Sky Diving

From ExtremeWiki

Sky Diving aka Parachuting

Parachuting is an activity involving a preplanned drop from a height using a deployable parachute. One type of parachuting is skydiving, which is recreational parachuting, also called sport parachuting.

The history of parachuting is not clear. It's known that Andre-Jacques Garnerin made successful parachute jumps from a hot-air balloon in 1797. The military developed parachuting technology first as a way to save aircrews from emergencies aboard balloons and aircraft in flight, later as a way of delivering soldiers to the battlefield. Early competitions date back to the 1930s, and it became an international sport in 1951.

Today it is performed as a recreational activity and a competitive sport, as well as for the deployment of military personnel Airborne forces and occasionally forest firefighters.

[edit] Types

There are several different disciplines to embrace within parachuting. Each of these is enjoyed by both the recreational (weekend) and the competitive participants. There is even a small group of professionals who earn their living with parachuting. They win competitions having cash prizes or are employed or sponsored by skydiving related manufacturers. Parachutists can participate both in competitive and in purely recreational skydiving events. World championships are held regularly in locations offering flat terrain and clear skies. An exception is Paraski, where winter weather and ski-hill terrain are required. Types of parachuting include:

• Accuracy landing - Landing as close as possible to a target.
• BASE jumping - From buildings, antennas, bridges (spans) and cliffs (earth).
• Blade running - A kind of slalom with parachute.
• Big-ways - Formation skydiving with many people.
• Canopy formation - Making formations with other parachutists while under canopies. (Known also as canopy relative work or simply CRW)
• Canopy piloting - Also known as 'swooping'.
• Formation skydiving - Making formations during freefall. (Known also as relative work or simply RW)
• Freefall style
• Freeflying
• Freestyle skydiving
• Military Parachuting
• HALO/HAHO
• Treejumping
• Para-ski
• Skysurfing - Skydiving with a board strapped to one's feet.
• Vertical Formation Skydiving - a subset of Formation skydiving that uses high-speed freeflying body positions instead of bellyflying. (Known also as VRW)
• Wingsuit flying - Skydiving with a suit which provides extra lift.

[edit] Variations

In addition to the various "disciplines", for which people actually train and purchase specialized equipment and get coaching, the recreational skydiver finds ways to just have fun. Hit and rock One example of this is "Hit and Rock", which is a variant of Accuracy landing devised to let people of varying skill-levels "compete" for fun, while spoofing the age and abilities of some participants. "Hit and Rock" is originally from POPS (Parachutists Over Phorty Society). See the POPS Main site The object now becomes: to land as close as possible to the chair, doff the parachute harness, sprint to the chair, sit fully in the chair and rock back and forth at least one time. The contestant is timed from the moment that feet touch the ground until that first rock is completed. This event is considered a race.

Pond swooping Pond swooping is a form of competitive parachuting wherein canopy pilots attempt to touch down at a glide across a small body of water, and onto the shore. Events provide lighthearted competition rating accuracy, speed, distance and style. Points and peer approval are reduced when a participant "chows," or fails to reach shore and sinks into the water.

Swoop and Chug the Beer Very similar to Hit and Rock, except the target is replaced by a case of beer. Jumpers are timed from the moment their feet touch the ground until they chug the can of beer and place the empty can upside-down on their head. Of course, it must be mentioned that dropzones enforce strict rules prohibiting anyone from jumping any more that day once alcohol has been consumed. Therefore, the

Swoop & Chug (aka Hit & Chug) is usually reserved for the last load of the day.

Cross-Country A cross-country jump refers to a skydive where the participants open their parachutes immediately after jumping, with the intention of covering as much ground under canopy as possible. Usual distance from Jump Run to the DZ is 10 miles (20 km).

Camera flying In camera flying, a cameraman or camerwoman jumps with other skydivers and films them. The camera flyer often wears specialized equipment, such as a winged jumpsuit to provide a greater range of fallrates, helmet-mounted video and still cameras, mouth operated camera switches, and special optical sights. Some skydivers specialize in camera flying and a few earn significant fees for filming students on coached jumps or tandem-jumpers, or producing professional footage and photographs for the media. There is always a demand for good camera flyers in the skydiving community, as many of the competitive skydiving disciplines are judged from a video record.

Night jumps Skydiving is not always restricted to daytime hours. Experienced skydivers sometimes perform night jumps. For obvious safety reasons, this requires more equipment than a usual daytime jump and in most jurisdictions requires both an advanced skydiving license (at least a B-License in the U.S.) and specialized training (night rating). A lighted altimeter (preferably accompanied with an audible altimeter) is a must. Skydivers performing night jumps often take flashlights up with them so that they can check their canopies once they deploy, so they can be assured that the canopy has opened correctly and is safe to fly and land. Visibility to other skydivers and other aircraft is also a consideration; FAA regulations require skydivers jumping at night to be wearing a light visible for three miles (5 km) in every direction, and to turn it on once they are under canopy.

Stuff jumps A skydiver sits in a rubber raft steadied by three other jumpers Skydivers are always looking for something new to do in the air. With the availability of a rear door aircraft and a large, unpopulated space to jump over 'stuff' jumps become possible. In these jumps the skydivers jump out with some object. Rubber raft jumps are popular, where the jumpers sit in a rubber raft. Cars, bikes, motorcycles, water tanks and inflatable companions have also been thrown out the back of an aircraft. At a certain height the jumpers break off from the object and deploy their parachutes, leaving it to crash into the ground at a very high speed.

[edit] Organizations

National parachuting associations exist in many countries (many affiliated with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)), to promote their sport. In most cases, national representative bodies, as well as prudent local dropzone operators, require that participants carry certification, attesting to their training, their level of experience in the sport, and their proven competence. Anyone who cannot produce such bona-fides is treated as a student, requiring close supervision.

The primary organization in the United States is the United States Parachute Association (USPA)[1]. This organization hands out licenses and ratings for all American skydiving activities based on safety qualifications. The USPA governs safety in the sport of skydiving as this is the organizations sole responsibility and also publishes the Skydivers Information Manual (SIM) and many other resources. In Canada, the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association is the lead organization. In South Africa the sport is managed by the Parachute Association of South Africa.

Within the sport, associations promote safety, technical advances, training-and-certification, competition and other interests of their members. Outside their respective communities, they promote their sport to the public, and often intercede with government regulators. Competitions are organized at regional, national and international levels in most these disciplines. Some of them offer amateur competition. Many of the more photogenic/videogenic variants also enjoy sponsored events with prize money for the winners. The majority of jumpers tend to be non-competitive, enjoying the opportunity to "get some air" with their friends on weekends and holidays. The atmosphere of their gatherings is relaxed, sociable and welcoming to newcomers. Party events, called "boogies" are arranged at local, national and international scale, each year, attracting both the enthusiastic young jumpers and many of their elders -- Parachutists Over Phorty (POPs), Skydivers Over Sixty (SOS) and even older groups who have yet to choose a catchy name for themselves. Famous people associated with this sport include Valery Rozov, a gold medalist from the 1998 X Games, who has had more than 1,500 jumps. Georgia Thompson("Tiny") Broadwick is one of the first American skydivers, and she made the first freefall.

[edit] Sky diving records

• World's largest freefall formation: 400. This record was set February 8, 2006 in Udon Thani, Thailand.
• World's largest canopy formation: 100. This record was set November 21, 2007 in Lake Wales, Florida, USA. [2]
• Don Kellner holds the record for the most parachute jumps, with a total of over 36,000 jumps. [3]
• Cheryl Stearns (USA) holds the record for the most parachute descents by a woman, with a total of 15,560 in August 2003.
• Capt. Joe W. Kittinger achieved the highest and longest (14 min) parachute jump in history on August 16, 1960 as part of a United States Air Force program testing high-altitude escape systems. Wearing a pressure suit, Capt. Kittinger ascended for an hour and a half in an open gondola attached to a balloon to an altitude of 102,800 feet (31,330 m), where he then jumped. The fall lasted 4 minutes and 36 seconds, during which Capt. Kittinger reached speeds of 714 miles per hour (1,150 km/h)[6]. The air in the upper atmosphere is less dense and thus leads to lower air-resistance and a much higher terminal velocity.
• Adrian Nicholas holds the record for the longest freefall. A 4 minutes and 55 seconds wingsuit jump made on March 12 1999.[4]
• Jay Stokes holds the record for most parachute descents in a single day at 640. [5]
• Hildegarde Ferrea is the oldest person to have completed a skydive jump - at the age of 99 years old. She completed her tandem jump on February 17, 1996 at Dillingham Field in Oahu, Hawaii