Yuliya Pangburn, Flight-1 instructor, dishes on the misunderstandings of CRW and why it’s the discipline you didn’t know you needed.
I was asked to talk about Canopy Relative Work. You should’ve not let me start – I truly can talk about CRW for hours!
Spending time around skydivers from other disciplines, I’ve heard all the usual comments:
“You guys are insane.”
“CRW is dangerous.”
“CRW is not for me.”
And my favorite (drumroll, please): “CRW canopies aren’t good to land.”
Well, let’s dig into those. Aren’t we all a little insane for happily jumping out of just about anything that flies in the sky? Isn’t skydiving, in general, considered a dangerous sport? And how can you truly say “it’s not for me” if you’ve never even tried it?
Safety First
Skydiving does involve risk, but we address those risks by prioritizing safety — improving standards, developing better equipment, creating structured courses, and educating ourselves. The same applies to CRW. Yes, it was wilder 20–30 years ago, but today it’s safer than ever thanks to better canopies, organized CRW camps, experienced coaches, and effective teaching tools.
In CRW, we prioritize safety. Over the years we developed perfectly structured courses that address everything: spotting, winds, canopy controls and flying techniques, and even extra landing classes. Our jumpers become good, instinctive canopy pilots.
Every CRW camp begins with detailed teaching presentations suitable for all experience levels. For preparation, there’s the “CRWTube” channel on YouTube — filled with beginner-friendly topics as well as advanced techniques. Watching these before camp saves time, allowing more focus on actual jumping and debriefing. Safety Briefs and Emergency Procedures aren’t optional; they’re essential viewing and discussion material.
The Canopies
Performance Designs produces different canopies tailored for CRW, from slow, forgiving wings to the fastest competition machines. Each type is designed for contact flying and staying inflated — something standard freefall parachutes can’t guarantee.
- Lightning – The gold standard for learning CRW. Slower flight, but very well maneuverable, and incredibly stable. Built to last, to stay inflated and resist collapse, the Lightning has earned its reputation for safety — about 90% of wraps can be unwrapped and stabilized.
- Storm – Faster and more responsive, great for competition and skilled pilots.
- Tango – The newest 5-cell elliptical CRW canopy — think of it as the “race car” of the discipline. It’s high-performance and demands significant experience to handle well.
CRW riggers play an important role too — they repair, customize, and innovate constantly, adding tools for specific formations and improving safety features.
Landing Myths
Let’s set the record straight: Lightnings can land well. They behave like a typical 7-cell canopy. In fact, Lightning was designed from the PD-7Cell and PD Reserve, making it the “grandmother” of the Spectre – a canopy still popular today for its stability and predictable flare. If you can land a Spectre or a 7-cell reserve, you can land a Lightning.
In our courses, landing debriefs help build confidence so that newer CRW pilots become comfortable with their flare timing and technique.
Is CRW Really Dangerous?
CRW jumpers often have more canopy knowledge than anyone else on the dropzone.
We deploy out the door and fly our parachutes for the entire jump. That’s a lot of extra canopy time compared to freefall disciplines. Think how much experience we gain just from the TIME we spend under the parachutes! And we’re not just hanging there – we’re moving and actively building formations, analyzing and making precise inputs that build up our muscle memory. There is a constant awareness in the sky, as well, to know our position relative to others, the ground, and the winds.
CRW flyers naturally fly well with others around them, and earn the trust by their safe flying and good decision making. Nobody would make a bet with me that the 100 of CRW jumpers are safer than a 100 belly-flyers in the sky at the same time, trying to fly the same pattern into the same landing area, am I right?
“CRW jumpers get more canopy time in one weekend than some skydivers get in a year.”
Yuliya Pangburn
Getting Started
So why haven’t you tried CRW yet?
CRW communities exist across the country and around the world and connect through the websites, Facebook, or WhatsUp. Many experienced coaches have multiple extra canopies to loan to every interested jumper.
Yes, to do CRW safely, you must use a canopy designed for specifically for CRW. Please, do NOT play CRW under regular freefall parachutes – they collapse too easily and can create a violent spin – in the best scenario. In the worst scenario – just think about thin lines on your parachute, how much danger and damage they can cause if they wrap around you?
Also, start with an experienced coach! Your learning curve and your safety will thank you. Good instruction means faster progress, safer habits, and proper technique from day one.
Trying CRW doesn’t mean you have to jump right in to a big-way and fly with bunch of people in close proximity. Flying small formations – 2-, 4-ways, are much more beneficial for learning, and safer.
My Own Journey
I was once like you — standing on the ground, watching a CRW camp from a distance. I loved seeing those big formations floating overhead and was intrigued by the tight-knit group of friends on the ground. I admired them… and I was a little scared.
Originally, I wanted to try CRW simply to improve my canopy skills — to be quick to fix off-heading openings, sharpen my control inputs, and better understand my wing’s range.
But the moment I started, I fell in love with my canopy, with the long flights in the vast sky, with the excitement of learning, and with the incredible people who quickly became lifelong friends.
Why You Should Try It
CRW is like a new candy: once you unwrap it and take a taste, you want more. We can promise the highest possible safety standards and more fun in the sky than you’ve ever had. CRW isn’t just a discipline of canopy flying, it’s the discipline. If you want to truly understand your parachute, learn CRW. Master it on a CRW canopy, and when you return to your freefall wing, you’ll feel every subtle input and understand every response.
If you want to truly understand your parachute, learn CRW.
