{"id":60100,"date":"2025-08-09T18:08:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T18:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=60100"},"modified":"2025-08-26T17:13:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T17:13:06","slug":"bigway-safety-tips-andy-malchiodi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/bigway-safety-tips-andy-malchiodi\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigway Safety Tips: Andy Malchiodi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the 200-way Vertical World Record and 250-way State Record attempts fast approaching, bigway organizer and leader Andy Malchiodi shares key safety tips to help you fly your best and stay safe during next week\u2019s bigways at Skydive Chicago.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Bigways Are a Team Sport, Not a Solo Mission<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Bigways are a team sport, but as individuals, we can lose sight of that. It\u2019s easy to understand why. There is no \u2018other team.\u2019 There is no physical, tangible adversary we need to physically best. There is our minds, our plan of action, and our physical execution. And sometimes our own mind is the most difficult adversary to overcome. As such, we can easily compromise safety when we\u2019re so exclusively concerned with \u2018I\u2019 and \u2018my\u2019 performance. Fortunately, incentives are nicely aligned when we consider the jobs of our teammates, particularly those in our immediate proximity. When we do that, coupled with a thorough understanding of the plan of action, we can slow down mentally, open our apertures, and take in a much bigger picture. This benefits our individual performance, sets our teammates up for success, and enhances safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Records are all about teamwork
Photo by Felix Wetterberg <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Understand the Organizer\u2019s Plan and Your Role in It<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The organizers of any bigway event<\/a> expend a lot of energy to create what they believe to be the safest, most successful plan of attack. In the same breath, you can rightly say, organizers make mistakes, and the best plan of attack is only as good as its execution. As a participant, it is your responsibility to thoroughly understand your individual task, and the broader plan of action. In doing so, you can thoroughly, and accurately, visualize every step of the way to success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visualization<\/a> is a Safety Tool<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When we land from each attempt, organizers and participants compare notes, adjustments are made, wash, rinse, repeat. This engagement enhances safety many fold. If one person is out there \u2018winging it,\u2019 without a thorough understanding of the finer details, then their visualization will be non-existent. They cannot plan. And we\u2019ve all heard the expression, \u2018if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.\u2019 In a best case scenario, this may manifest in someone getting lost, or another benign outcome. But at worst, it contributes to collisions, breakoff issues, etc. So know and understand your job thoroughly, and have a good sense of the people\u2019s jobs around you. Know who you are meant to arrive ahead of, and who you are not. Know who is likely to be on your right, left, front, and back. The more engaged everyone is, the more thorough the visualization, not only will the jumps be more successful, they will be safer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Argy Alvarez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Expect the Unexpected<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Further, although impractical to plan for every conceivable situation under the sun, assume the worst when it comes to the big things. If you do, you put yourself in the best position to manage the situation appropriately. You KNOW you\u2019re gonna be on a collision course with someone on approach. You KNOW someone will be in your way on breakoff. You KNOW upon deployment, you\u2019re going to need to take evasive action to avoid collision and\/or have a canopy malfunction. You KNOW someone is going to try to kill you under canopy<\/a> on your base to final. Fortunately, these things rarely happen in practice, but that makes them no less likely to happen on any given jump. It makes for a pleasant surprise when you\u2019re ready for it, but it doesn\u2019t actually happen. The person who isn\u2019t surprised by the situation is the one most likely to handle the situation appropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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