Mark Perna talks with Alex Swindle, Arizona Airspeed’s team videographer, competitive wingsuit pilot, 2025 USPA national champion, and U.S. Parachute Team member. Alex shares how he went from teaching AP calculus and working in software to flying camera at the highest level of skydiving, what it takes to perform under pressure, and how he handles fear, burnout, competition, and perfectionism in the sport.

Mark sits down with Jason Berkowitz, founder of Break the Web, to talk about agency life, SEO, AI, DTC brands, and the strange overlap between business risk and skydiving. Jason shares how he went from personal training to building an SEO agency, why owning the customer relationship matters, and how skydiving became a mental reset from the pressure of entrepreneurship. They also get into the infamous raft jump, cutaways, gear checks, fear, focus, and adapting when the ground keeps moving.

Learn more about Jason's company at https://breaktheweb.agency

Alethia Austin has spent more than two decades in skydiving — but her story starts long before the first jump.

In this episode of the Hard Deck Podcast, Mark sits down with Alethia Austin, owner and publisher of Skydive Mag, international freefly and angle coach, creator of the LSD Camps, world-record skydiver, organizer, mentor, and one of the people helping shape the next generation of the sport.

Alethia shares how growing up in rural Oregon, navigating poverty and a difficult childhood, and eventually building a career in the music industry helped shape the independence and perspective she carries today. We follow her journey from Los Angeles and music supervision to Amsterdam, yoga, Skydive Spain, international coaching, and eventually taking over one of the largest global media platforms in skydiving.

But this conversation goes well beyond flying.

Mark and Alethia get into the role of humility in high performance, why experienced skydivers eventually realize how much they still don’t know, the importance of physical and mental longevity, plant medicine and healing, meditation, strength training, AI-generated “slop,” protecting authentic human voices, and why doing difficult things can be one of the greatest sources of joy in life.

They also discuss where skydiving is headed — including safety, social media, attracting new jumpers, the responsibility of the industry’s governing bodies, and Alethia’s vision for the future of Skydive Mag.

Alethia’s philosophy is simple but powerful: stay curious, protect your health, tell the truth, and never stop being a student.

In this episode:

• Taking over Skydive Mag and finding new voices in skydiving
• Why humility increases with experience
• The different phases skydivers go through as they progress
• Growing up in poverty and learning independence early
• Healing trauma and finding gratitude in difficult experiences
• Ayahuasca, meditation, therapy, and personal growth
• Using AI without outsourcing your own thinking
• Why authentic human storytelling matters more in the age of AI
• Alethia’s career in the music industry and work on The Great Debaters
• Moving to Europe and discovering yoga and international skydiving
• Building LSD Camps and becoming an international organizer
• Marketing Skydive Spain and helping rebrand three European drop zones
• Why strength training matters for skydivers
• Differences Alethia sees coaching male and female athletes
• The future of skydiving participation and culture
• Safety, aircraft accidents, demo incidents, and how the sport is portrayed online
• Why Alethia believes reciprocity has shaped some of the biggest opportunities of her life
• What it means to become a lifelong student

Learn more about Alethia and read Skydive Mag at SkydiveMag.com.

In this solo episode, Mark Perna reflects on recent skydiving fatalities and the question every skydiver eventually asks: Is it worth it?

The conversation expands into life after military service, PTSD, veteran suicide, entrepreneurship, fatherhood, and why finding a new mission is essential after losing an old identity.

Mark shares his personal journey from combat veteran to skydiver, business owner, husband, and father, explaining how confronting fear—not avoiding it—helped him rediscover purpose.

Topics Covered:

• Is skydiving worth the risk?
• Lessons from loss in the skydiving community
• Fear, courage, and human flight
• PTSD and veteran identity
• Building purpose after military service
• Entrepreneurship as a new mission
• Gratitude, family, and meaningful risk
• Why avoiding fear creates regret

A personal conversation about choosing a life of purpose over a life of comfort.

Joe Lohmuller—better known as Moab Joe—went from sleeping in his car outside a small Cessna drop zone to becoming a wingsuit coach, competitor, and founder of Tough Turkey.

In this episode of The Hard Deck, Joe shares how a fear of heights pushed him toward climbing, skydiving, BASE jumping, and ultimately some of the most technical flying in the sport. He breaks down wingsuit acrobatic competition, his training for Nationals and the World Championships, and what it means to represent Team USA.

Joe also opens up about a terrifying first wingsuit jump, the progression required to safely enter wingsuit BASE, and the equipment mistake that led to a two-out landing, a shattered pelvis, a severed urethra, and four months away from the sport.

This conversation is about preparation, complacency, resilience, and finding the thing you were built to do.

In this episode:

• How Joe completed 160 skydives in six weeks
• The reality of progressing into wingsuit BASE
• What judges look for in wingsuit acrobatic competition
• Why the camera flyer may be the most important person on the team
• The origins of Tough Turkey
• Joe’s near-fatal landing and return to flight
• Why fear never completely disappears
• His vision for making competition coaching more accessible

Learn more about Joe and Tough Turkey at toughturkey.ws or follow him on Instagram at @moabjoe423.

The Hard Deck explores the people who live, work, and perform at the edge—and the lessons they bring back with them.

World record skydiver, author, speaker, coach, and Highlight Pro Skydiving Team co-captain Melanie Curtis joins The Hard Deck for a powerful conversation about fear, performance, healing, and what it really means to live bravely.

Melanie has more than 12,000 jumps and decades in the sport, but this conversation goes far beyond skydiving. She and Mark talk about learning to work with fear instead of avoiding it, the nervous system, public speaking, burnout, grief, trauma, therapy, psychedelic healing, and the long-term work required to become lighter, clearer, and more fully alive.

They also dig into women in skydiving, the importance of planting seeds of possibility, passing the torch, and why real bravery is not about being fearless — it is about choosing to move forward with awareness, support, and intention.

Find Melanie at MelanieCurtis.com and on Instagram at @melaniecurtis11.

Brian Naiman joins Mark Perna on The Hard Deck Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about skydiving, leadership, drop zone ownership, safety, and the future of the sport.

Brian is the USPA Pacific Regional Director, a longtime instructor, and co-owner of Skydance Skydiving in Davis, California. In this episode, he shares his path from chemical engineering to full-time skydiving, the realities of running a drop zone, his role with USPA, and the hard-earned lessons that come from surviving a midair collision and AAD save.

The conversation covers risk tolerance, decision-making, demo jumps, community, business ownership, social media, AI, and why skydiving remains one of the most human experiences left.

Matt Fry is a world record skydiver, vertical formation organizer, speed skydiver, and one of the minds behind some of the biggest head-down skydiving formations ever built.

In this episode of Hard Deck, Matt breaks down what it takes to build massive vertical formations, chase speed skydiving runs over 300 mph, organize record attempts, manage risk, and keep progressing in a sport where the margin for error is thin and the lessons usually show up fast.

We talk about the 174-way vertical head-down world record, the future push toward a 200-way, speed skydiving gear, team selection, high-altitude record camps, leadership, fear, burnout, and why sometimes the smartest move in skydiving is staying on the ground.