Canopy collisions are a fairly common cause of skydiving fatalities. The sport has seen improvement in recent years because drop zones have become more diligent about separating high-performance and standard landings and have also spent more effort educating jumpers on the importance of proper landing patterns, exit separation and separation during deployment.

San Antonio, an anchor of the Texas Triangle (an area of the state containing five major cities and 70 percent of its population), attracted Texas-sized crowds for the USPA Board of Directors meeting March 2-4. The winter meeting, one of the most well-attended USPA meetings in history, contained three days of full agendas and an evening of camaraderie along the Riverwalk after Saturday’s annual USPA General Membership Meeting.

It is just before 7 a.m. at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida. Sergeant Kyle Pratt, smartly dressed in a black flight suit with the words “U.S. Army Parachute Team” embroidered in gold on his back, glances up at the C31A Fokker aircraft positioned 25 meters in front of him.

Hey you, reading this … can you define the term “MARD”? Do you know what it does, how it works and what distinguishes it from similar systems? If you answered no to any of these questions, you are not alone! As it turns out, jumper knowledge of MARD systems is surprisingly marginal. (Or should we say, MARDginal?)

Operation Enduring Warrior Helps Combat-Wounded Veterans Take Flight

Skydiving Makes a Difference: A Parachutist series on nonprofit organizations that give back to their communities