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What is the spot?

Aircraft and the load

The spot is the exit point — the position over the ground where the aircraft releases jumpers so that, allowing for wind drift, they can comfortably fly back to the landing area.

Wind makes it a calculation

Jumpers drift with the wind during freefall and under canopy. Winds aloft may be considerably stronger, and in a different direction, from what is felt on the ground. The spot accounts for that.

A bad spot leaves jumpers unable to reach the landing area, resulting in an off-field landing — an unfamiliar area with unknown hazards, which is why spotting is taken seriously and taught as a skill.

Jump run

Jump run is the aircraft's flight path over the spot, usually flown into wind. Groups exit in a sequence spaced to maintain horizontal separation, which is why exit order on a mixed load is briefed rather than improvised.

This is background, not training

These pages explain what things are so the language makes sense. They are not instruction and cannot substitute for it — skydiving is taught in person by rated instructors at a drop zone, and anything involving equipment handling or emergency procedures belongs there rather than on a web page.