Two Porters in the sky: a week-long bigway camp successfully completed

Published 20 July 2026.

Last Friday marked the end of Skydive Estonia’s week-long bigway training camp. An Estonian and a Latvian Pilatus Porter, coaches Marco Arrigo and Milko Hodgkinson, and a full week of focused formation skydiving gave participants a rare opportunity to train larger groups using two aircraft.

Last week brought considerably more activity than usual to Skydive Estonia: instead of a single Pilatus Porter, two aircraft carried skydivers into the air together. The Estonian Porter was joined by a Latvian aircraft, while the week’s programme focused on bigways, or large freefall formations.

Jumping from two aircraft demands greater precision from everyone involved. The aircraft must climb and approach the exit altitude in a coordinated manner, the exits must be timed correctly, and every skydiver must reach their assigned position quickly but under control. The larger the formation, the more important each jumper’s body position, approach direction, docking and timely break-off become.

The camp was coached by Marco Arrigo and Milko Hodgkinson. During the week, participants built progressively more demanding formations and refined both their individual skills and the cooperation of the entire group. By Friday, all the planned points had been completed, an excellent result that rewarded the persistence of the skydivers and the work of the coaches, pilots and ground crew.

Camps like this give Estonian skydivers experience that cannot be replicated during a normal single-aircraft jumping day. In addition to technical skills, bigway skydiving develops discipline, awareness and trust in the whole team. The experience gained will help our skydivers prepare for even larger formations and international skydiving events.