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Raeford, North Carolina. (September 10, 2024): All most civilians know about the Airborne is what they’ve seen in films like the Band of Brothers, Soldiers jumping out of perfectly good airplanes drifting lazily to the ground. As you can imagine, there’s a lot more to it than that. In this photo by Megan Hackett, Army Staff Sergeant Mark Pierce, a member of the famed Golden Knights parachute team, performs an advanced canopy maneuver during a jumping competition held here this week.

The goal of every paratrooper is to effectively control their canopy as they direct their “flight” to the ground. The first consideration in “piloting” a parachute is the type of canopy involved. Canopy designs have evolved over the years from round to square to elliptical shapes which has increased the need for parachute control. A paratrooper controls a canopy by pulling on steering lines connected to “toggles” that direct the parachute’s flight. The trooper can toggle left and right or pull both toggles to slow the parachute’s descent. As every type and size of parachute flies differently under varying weather conditions, an expert parachutist must understand the subtleties of canopy flight to ensure a safe landing.