Houstonian Wins Gold In Skydiving Competition

HOUSTON, TX — Houston native Chandler Beachy won a gold medal last week at the 2017 U.S. Parachute Association National Collegiate Parachuting Championships, held at the Floriea Skydiving Center in Lake Wales, Florida.

Beachy, a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs who is majoring in management, competed as a member of the Air Force Storm between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2.

The competition drew more than 80 collegiate skydivers from around the country to compete for the title of national champion in four spectacular skydiving disciplines: Formation Skydiving, Vertical Formation Skydiving, Sport Accuracy and Classic Accuracy.

Beachy and her team took gold in the 4-way open formation skydiving event.

In formation skydiving, the team leaps from an aircraft more than two miles above the ground and then races against the clock to form prescribed geometric formations in freefall before opening their parachutes.

Found in 1946, the National Collegiate Parachuting Championships is the oldest and biggest collegiate skydiving event in the world.

Each year, USPA’s 39,000-plus members and hundreds of thousands of first-timers make nearly four million jumps in the U.S. USPA represents skydivers before all levels of government, the public and the aviation industry and sanctions national skydiving competitions and records.

For more information on making a first jump or to find a skydiving center near you, visit www.uspa.org or call 800.371.USPA.

Image: USPA/Laszlo Andacs