Golden Knights at Dayton by Mark

As the Black and Gold Demo Teams close out the second week of winter training, we prepare for our first demonstration of the year. Homestead’s Rodeo, at Harris Field, will be the host of this Saturday’s jump. For some of the new members of the Team, this will be the first Golden Knight demo, they ever see. As we are always looking to compliment positive community relations, the Golden Knights were happy to take part in this year’s rodeo.

The second week of our Winter Training is coming to an end. This week’s training additions include Canopy Relative Work (CRW) and Baton Passes. CRW is the process of using our canopy’s advanced aerodynamic design, and flying it right up to the hands of another jumper and creating one of many types of canopy formations. Working with the basics, our new jumpers learn to push their learning curve and their comfort zones as many fly closer to other jumpers than they ever have before.

The Golden Knight’s Baton Pass consists of two jumpers separately exiting the aircraft and flying their bodies apart to gain separation. They then fly together and make contact to exchange a 14 inch mahogon baton. During Training, a baton is not flown: Jumpers simply fly together and hold onto each other’s arm. The jumpers create 120 miles per hour spirals in the sky, then separate to deploy their main parachutes.

Read the full blog here.