Africa and must be holders of at least a PASA B licence.

There will be a selection of skydiving equipment to hire at the DZ but sports skydivers are required to be self-sufficient with their own gear. Packers of sports equipment may be arranged, but we urge you to acquire this essential skill in your sport and pack for yourself. While altitude is never guaranteed, Sport skydivers can expect a minimum drop altitude of 10 000ft AGL in the Atlas Angel.

Hot Air Balloon jumps will be offered for the festival. Pre-booking and full payment is required to secure your slot. Limited slots are available.

On arrival at Skydive Parys you will be required to complete a comprehensive indemnity and provide your logbook, PASA card and skydiving equipment for inspection. Sport skydivers are required to pay a registration fee of R300 per person this will include a goodie bag and T-shirt. Pre-manifest is essential and skydivers will not be manifested if they have not paid the registration fee. Sport skydivers will only be refunded if their jumps are cancelled due to weather. DZ orientation will follow prior to your jumps.

The DZ has 2 landing areas that are suited for all levels of experience with B & C licence holders landing in the cut grass area to the East of the main complex and the PRO, D and Tandem landing area on the manicured grass in the area between the majestic Vaal River and the main Resort Complex.

Accommodation and meals:
Accommodation will be available at Stonehenge in Africa. The lodge can accommodate 120 people and there will also be camping facilities available for the festival.

Stonehenge will be catering for the festival, Buffet breakfast and dinners will be available, booking is essential. During the day food will be sold at the Drop Zone. The Lodge has a fully stocked Bar.

Contact:
Steven Taylor 072 303 9140 or (056) 811 3383
Email: skydiveparys@gmail.com
Website: www.skydiveparys.co.za

Directions:
26°54’04”S 27°23’20”E

From Johannesburg follow the N1 towards Bloemfontein. Pass through the Grasmere Toll Plaza and continue along the Highway. After crossing the Vaal River you will be in "The Free State". Take the Parys / Sasolburg off ramp and turn right at the top of the bridge. Travel approximately 20km kilometres into Parys. When you enter Parys, keep right at the Stop. At the first robot, turn right onto the Potchefstroom / Fochville Road. Continue over the bridge, crossing over the Vaal River again. Turn left onto the Kopjeskraal Road. Skydive Parys @ Stonehenge in Africa is 7 kilometres down the road on the left hand side.

As the PASA year-end draws near, the FS Committee is packing your weekends full of events and opportunities. Here’s what we have planned:

Contact one of the committee members for more information on any of these events.

The FS Committee is pleased to announce that Tim Mace has given us the green light to proceed with the long awaited Large Formation Skills Camp.

The Large Formation Skills Camp has, over the last 3 years, become one of the most acclaimed events on our calendar, and 7 skydivers will get to be part of this great opportunity in 2013.

Tim is by far the most experienced active Large Formation (50+ways) skydiver in South Africa.

For those of you who do not know Tim:
8100 jumps
3500 FS jumps, 2800 FS sequential in 4-way, 8-way and 16-way
2 Bronze and 1 Silver world FS medals
1 FS sequential world record (12 points in 16 way in 35 sec)
Founder member of World Team
730 jumps of over 16 way
5 FS large formation world records (218/282/297/357/400)
110 speed stars (8/10/16/20/40)

From Tim:

It’s time for another Large Formations Skills Camp.

Learning by experience is the best way, and if you come on this camp you’re going to experience as many of the skills necessary for large formations as can be achieved with a relatively small aircraft and limited altitude. You’re going to push yourselves into areas you haven’t been in. You’re going to find yourselves in situations you think are un-recoverable. You may not get it right, but you’ll have the experience to work on in the future. And you’ll have a lot of fun.

This is not a camp to build large formations. It is a camp to practice the skills necessary to build large formations. By ‘large formations’ I mean anything above about 50 people. Most of those skills are about getting there and getting away.

So you won’t be building anything large. In fact you won’t be building anything at all! All the exits will be free. All the formations will be no grip. You’ll be practicing the skills by staggering the exit so it is more like a 50 way exit. If we all get together by break off time, that’s a good result. You’ll be individually practicing the aspects of several different exit positions on each dive, irrespective of what anyone else is doing.

Even if you’ve got over 2000 4-way FS jumps, then you probably still don’t know all this stuff because you’ve always left the aircraft holding on to someone. What if the base you’re docking on leaves the aircraft 10 seconds after you. Reckon you can get there? Come on this camp and learn how.

There’s a lot of background stuff covering all the exit positions and flying techniques, and we’ll cover that on the Friday evening and practice all the exits.

On the Saturday we’ll do 6 or 7 jumps practicing all the various positions. We won’t be taking grips because flying your slot is critical to large formations. If you need to take a grip to stay in formation you’re not ready for large formations. In fact you’re probably not ready for 2-way. You need to be able to take a grip and release it without moving. So we’ll be building a no-grip formation and you have to fly your slot, 10cm from your grip at all times if you can. That takes skill, so you’ll need to work hard and give it your best shot.

The last 3 or 4 dives of the camp will push you to use what you have learned. We might take grips on those if it’s all going well. They’ll be dives you probably haven’t done before, and one of them will fry your brain!

One of the skills in large formations is packing quickly for yourself; the really big formations happen at non dz locations and there are usually no packers. So everyone on the camp has to do their own packing; there will be a two load gap.

You have to commit to Friday evening, all of Saturday, and all of Sunday, and pay for all ten jumps upfront. That way we can guarantee that the camp is going to happen, plan the jumps, and arrange the necessary slots.

So commit and let’s go and play.

Tim Mace

The camp will take place at Johannesburg Skydiving Club on the weekend of 15, 16, 17 March.

Cost to you:
A Registration Fee of R10012 x R260 (JSC slot rate) - full amount payable to the PASA account upon acceptance onto the camp. Jumps not done on the weekend due to bad weather etc. will be refunded to you by PASA. If you do not pitch on the day, a last minute replacement jumper will enjoy doing 12 productive skydives at your cost.

Tim's slot for the duration of the camp will be sponsored by the Sport Skydivers Association (SSA).

The camp will consist of a theoretical section and jump preparation on the Friday evening from 18h00 (must attend), and the 10 dives will be distributed over the Saturday and Sunday.

In order to be selected onto the camp you need to:

• Commit to all 12 jumps, and be at the club from Friday 18h00 until Sunday after debrief.
• Have at least a Cat III, (+-200 jump), and be a reasonable 4-way FS flyer able to fly no-contact formations.

If this camp interests you please send an e-mail to Ian before Friday, 8 February.

Your message should include the following:

• Name and Surname
• Number of jumps + Licence no.
• Number of 4 way FS jumps
• Largest formation completed as planned
• Largest attempted formationFS tunnel time

NB: This camp is limited to 7 jumpers, if you snooze you will most definitely miss out!!!

Ian van den Berge
serpro@worldonline.co.za
083 326-5746
SSA FS Committee

Simba's roar of approval:

Hi folks,

I am pretty frequently asked to help in some way with larger formation and/or licence requirements.

Well, to anyone that has ever spoken to me on that topic, regardless of your jump #s and experience, I cannot recommend this programme strongly enough.

Even if the opportunity represents your entire jump budget for a month (or whatever), do it.

The planning and structure of the programme is superb and the learning results are amazing. We are very lucky to have this opportunity here in SA.

Cheers
S
LLE+BS

A reminder that the 2013 SA National Championships will be hosted by Johannesburg Skydiving Club from 29 April to 2 May 2013 (training days 27-28th, competition from 29th).

All disciplines will be included.

To all jumpers: Remember, that Nationals is for every one of you, regardless of your experience level or interests. It is NOT too late to train and enter.

Please contact your SSA discipline Committee with any questions.

Looking forward to another great Nationals.

Blue Skies!

Sport Skydivers Association

For more information contact the Aerodyne Parachute Factory:

 dalej@flyaerodyne.com / 079 888 3008

The Johannesburg Skydiving Club, proud hosts of the South African Skydiving National championships 2013, is calling all Teams training for Nationals 2013 !

The PAC Partnership at JSC has a special team offer:

Commit to more than 100 jumps (25x4way) and the camera slot is free!

To register for this great deal or for more information, email Hani Williams or call 084 291 2780.

There have been some enquiries from teams wanting to jump on Fridays. If there are at least two 4way teams jumping on a Friday, the PAC will start up for you!

JSC will provide for Fridays on their pre-manifest so, do your team planning, communicate with other teams and book your slots

Found on the internet (thank you Manny):

Skydiver Joe Peterson has just released an app based on “Book of Skydiving Formations” by Mike Truffer.

Peterson wrote the app for Android devices and sized it for phones. The app includes a database of more than 1,000 formations ranging in all sizes from 2-ways through 20-ways.

The app is available now at www.GooglePlay.com for $9.95.

Description

Perfect for the skydiving organizer, this app allows formation skydives to be assembled from a collection of over 1000 skydiving formations, from 2-ways to 20-ways (yes, every size: 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-, 12-, 13-, 14-, 15, 16-, 17-, 18, 19- and 20-ways!). The huge variety of formations includes both easy and challenging formations, making it easy to quickly create dives for jumpers of all experience levels. Need some 7-way or 13-way formations? You'll find plenty in this app.

This is the official app based on Mike Truffer's popular book, "The Book of Skydiving Formations", which has helped skydivers plan dives for many years.

Once a dive size is selected (2-way, 4-way, 20-way, etc.), formations can be browsed and added to form a sequence of "points", which becomes the planned skydive. The completed dive can then be reviewed while it is practiced on the ground ("dirt-dived").

Launch here

Interesting read found on the internet (thank you again, Manny)

By Lisa Briggs

There is nothing quite like the look and feel of brand new gear. You have invested a lot of money in your new rig; how do you keep it looking and feeling new for as long as possible?

The number one rule is keep it out of the sun! This applies to ALL skydiving equipment from your rig down to your altimeter, but it is most important to your container and main. Sunlight is nylon’s biggest enemy – 70 hours in direct sunlight is enough to lower the strength of canopy fabric up to 50%. If it takes you 15 minutes to pack outdoors in less than 300 jumps your canopy will have been in the sun 70 hours.

Sun and skydiving go together – how do you keep your gear out of the sun? Start with a gear bag. This doesn’t have to be one of the many parachute specific bags on the market; a simple nylon duffel bag will work just as well. What is most important is that your rig be kept in the bag whenever you are not using or packing it.

Speaking of packing, the sooner you pack after you land the less time your canopy is exposed to sunlight. Get a suncover packing mat or a couple of towels and keep your container off the ground and out of the sun while you pack. When you are done, put it all back in your bag.

Keeping your gear in a bag will also protect it from spilled liquids, loose pets and curious children, any of which can damage it in a moment.

Be religious about reserve repack dates, especially if you do a lot of jumps between repacks. The actual repacking of the reserve is not what is important here. What is vital is the inspection of the entire system that the rigger performs along with the repack. This is where the little things can be caught and corrected before they turn into big things.

Develop a relationship with your rigger. Having the same person packing it every time will increase the likelihood that the little things will be found.

Don’t rely on your rigger to catch everything though. In most cases they will only be inspecting the container/harness and reserve, not the main canopy or main deployment devices. Be prepared to pay a little extra if you want your rigger to inspect your main. Even better, learn how to inspect it yourself – most riggers or instructors can give you some pointers on what to look for.

When traveling to and from the drop zone keep your gear bag in the air-conditioned comfort of the front of the car - not in the trunk. Car trunks can get hot very fast and heat is another enemy of nylon. For the same reason, don’t leave the gear in the car for an extended period of time.

At home keep it in a gear bag in a dark bug-free closet. Although bugs won’t eat nylon dead bugs can produce chemicals that will.

Protect your rig from thieves by recording the serial numbers, colors and size specifications and take a clear color photo of each piece of equipment as soon as you receive it. Keep this list, the original sales invoices and the pictures with your other important papers – NOT in your log book cover, gear bag or next to the packing data card! If your gear is ever lost or stolen your homeowners, renters or car insurance may help you replace it and the above items will help prove what you lost.

Never leave your gear alone, even when you are in a place you "trust". Theft is another reason not to leave your gear unattended in your car.

With some care and a little extra effort you can make your new rig look and operate like new for hundreds of jumps to come. It’s worth it!

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