A True Artist—Craig O’Brien, D-19294, Receives the 2024 USPA Gold Medal for Meritorious Service
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Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Craig O’Brien poses with his proud family after receiving the USPA Gold Medal for Meritorious Service. Photo by Kristian Caulder.
At the summer 2024 meeting, the USPA Board of Directors chose legendary competitor and camera flyer Craig O’Brien, D-19294, to receive the 2024 USPA Gold Medal for Meritorious Service, which honors “outstanding USPA members who, by their efforts over a period of years, have made significant contributions to the skydiving community.” O’Brien chose to receive the award from friends and colleagues at his home drop zone, Skydive Perris in California, on March 8.
O’Brien made his first jump, a tandem, in 1993 at the Air Adventure West drop zone in Taft, California, and as soon as he landed, he signed up for the AFF program. By 1995, he was learning to fly camera, which became his passion. He met his future wife, Tanya Garcia-O’Brien, at Skydive Perris, and in 1997 they formed the influential skysurfing team Perris Valley Firestarter (Craig as camera flyer and Tanya as performer). Skysurfing was at the height of popularity in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, and Firestarter would become the best of the best in the discipline. The team was the U.S. National Champion in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007; the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Champion in 1999 and 2001; and the FAI World Cup Champion in 2000.
O’Brien’s versatility and talent as a skydiver has led to his being the camera flyer for many world-record jumps, including the 400-way FAI World Record for Largest Formation Skydive. With tens of thousands of jumps total, he has honed his skills in thousands of jumps each in formation skydiving, freeflying, canopy formation, wingsuiting and, of course, skysurfing. Naturally, this makes him top the list of photographers when organizers plan their world-record jumps, no matter the discipline.
His ability to adapt and fly in almost any orientation also comes in handy for his Hollywood career, which is prolific. He’s been an aerial cinematographer and performed stunts for big-budget films such as “Godzilla,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” “Charlie’s Angels” (which also featured his wife), and Mission: Impossible—Fallout,” as well as a variety of TV shows. In 2014, he won two Taurus World Stunt Awards for “Iron Man 3,” and another in 2024 for “Heart of Stone.”
On March 8, at the Bombshelter Bar & Grill during the Perris Performance Plus event at Skydive Perris, Master of Ceremonies Scott Smith briefly introduced O’Brien to the gathered crowd. Then Skydive Perris Manager Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld recounted meeting him at Taft as a new jumper with an abundance of self-confidence. Skydive Perris DZ Owners Pat and Melanie Conatser then took the mic to speak about the years upon years of media work O’Brien has done for their drop zone.
Following this, Kristian Caulder screened his short film, which included congratulatory cameos from celebrities David Blaine, Bear Grylls and Pom Klementieff, who’ve all worked with O’Brien on projects. The film was a joyful celebration of O’Brien’s career that highlighted his skydiving competition achievements and movie work.
Following the film, Western Regional Director Josh Hall presented the award on behalf of the USPA. The inscription reads: “In recognition of a true artist who captures images of all disciplines in our sport for Parachutist magazine, for major motion pictures and for countless skydivers to hang with pride on their walls.”