Parachuting | Surfing Skydivers

A Look at Your First Skydiving Training Course

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Before you are able to skydive you are required to take part in a training course that teaches you the basics of skydiving. These training courses are intended to ensure your safety while you are skydiving. The majority of these courses will teach you the basics of skydiving and the safety rules for skydiving so that everything will go smoothly on your first jump. If you have already decided that you are going to go skydiving here’s a look at what some of the training courses includes so you are prepared when you enter your first training session.

Medically Able To Jump. On your first training course instructors will inquire whether you are medically able to skydive. There are some things to consider about your medical conditions which allow you to decide if you’re medically able to skydive. People who have a history of heart attacks or other heart related conditions, history of blackouts or have physical disabilities may want to consider skydiving is not right for them. You will be required to sign a legal form wavering any rights and declaring that you are medically able to skydive.

Initial Training Course. There is minimal training that goes into learning how to do a tandem jump. You will learn the basic safety rules, what to do with the instructor and what to expect. If you are considering learning the harder skydiving jumps you will be required to take extra training lessons.

Choosing a Drop Zone. During your first training course you will choose which drop zone you wish to use on your skydiving jump. Many drop zones are known for their lovely views and difficulty. It is important that you take into consideration which drop zone you wish to use during your first training course. Most skydiving schools will have specified drop zone for those that are skydiving for the first time. However, some schools allow you to choose where you wish to jump for the first time.

Filed Under: Skydiving, Trainings Tagged With: Drop zone, Parachuting, Skydiving

What to Consider Before Skydiving Your First Time

Skydiving is an extreme sport that is designed for people who are looking for an extreme thrill. The extreme sport of skydiving involves people jumping out of a plane and freefalling thousands of feet until eventually a parachute is launched to catch them. While many people know exactly what skydiving entails they do not know how to go about learning how to skydive. Here’s a look at what you need to consider before learning how to skydive.

Locating a Skydiving Center. There are local skydiving centers that will teach you how to skydive. It is important that you find a certified skydiving school who has experienced instructors. The more experienced the instructor is the better you will learn the art of skydiving and the less nervous you will become.

Deciding on the Jump. Once you have located the skydiving center you’ll need to decide what type of skydiving jump you’ll take part in. If you’re new to skydiving you will take a jump known as a tandem jump. This is a jump in which you take part attached to a licensed skydiver is the jump all beginners skydivers take part in. Other jumps include a freefall or static line jump. These jumps are reserved for more experienced skydivers and are not recommended for beginners.

Consider Purchasing a Package. Many skydiving centers offer packages that allow the skydiver to learn the training courses, become certified and take part in their first jump. These packages are great deal because the individual is not paying for each part individually. Many of these packages will also include a videotape of your first jump so you can take back home the memories of your first jump.

Consider Going in a Group. Many people who skydive will skydive in a group because it is more fun with the more people you have around you. Many skydiving schools will offer discounts for large groups of people who wish to learn the art of skydiving.

Filed Under: Skydiving, Sports Tagged With: Extreme sport, Parachuting, Skydiving

RSL – Necessity or Accessory?

Every skydiver is equipped with a Reserve Static Line, or RSL. It’s safety gear that helps the reserve chute open, even if the skydiver is unconscious or otherwise unable to pull the rip cord. The RSL is made to instantly remove the reserve rip cord pins to allow the chute to open if the main parachute has already opened.

The RSL is a back-up device that will deploy the reserve chute before the jumper can grab the rip cord himself. An important safety measure, it is only a back-up method and shouldn’t be relied upon. Manual deployment should be the first thing a jumper turns to.

RSL: A Necessary Accessory

There are those times when an RSL isn’t recommended; every jumper should get to know how the RSL works so they can make decisions on if/when to use it. Also called the “Stevens Cutaway System,” it was created in the ‘60s – a time when there were many skydiving deaths each year – by a skydiving instructor named Perry Stevens. The RSL was brought to attention as a way of reducing the many deaths related to cutaways and being too close to the ground to deploy an effective parachute.

Sometimes a chute opening is really hard, knocking out the skydiver temporarily, or sometimes they’re injured or dazed by the opening. If the diver can, they only need to pull the cutaway handle to deploy the RSL and reserve.

If a jumper cannot find his reserve rip cord handle, or when the main chute malfunctions and the harness shifts, those are times when an RSL can be lifesaving. Sometimes a person can go into shock when they pull the rip cord and nothing happens; their frozen state is a time when an RSL comes in handy. They freeze, losing track of important time, failing to pull the reserve themselves, the RSL will take over for them. It can be a life-saving device in more ways than one.

Filed Under: Skydiving Tagged With: Parachuting

Some Tips for Becoming a Camera Flyer

Taking video footage of skydivers while in the air is called being a camera flyer. It can be a fun and rewarding job, although very dangerous if done wrong. The first requirement of a camera flyer is that they be experienced skydivers, first. Most places won’t let anyone fly a camera unless they have a class C license, first. Safety is the most important part of a jump.

Here are some important things to remember about being a camera flyer.

1.)

As mentioned above, being a skydiver is the first step in becoming a camera flyer. Take courses to obtain at least a class C license.

2.)

Get a professional helmet with a camera mounted to it. They’re a bit expensive but worth the cost in the end. A user can make a lot of money being a camera flyer, if they’re any good.

3.)

Shoot with the sun behind you. Keep an eye on the sun’s position when camera flying, and coordinate the flight to move around the skydivers accordingly.

4.)

To capture all the fun and excitement of jumping out of airplanes, photograph the skydivers before the jump, in the plane, and during and after the jump. Try to get all the emotion and nerve bundles recorded to tell the story of the jump. Taking sequences of shots helps toward the story, and people like pictures close enough to see their faces in.

5.)

A good camera flyer can move around the skydivers without interrupting or bumping into them. That could throw the jumper off course and react with other jumpers, too. While flying, take shots that include parts of the ground or the surrounding clouds, too.

Although it’s true that not everyone can be a camera flyer, it takes some skill and fast thinking to be good at it.

Filed Under: Skydiving Tagged With: Parachuting

Amazing Falls From Great Heights

Skydiving has dangers all it’s own, and safety is of utmost important to jumpers. But, sometimes things happen, like, the chute refuses to open or it gets tangled and is of no help. People have been known to survive incredible falls from amazing heights, but not all are skydivers. Here’s a few of the top falls from a great height.

In August 2004, while completing her 112th jump, Christine McKenzie’s chute didn’t open. Trying to pull open the reserve chute, she found it wasn’t working, either. Hurtling downward at over 100 miles per hour, the 11,000-foot jump ended with McKenzie landing across some power lines that broke her fall. She was left with only a broken pelvis.

Incredible Survivors From Great Falls

The Solo Spirit, a helium balloon owned by adventurer Steve Fossett, was shredded by hail in the air at 30,000 feet, causing it’s passenger to plummet downward. Fossett laid on the bench in the passenger capsule and waited for his certain death. When the remaining pieces of the Solo Spirit crashed into the ocean, Fossett was somehow completely unhurt. As the capsule filled with water he scrambled onto his life-raft and waited for rescue for ten hours.

Joshua Hanson of Wisconsin went to Minneapolis to party with friends in 2007. Party he did, and somehow he was talked into running through a double-paned plate-glass window to fall 17 stories. At 1:30am Hanson and his friends went to the Regency Hiatt where he carried out the plan. He ran down the length of the corridor on the 17th floor and mis-stepped, causing him to go head-first through the window. He tumbled in the air on the way down, eventually hitting a concrete overhang that broke his fall, allowing him to and on his feet when he hit the ground. With only a broken leg and a few scratches he walked away from this feat.

Filed Under: Skydiving Tagged With: Parachuting

Some Skydiving World Records

Here are some skydiving records held:

Set on February 8, 2006 in Udon Thani, Thailand, was the world’s largest freefall formation involving 400 people.

Holding the record for the most skydives is Don Kellner, with a total of 36,000 jumps total.

USA’s Cheryl Stearns holds the record for making the most jumps by a woman, with 15,560 jumps by August, 2003.

Achieving the highest jump in history on August 16, 1960, United States Airforce Captain Joe W. Kittinger tested high-altitude jumps. As part of a program for high-altitude escape systems, Kittinger wore a pressure suit while he rode a hot air balloon to 102,800 feet (temperature was 94 below zero, Fahrenheit) and then jumped.

Kittinger Makes Record, Then Loses It

His fall lasted more than thirteen minutes (with a 4.5 minute free fall) and he reached speeds of over 600 miles per hour. However the fact that he used a stabilizing drogue disqualified him for the longest jump, so the record is still at 85,000 feet. But, Kittinger still holds the record for the highest jump from a balloon and the jump is still held as the most death-defying feat in skydiving history.

The most skydives in a 24-hour period stands at 640! In Greensburg, Indiana, Jay Stokes (of Skydive Greensburg) broke the record for the most consecutive jumps in 2006. Stokes was part of the US Army’s Special Forces, and for the record he took a jump about every 2.25 minutes. He used three planes to reach diving height as fast as possible.

The record for the longest canopy piloting distance is 494 feet, or, it’s sometimes called the longest ‘swoop’ in history. Jason Moledzki of Canada flew over 494 feet parallel to the ground in 2007 and it was recorded by the official governing body of aviation records at Aeronautique Internationale.

This list is incomplete, there are many records held by skydivers around the world.

Filed Under: Skydiving Tagged With: Parachuting

Australia’s Annual Skydiving Event Grew 400%

Over the New Year celebration, skydivers all across Australia – and 7 from Switzerland – crowded Moruya for a week-long skydiving extravaganza. Collectively, there were more than 1,000 jumps from 14,000 feet up. The airplane used was from Wollon-gong and it allowed ten jumpers to be in the sky at the same time. The south-coast sky was filled with brightly colored parachutes.

The skydivers came from all over the continent, including the Northern Territory, Melbourne, Cairns, Canberra and Sydney. The event turnout was much better than expected, and the week was incident-free. Bad weather slowed them down a bit, but Moruya lived up to it’s task of keeping the jumpers well-toured, with scenic views of the beach and the nearby river.

Australia is the New Years Place to Be Skydiving

Weather conditions for skydiving were poor for three of the five days, but the plane stayed an extra few days, allowing the event to be extended. There were experts there to teach jumpers new skills in wing-suiting, canopy formation and free-flight.

Jules McConnel of Skydive Surfside said, “To have the caliber of teaching here that we did was really good because normally to get that kind of training people have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to travel interstate and overseas.” Wing-suiting proved to be the most popular of events and the locale was perfect for it. A stunning coastline view and beach landings were were perfect for learning, and it was enjoyed massively by the crowd as well as the jumpers.

Many jumpers got to experience tandem skydives with some of Australia’s best performers. Skydive Surfside has held the event for the last three years, and number have risen each year. The first event saw 20 participants and the second year saw 50. But, this year’s extravaganza had over 200 skydivers was an unexpected but pleasant growth in numbers, creating talks of an even bigger event for the week in 2012.

Next year they hope to have more skydivers from around the world to participate in the event.

Filed Under: Skydiving Tagged With: Parachuting

FreeFlying and Para-Skiing; Are They for You?

There are many different kinds of skydiving today, and not all are called skydiving, but the basic idea is definitely there. Skydiving and it’s many forms are quickly growing in groups and interest. These forms of skydiving for today are called:

Recreational Formation Skydiving
Para-skiing

Recreational Formation Skydiving

Formation Skydivers, or belly flyers, meet others with like minds from all over the world as the craft grows. Jump planes are making a lot of money on them because they fill the planes on weekends with maximum loads and some on weekdays, as well. The current world record for the most people in a recreational formation is 300.

Freeflying

FreeFlying is quickly becoming a favorite activity. The flyer has the ability to fly the body in any of a number of positions, at any speed, at any time. The positions are head-down, back, stand, sit, and belly flying. However, there are no hard, fast rules, a flyer can make their own goals and convictions. Freeflying safety is of utmost importance and must be constantly on the minds of the divers.

By following all the rules and guidelines a flyer can have a fun, safe trip, and the only limits are the edges of the imagination. Beginners, however, are limited to the talents and experience of those that fly with them. The best way to train is with a 2 person formation.

Those many different ways to fly that are mentioned above; different positions are done at different speeds, ranging from 90 to 300 miles per hour. Learning to be in control of speed, direction and proximity at slower velocities hones skills of awareness and fast reactions, and the faster positions can then be tried. Flying with others is fun and a great way to learn more. Next post: Freestyle, Sky surfing and Canopy Relative Work.

Filed Under: Skydiving Tagged With: Parachuting

How Safe is Skydiving? Is Being in my car Safer?

Skydiving has become a very popular sport, and numbers of people doing it have been on the rise since the beginning. Especially since extreme sports are all the rage in the world today.

Skydiving seems very dangerous because the person has to jump out of a perfectly good airplane to do it. Falling to the ground from an airplane makes many people picture certain death, where as athletic types find the challenge exciting.

Dropzone.com lists skydiving fatalities since 2004, and those numbers also have had a steady climb to the present. That’s not to say the sport has become more dangerous, but that there are so many more people interested in doing it now. Skydiving’s popularity has multiplied tenfold since 2004.

Is Driving a Car Less Dangerous Than Skydiving?

When one considers the statistics from the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), skydiving doesn’t seem so dangerous. Driving a car on the ground netted 33,808 deaths from automobile operation, and those come with all kinds of reasons for the accidental deaths. But, when compared to 2010’s 54 fatalities from skydiving, the sport suddenly looks less murderous.

The latest statistics show that the last five people who died during skydiving, and four of those were in October of 2010, the fifth in November. The reasons range from suicide to chute malfunctions and hard landings.

There are things out of the diver’s control that happen frequently, and skydivers are smart to be aware of these kinds of happenings. Wind, for instance, can make a big difference in where a diver lands. In January of 2011, three skydivers flying over the north coast of North Carolina were blown way off course and had to be rescued.

Even an experienced diver has minor malfunctions and unexpected weather at times, but over all, if done right, skydiving is a pretty safe sport.

Filed Under: Skydiving Tagged With: Parachuting

What to Wear Skydiving and Other Tips

If someone has never been skydiving before and plans to take a dive, there are some tips that should help the newcomer know what to expect. Most centers will require that the person take 5 to 6 hours of ground training before their first jump. It goes fast and is fun to do with other people.

The person doesn’t need to be particularly fit, but of good health is wise. As long as someone can pull the rip cord for the chute, no strength is needed. And, the person absolutely must be at least 18 years of age. Even a parent ready to sign a waiver can’t get their son or daughter a dive until they’re 18. No way around it.

What to Wear Skydiving

Many times people don’t know what to wear. Loose fitting clothing doesn’t matter if the center gives jumpsuits to the customers. However not all of them do, so dress warmly unless it’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit. No matter the weather, do not wear clothes that inhibit movement; a diver doesn’t want to be able to do what is needed and clothes can stop that from happening.

Also, it’s a good idea to bring a second set of clothing. Unless it’s been really dry for a while, the chances of landing in a muddy environment are likely. The best shoes to wear are running shoes. No sandals, flipflops or open-toed shoes are allowed.

If the jumper wears prescription glasses or contacts, there’s no worry, as the safety goggles given to them by the center will easily go over them. As for sunglasses, talk to the jump leader about that.

It takes 10-15 minutes for the plane to reach altitude. The last five minutes before time to jump will be spent double-checking the gear. Safety first, is a very important motto. Single jumpers go first, and then go the tandem jumpers.

Relax and have fun!

Filed Under: Skydiving Tagged With: Parachuting

A Look at Your First Skydiving Training Course

What to Consider Before Skydiving Your First Time

RSL – Necessity or Accessory?

Some Tips for Becoming a Camera Flyer

Amazing Falls From Great Heights

Some Skydiving World Records

Australia’s Annual Skydiving Event Grew 400%

FreeFlying and Para-Skiing; Are They for You?

How Safe is Skydiving? Is Being in my car Safer?

What to Wear Skydiving and Other Tips

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