Learn How To Skydive
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Skydiving is popular because people love the feeling of freedom and the adrenaline rush that it gives. Few other activities even get near to skydiving in terms of the buzz and excitement that it provides.
Should you not yet have tried skydiving, then you genuinely are missing out. It is a very accessible sport though, so if skydiving interests you, then there is nothing stopping you from trying it out. If skydiving is of interest to you, but you want to know more about it before committing yourself, then continue reading…
When you first exit the plane whilst skydiving, the resistance of the air is far outweighed by the force of gravity, and this causes you to rapidly accelerate downwards. After you pull your parachute cord, and your main canopy releases and fills with air, you will then begin decelerating due to the sudden increase in air resistance, and you will float down at about 10 mph, which is a perfectly safe speed to land at.
The risks involved when you go skydiving (parachutes not working, equipment malfunctioning, collisions, etc.) are relatively low, with only about 1 jump in every 100,000 leading to a fatality, but it is important to be alert and safety conscious at all times. The weather is something to be particularly aware of though, and you should not skydive in any adverse (windy or stormy) conditions.
If you are constantly aware as to what is going on, then you are in a position to prevent any minor issue becoming serious. A good piece of advice is to never relax until you have two feet safely on the ground - only then are you 100% safe.
Depending on the type of skydiving that you want to do - Tandem, Static Line, AFF (accelerated free fall) - you may spend between 1-8 hours in training, which will cover: how the body and parachute work together (essentially basic physics); how to use the various pieces of skydiving equipment; how to safely exit the plane; the various falling / flying techniques that can be implemented; how to make a safe landing.
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