The ABC’s of Skydiving: M & O

There are no real official terms pertaining to skydiving that begin with the letter ‘N’ and so this glossary will skip that letter. Please let us know if you can think of any ‘n’ terms that we may have missed!

MSL - This is Means Sea Level. The pilot flying the jump plane will use MSL to refer to altitude. The difference is that it refers to how many feet above sea level the plane is and not how many feet above the ground.

Main - Referring to the main parachute and hopefully, the one that will be used instead of the reserve.

Manifest - This is the action of placing yourself on a list to get onto a jump plane. Each plane has a list of every jumper and these lists are kept in certain locations where you must go to get on the list.

Microline - This is a newer kind of suspension line that is much smaller than the old dacron lines that were once used.

Organizer - This is someone who coordinates formation dives. This person is usually greatly skilled at organization and is very experienced at skydiving. 

Out landing This is when a skydiver does not land on his/her target.

Out of date: If the reserve was packed more than 120 days ago at the time of the jump, it is considered to be ‘out of date’ and is illegal to use.