Parachuting and Private Skydiving Centers

Many people are afraid of heights but some use height as a basis for adventure. I would like to tell you a little bit about skydiving and a few of its variations. Skydiving is a recreational and competitive sport in which a person exits an aircraft, free falls, then parachutes the remaining descent to the ground. Exit is usually made at an altitude between 3,000 to 13,000 feet. Free fall lasts for up to 1 minute. Depending on the orientation of the body during free fall, the jumper will reach terminal velocity at speeds of 120 to 220 mph. Many people view skydiving as a highly dangerous sport, but deaths rarely occur. It is approximated that only 21 are killed each year, which is around 1 out of 150,000 jumps. A safety course is required to skydive, and many people make their first jump with an instructor. This jump is called a tandem jump, in which the instructor and jumper are strapped together. Another option for the first time jumper is called static line. In this type, a cord is attached to the parachute deployment rig on one end and to the aircraft on the other. The cord is automatically pulled when the jumper reaches the cords length during free fall. The parachute has two steering toggles. When the left is pulled, the parachute turns left, when both are pulled it acts as a braking system. There is a tear away cord that can be pulled in the event of a malfunction during deployment. In this case, a back up parachute would be used. With proper training and safety measures, skydiving is an almost indescribable experience. I have been skydiving six times, but there are many variations that I have not yet experienced. The three most extreme are BASE-jumping, skysurfing and stuff jumps. Each variation of skydiving is unique and requires a certain level of skill and nerve. Considering the fact that the jumper may use anywhere with enough altitude as their platform, BASE-jumping is probably the most common and action packed. BASE stands for buildings, antennas,

Cited: http://www.blueskyadventures.org/technical_library/variations.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachuting http://aboutskydiving.blogspot.com/2012/04/variations-of-skydiving.html