Base
The base of a skydive is the group that exits and upon which the rest of the formation builds. Like the homonym instrument “bass”, it is a critical element of the formation and needs to have strong skydivers, but there…
Archives Skydiving Terms
Outside
Skydiving formations build from the center out. The center is called the “base” and the edges are “outside”. Since the formation tends to slow down as it builds, lighter skydivers who fall slower are usually on the outside and heavier…
Big Way
The number of people in a formation leads to it being called an N-way, where N is the number of people. So a group of 5 skydivers will make a 5-way. Different people have different ideas of how many people…
Drop zone
A drop zone is a location of skydiving operations. It usually has a place for planes to takeoff and land and a place for skydivers to land their parachutes. It may also have buildings for packing parachutes, instruction, and paying…
Organizer
An organizer is a combination of a manager of fun and a manager of safety. Organizers design skydives for the group(s) they are working with, making sure everyone has a challenge but nobody is in over their head, which is…
Wuffo
“Wuffo” is what skydivers call non-skydivers. It comes from shortening the phrase “What would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane for?”
Spotting
Spotting is a final check before anyone exits the plane. Someone familiar with the area looks down and makes sure that the airplane is in the expected location. They also check for clouds, other airplanes, and parachutes from skydivers who…
Rodeo
A rodeo skydive is one of either: When one skydiver sits on another’s back in freefall, pretending to ride a horse A skydive that has gone quite wrong in freefall. People are crashing into each other and trying not to…
Playground Exit
A playground exit is a fun and silly way to exit an airplane. Everyone holds hands as if they were preschoolers walking to the playground. Make sure you let go before the tension gets to be too much, or the…
Tube Exit
A tube exit is a sill and fun thing to do where two or three skydivers will hold each others ankles and roll out of the plane. It is similar to when kids sometimes do rolling down a hill. You…