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AXIS Feature Articles

By Niklas Daniel

Kiting

Australian Skydiver Magazine, issue #65, vol. 2/2013, pg. 68-69

Excerpt: The term "Kiting" refers to flying your parachute overhead while you're on the ground. The exercise provides feedback that you'llbe able to see, as well as feel through your harness and hands. …
More: Read Article (online; scroll to page 68).

By Murv

Todd Love

BlueSkiesMag issue #43, May/June 2013, pg. 34-17

Excerpt: Todd Love. You might not know the name—yet—but you've probably seen some pictures or videos of him. You'd remember because those were the images that immediately made you stop whining about how hard your day was and how you just couldn't do something because it was too difficult. …
More: Read Article (pdf-file).

By Niklas Daniel

Todd Love

Italian skydiver magazine 90percent, May/June 2013 (print edition), pg. 13-18

Excerpt: If you're like me, you love skydiving because it makes you feel alive. If you're like Todd Love, everything you do is to celebrate the fact that you're still alive and you live your life to the fullest. 25 October 2010 is what Todd calls his "Alive Day". This is the day he survived stepping on an IED in Afghanistan, which cost him both of his legs and his left arm below the elbow.
Todd has been determined to not let his injuries get in the way of any of his dreams, which includes skydiving. …
More: Read article online on 90percent (scroll to page 13).

By Lori Zito

Why Do People Skydive?

Blue Skies Mag, issue #38, December 2012, pg. 26, 28

Excerpt: The AXIS Expansion Project gave me a place where I could take my limited skill and learn more in a fun environment, in an organized manner, under the direction of a highly skilled professional. […] it was so much fun to be part of a group, to learn, meet new people, improve skills, and be greeted with enthusiasm. What the AXIS Expansion Project did was allow me to train with a group of people with a common objective and skill level, rather than train as an individual. I was improving and did not feel like I was a burden to the group. That, combined with the real-time physical feedback that can only come from flying with somebody who knows where they are supposed to be (and is consistently there), maintains the fall rate, knows the next block or random (all four slots), does not back-slide, etc. makes for a very successful group learning dynamic. When you are learning, a solid"sky reference" is invaluable and the AXIS format provided that element …
More: Read article (pdf-file).

By Brianne Thompson

BAMF XPF

Blue Skies Mag, issue #36, October 2012, pg. 6, 9, 10

Excerpt: In Stechelberg, Switzerland, Barry Holubeck and Benni Kalin launch from two different exit points on the same cliff. Benni foot launches his wing about 300' above and to the right where Barry will exit. After clearing some trees, he makes a left turn to put himself above Barry's exit point, then descends just below and makes a right turn. This puts him directly under the ready-to-launch Barry. …
More: Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the article (pdf-files).

By Niklas Daniel

Skydive Vienna Boogie 2012

Italian skydiver magazine 90percent, webnews no. 49, 08/2012, pg. 35-40

Excerpt: Skydive Vienna, locate at the biggest grass-only airfield in Europe (LOXN) celebrated its 40th birthday with the Skydive Vienna Boogie: Alien Invation 2012 (27th July to 5th August 2012). All skydivers from several nations did not only enjoy the blue sky – but also the available coaching for FreeFly with Niklas Danile & Brianne Thompson from AXIS FlightSchool …
More: Read article online on 90percent (scroll to page 35).

By Niklas Daniel

Canopy Flocking by AXIS

Italian skydiver magazine 90percent, webnews no. 47, 06/2012, pg. 41-44

Excerpt: On May 6th, AXIS Flight School hosted a Canopy Flocking event and free seminars dedicated to educating jumpers on canopy flight at Skydive Arizona. The goal of the course was to expand on the awareness of each individual's canopy knowledge, as well as canopy separation while in the pattern. The course welcomed jumpers from all skill and experience levels, from jumpers with less than 100 jumps, to competitive canopy-pilots with several thausand. …
More: Read article online on 90percent (scroll to page 41).

By Niklas Daniel, Barry Holubeck and Will Kitto; Photos by Barry Holubeck and Will Kitto; Diagrams by Niklas Daniel

XRW - Mixed Formation Flights

Published in Australian Skydiver Magazine (SkyDiver), iss. 57, vol. 4/2011, pg. 43-47

Excerpt: A wing-suit flying relative to a canopy is not a new concept; however in the past it has always been considered a stunt rather than a potential discipline. As wing-suit and canopy technology continues to rapidly improve, we can almost guarantee that mixed formation flights will become more commonplace in the future. Therefore it is imperative that we take a closer look at what makes this activity possible and address some of the potential dangers associated with it. This form of flight is very new and safety is of great concern. By no means are we experts on the subject, but we would like to share some of the information we have accumulated over the last yeaR during our training camps. …

By Niklas Daniel (article and photos)

AXIS Promotes Flight Safety with Flocking Dives

Published in Parachutist vol. 52, no. 7, iss. 621, pg. 69.

Click here to read the full article [jpg-file, ca. 1.3MB].

Become a Sister in Skydiving

Published on Parachutist online

 
 
"If women struggle with an aspect on this sport, the have
the ability to not only improve on it, but to excel at it, as
well. Women's biggest enemy is when they see themselves
as weak or even less capable. Anyone who chooses to try
skydiving is already a bad–ass individual. All that has to
happen is that they need to recognize that within them-
selves and continue to be as awesome as possible."
Brianne Thompson

Read the complete article on Parachutist online.

By Niklas Daniel (article and photos)

AXIS Canopy Flocking Event

Published in Italian Skydiver Magazine 90Percent, WebNews Nr.34, 05/2011, pg. 28-30

Click here to read the full article [jpg-file, ca. 3MB].

By Niklas Daniel and Sara Curtis; Photos by Niklas Daniel

VFS Camera - Tricks and Traps

Published in Australian Skydiver Magazine (SkyDiver), iss. 54, vol. 1/2011, pg. 48-53

Excerpt: Vertical Formation Skydiving (VFS) is a new and strongly emerging discipline, which combines the body-flight skills of freeflying and the mental skills of formation skydiving. In the past, very few skydivers have had the ability to take part in this discipline because it takes a certain level of proficiency of flight, and a complex understanding of formations. Today wind tunnels are springing up all over the globe, assisting skydivers in their quest for awesomeness. (…) In this article we are going to take a closer look at the camera flyer. Even though there may be some similarities in the responsibilities between camera flyers on the horizontal and vertical axis, with the addition of a greater fall rate speed and added dimensions of the formations, filming VFS is probably one of the most difficult disciplines to shoot. Here we check out some tricks and traps of this fun and challenging position. …

Click here to read the full article [pdf-file, ca. 4MB].

Also published in Parachutist vol. 52, no. 6, iss. 620, pg. 46-48. Click on image or here to read the article on parachutistonline.com

By Brianne Thompson

Don't Be That Guy

Published in BlueSkiesMag, no. 18, pg. 6

 
 
Learn about the "unwritten" side of being the coolest person on the drop zone…

Click here to read the article [jpg-file, ca. 2MB].

By Niklas Daniel; Photos by Brianne Thompson

Thinking on Your Feet - Improving Your Sit-Fly

Published in Parachutist, vol. 52, no. 1, iss. 615, Jan. 2011

Excerpt: Whether you are just learning to sit-fly or have simply hit a plateau in your learning curve, fine-tuning your basic head-up body position is worth the time. Many jumpers, even those for whom sit-flying initially came easily, find themselves stuck in place or unstable if they try to move from a neutral position to drive forward or take a dock. This article explains the basic mechanics of the sit orientation and offers solutions to common problems. …

Click here to read our article [pdf-file, ca. 4MB] or read the article on the Parachutist website.

By Niklas Daniel and Brianne Thompson; Photos by Niklas Daniel

Tracking — Theory and Application

Also published in Parachutist, vol. 51, no. 6, iss. 611, Sept. 2010
Also published in Air Press (Brazil), year 16, #178, Dec.2010-Jan.2011, pg. 30-33

Excerpt: Tracking is an area that jumpers, regardless of skill level, need to continually practice and improve. Even those who have made thousands of skydives often need to go back and hone the basics, since many will have formed inefficient habits over the years.
A good, basic tracking position will maximize both forward drive and lift to create the most horizontal separation from others in the shortest amount of time possible. In other words, at the end of a skydive, trackers should try to fall as slowly as they can and go forward as quickly as they can so they don't open their parachutes near anyone. …

Click here to read our article [pdf-file, ca. 4MB] or
read the article on the Parachutist website.

A Portuguese version, as published by AirPress (Brazil), is available by clicking here or on the image (right) [pdf-file, ca. 13MB].

Niklas Daniel (article and photos)

Climb Out, Freak Out, Chill Out — A Guide to Filming 4-way

Published in Parachutist, vol. 51, no. 2, iss. 604, Feb. 2010, pg. 50-53

Excerpt: This article is for jumpers who already have some experience flying camera and are trying to expand their knowledge of how to film formation teams in a competition setting. I will focus mainly on 4-way, because I believe it to be the most difficult formation skydiving discipline to film (aside from vertical formation skydiving), due to the many different exits and faster key speeds. However, once you have a firm grasp of shooting 4-way, the same principles can be applied to 8-way and larger formations. …

Click here to read our article [pdf-file, ca. MB] or read the article on the Parachutist website.

Niklas Daniel (article and photos)

AXIS Canopy Course

Published in 90Percent (Italy), WebNews no. 26, Sep. 2010

Click here to read our article [pdf-file, ca. 650KB].