Learn the frontside air: prerequisites, five stages from the mini air to an air with rotation and grab, typical mistakes and why small comes before high.
The frontside air is a jump over the coping of a ramp where you rotate frontside, grab the toe edge of the board with your back hand and land back in the transition. You learn it in five stages, and the honest answer is: start small, landing first, height last.
The frontside air is the trick that turns ramp riding into real flying. It is also one of the tricks where a mistake hurts, because the landing happens on a sloped surface at speed.
In an ollie off a 45.7 centimetre platform, researchers measured 4.74 body weights in the first 30 to 80 milliseconds of landing in seven top skaters, higher than expected because they deliberately landed firm [1]. There is no measurement of its own for the frontside air, but you land from height and with speed. That is the reason for the build-up small to high.
How long it takes is experience: a mini air on a small ramp can stand after a few sessions, a clean frontside air with a grab takes months.
Ride up, jump a few centimetres over the coping and land back in the transition. Knees up, gaze into the ramp. Milestone: 8 of 10 mini airs with a soft landing.
In the mini air, grab the toe edge with the back hand and let go before landing. Milestone: 6 of 10 times grab, let go, landed cleanly.
In flight, open the shoulders slightly towards the ramp, without turning the board. The gaze goes to the landing. Milestone: 5 of 10 times saw the landing cleanly.
Add the rotation: the board turns about 90 degrees in flight, you land in the transition. Milestone: 5 of 10 times landed cleanly, rolling on.
Only when the landing sits do you go higher above the coping, in small steps. Milestone: 3 clean airs in a row on the small ramp.
Film check: Have a partner film you from the side and check whether the head is in the landing zone before the board and the hips stay over the board. Estimate the height above the coping in the clip: stay at a few centimetres until the landing sits. Show the clip to a coach before you raise the height.
The frontside air is a trick with real fall height, and the build-up is therefore a must. In the US trauma registry with 24,903 patients with skateboard injuries, helmet use was only 5.7 and 5.4 percent, and wearing a helmet and skateparks were protective against severe traumatic brain injury [2]. A video analysis of competitions showed high rates of falls, but also that athletes control falls; under 5 percent wore helmets [3]. In an Australian analysis of 5,026 injuries, 62 percent of head injuries were traumatic brain injuries and concussions [4].
Wrist and forearm make up more than 50 percent of injuries [5]. Fatigue counts as a risk factor [6]. Practise only on a small ramp, never on vert or large sets, and never alone. This guide gives no instruction for large ramps, it explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training.
Move your eyes before your body: look at the landing zone already at take-off, not at the coping below you. The head leads, the shoulders follow, the board comes after. Film yourself from the side: if the head is in the landing zone before the board, you are right.
A frontside air is a jump over the coping of a ramp where you rotate frontside, grab the toe edge of the board with the back hand and land back in the transition. It is a foundation for airs in the park.
In five stages: mini air without rotation, mini air with grab, open the shoulders, frontside rotation, increase height slowly. Prerequisites are axle stall, dropping in and an ollie with a grab. Start on a small ramp with protection.
So low that you land securely right away: about hip height. It only gets higher when the landing sits and someone watches. There is no study on this; it is practice knowledge.
Yes. Head injuries make up to 75 percent of all injuries in the literature [3], and wearing a helmet was protective against severe traumatic brain injury in registry data [2].
There is no study on this. The order is experience and depends on your stance and your feel for the direction of rotation. Ask a local coach which direction suits you, and start small either way.
Learning the Tail Stall: Tail on the Coping and Back In