Personnel soared across the sky above Moruya, NSW, for the Australian Parachute Federation's Skydiving Championships in mid-March.
Thirteen Army members and one Air Force member represented the Australian Defence Force Parachute Association, securing a total of nine podium finishes against 150 competitors in multiple high-speed disciplines, including formation skydiving, vertical formation, wing-suiting and speed.
Skydives were conducted from 15,000 to 11,000 feet, dependent on the discipline.
Formation skydiving is judged on a specific 35-second window that begins the moment the first person leaves the aircraft door.
Teams jumped with a dedicated cameraperson responsible for capturing clear, high-definition footage for the judges. If the cameras failed or the footage was poor, the team would lose all points for the jump.
Once on the ground, the footage was uploaded to a digital scoring system where judges reviewed the footage to confirm how many formations the team completed in accordance with the rules to give them a score.
For individual disciplines such as speed skydiving and wing-suiting, judging relied on high-precision GPS devices to measure velocity, distance and time.
'You don't focus on the fear; you focus on making sure you're doing things safely and rehearsing your drills until your malfunction procedures are instinctive.'
Warrant Officer Class One Paul Schwizler, who has parachuted for more than 40 years and placed second in the AA-four-way team formation, said success relied on lots of practise, repetition and muscle memory.
"You don't focus on the fear; you focus on making sure you're doing things safely and rehearsing your drills until your malfunction procedures are instinctive," Warrant Officer Class One Schwizler said.
"In formation skydiving competitions, you've only got 35 seconds from the moment the first person's foot leaves the door to do as many formations as you can. It's all about stability and reacting instantly."
He said there were always dangers, but they were put aside by focusing on maintaining gear and training.
"Whether it's 40 years of military jumping or hours in the wind tunnel, you need that repetition to perform when it counts," he said.
Those in the ADF who are interested in sports skydiving should visit the ADF Parachuting Association SharePoint page.
