Category: Skydiving

When squaring up to the idea of going skydiving for the first time, people have many questions. What is it about leaping from an airplane that makes this an item on so many bucket lists? Is skydiving good for your health? Can it really change your life? Why go skydiving?

There are some very compelling reasons to experience freefall, whether by doing a tandem skydive or signing up for a License course to become a skydiver yourself. Some of the rewards are more abstract and personal, but others are communal or corporeal. Let’s have a look at some of the mental and psychological health benefits skydiving can offer you…

If you have recently been, or are generally, stuck indoors, getting out in the open feels good and can do wonders for your overall mood and disposition. Visiting our dropzone and doing a skydive is the ultimate version of going out for a bit of fresh air. The air is fresher and the view is better than pretty much anything else when you ride up to over 10,000ft in a plane and then jump out of it.

Skydiving is an activity that allows you to meet new people and make friends. The stereotypical parachuting loony is not an accurate depiction of what skydivers are – instead, they come in all shapes and sizes. The people you meet on the dropzone come from all walks of life, brought together by something amazing. Skydivers are not superhumans – they are regular folk who tried it, loved it, and want to do it more! This can be you.

If you have not done it before, skydiving is a scary prospect. The payoff from achieving something your instincts are telling you is perhaps not possible to do is significant, and can grant you a new perspective on your personal ability to get things done in the face of adversity. Accepting that something is scary but reasoning through it and doing it anyway for the reward can very much affect your path through life.

Performing thrilling and exciting acts releases performance-enhancing chemicals in our bodies. The good chemicals we create such as adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine are driven to action by skydiving which can have both immediate and lasting effects. The various internal chemistry stimulated by freefall can help with things like sleep and digestion, but also aid depression and improve general mental health.

Jumping from airplanes feels good. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in this way can positively enhance your mind and body – and the after-effects of skydiving can often induce a sensation of euphoria. The first skydive you ever do is the best, but also the most anxiety-inducing. The feeling of achievement and relaxation after landing is a powerful thing and can hook you on skydiving for life, which is the best kind of addiction to have.

All the positive things skydiving can do for you can make a significant contribution to your psychological and mental wellbeing. The release of fortifying and stimulating chemicals, combined with the intense and profound enhancements to how you view the world, can very definitely change your life for the better. Any time is a good time to go skydiving, but right now is the best time of all!

In the world we live in today, we tend to accept things for the way they are without ever really questioning how they came to be. Which came first? The chicken or the egg? Since the beginnning mankind has always wanted to fly but unfortunately gravity has served as a relentless ball and chain that held us down in such times. There had to be a way around it! The concept of falling from the sky dates as far back as the 1100’s in China when the Chinese would do what today we call ‘base jumping’; jumping from cliffs or outcroppings floating to the ground in makeshift parachutes.

Later in 1485 the renowned Leonardo DaVinci sketched the blueprints for the first parachute. It was five hundred and fifteen years later, on the 26th June 2000 that Adrian Nicholas made an exact replica of DaVinci’s model and had a successful landing. The parachute weighed 187 pounds and was made of rope, canvas, and wood. However, the 10,000 foot jump consisted of Nicholas cutting away at 7,000 feet and using a regular parachute to complete his journey to the ground.

The actual history of skydiving starts with french man Andre-Jacques Garnerin, who made successful parachute descents in 1797 using a canvas canopy and a small basket tied beneath a hot air balloon. The first recorded free fall jump is credited to Leslie Irvin in 1919 and the earliest competitive dives date back to the 1930’s.

Skydiving became much more mainstream once the military began developing parachute technology and used the act of skydiving as a tactical move during World War II. After the war skydiving became much more popular as many returning soldiers took it up and had regular competitions, which led to it becoming a national sport in 1952. Our Chief Instructor will be able to tell you all about that if you would like to know more!

The highest recorded skydive in history happened recently, on October 14th, 2012, when 43 year old Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner successfully jumped from 39 kilometers, literally jumping from the edge of space. He is the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power on his descent. His achievement was broadcast on national television and entered into the Guinness Book of World Records.

When my friend tried to talk me into skydiving, I always had a well composed excuse of the story of a tortoise and most it always began with a question. “Do you know why tortoises live for a hundred-plus years? Well, perhaps they have a protective shell to make them resistance to any attack,” my friend would always answer.

And I would shout, “Wrong as usual, the reason they live to see a whole century is because they don’t jump off cliffs or planes.” My friendly would laugh uncontrollably saying that was an excuse of a century and always referred to me as a tortoise.

Several months down, he approached me again and this time he volunteered to take me through the whole skydiving process step by step. You see I am that type of person who is afraid of acting against the gravity, so I never wanted to be above the ground, well except when swimming. And again, (before my first time skydiving) if I was asked to choose between skydiving and Wifi, I would go for Wifi.

On this day, John passes by my place and straight we head out, mission skydiving. So, I hop into John’s Volvo and we are off. The next moment, I am being strapped by a skydiving instructor, Donald and that’s when I realize this is the real thing. Soon enough, the nervous feeling start and I am almost pulling away from this skydiving thing. But, the smile and excitement from John’s face makes it look like fun being down there.

I reluctantly sign a form with very sensitive information saying that if something awful happens out there and I die, no one can be held liable. This is the point you remember your parents, brother, sisters, fiancé and children if you happen to have any. All in all, there is no backing down. We get into the plane with my friend John, the pilot, three women and our instructor, Donald.

This is not the first time on a plane so I stay put and relaxed while John is carried away in a conversation with Donald and one of the ladies. The engines kicks real hard and we are on the runway at 160 km/hr. I look down and the view of the beautiful landscape is clear from above. The engine becomes even louder and the wind blows through. John tells me that we are not jumping until we reach 10, 000 ft above the ground. He is excited but I understand why, he has done this four times this will be the fifth and he is more than glad to get his camera on recording mode just to capture the wonderful moment.

We are at 8,000ft now and planet earth looks like green painting with brown patches which apparently happens to be the color of soil. For a moment, I forget what we are here for and just enjoy the beautiful view. At 10,000 ft, everyone gets ready for the main action and this is where I close my eyes confused whether to feel excited or worried. John holds my shoulder and whispers, “Everything will be okay, stay focused and follow my lead.Once we jump, I want you to relax and don’t fight the feeling, take a deep breath and wait until I tap your shoulder where you will raise your hands like you are saying I surrender and fold both legs behind me. Got it.” I surely nodded and said yes.

The ladies goes first, and we follow. The wind quickly sweeps me off and this is where I start freaking out. My heart starts to beat faster, my body starts shaking, my breath starts falling short and I can feel my knees trembling and getting weak. For a moment, I thought about death and looking down, planet earth view is clear. All through, I am twisting in the wind and I feel like my heart is beating its way out of my body. The cruel force of gravity is taking toll on me and I am descending at a terrifying speed. At the moment, the thought of skydiving being fun has no sense to me while I am tumbling down through the sky at 170km/hr.

All this time, I never realized that John was tapping me on the shoulder summoning me to raise my hand. My nerves must have gone off. Anyway, I gained some confidence after feeling John’s tap and raised my hands. The best part was when we stabilized and on my left was one of the ladies and on my right, John was there holding my hand. Now we were slowly moving in circles and floating just like I see in the movies. I had never felt that much excitement in my life. I could now see everyone clearly and we were still dropping down though in an organized manner if I may say so. Never thought I would have that much fun in my lifetime.

Then all over a sudden, one of the ladies disembarks from the circle and activates her chute. For a moment, I felt like I am sick. By now the ground is still far but I can see houses resembling small dots. John starts shouting, “That was great.” He then says, “When we near the ground, activate your chute and ensure you take control to ensure safe landing.” Now I have enough confidence and after 30 seconds, I activate my chute and the tumbling stops. I am nearly landing and the feeling is awesome as I control my chute slowly to ensure a safe landing.

Suddenly, we hit the ground and Bum that was first. Everyone lands safely and sure enough, I will back for such an experience perhaps in a different location.

Skydiving, also known as parachuting, is considered by many one of the most dangerous sports in the world. Johnson et al. asserts that, though not always, skydiving involves a certain time of free fall after diving from an aircraft at high altitudes in the sky, with the body accelerating at an increasing rate up to the terminal velocity (1). The divers are influenced by the gravitational pull and land on earth. Once the diver reaches the terminal velocity, he or she opens a parachute attached to his/ her body, in order to reduce speed and control the fall. Skydiving has a number of uses including deployment of military personnel on the enemy lands, emergency exits, and the last, sporting. This essay aims to explore the positive, as well as the negative, side of this sport that is becoming increasingly attractive to many sport lovers by delving into the different opinions given by the skydivers themselves, as well as other supporters of the sport.

For a skydiver, the love for sport usually takes preference over all other factors; this love is not restricted to skydiving alone. Today, both males and females are allowed to go in for any kind of sports that he/ she prefers. Chris Rubio, a softball she-player, exhibits a very strong sense and love for her sport, which made her become capable of solving many hurdles in her life (1-5). Any sport unites people with similar interests and passion. In her own words, Chris Rubio states, “But that was only part of the connection I felt to these young women and consequently this sport. Since so much of what I saw in them I recognized in myself — a love of the sport, a confidence on the diamond, even an independence from males (even at this young age) — how could I not bond with my new sisters?”(2). Skydiving as any other kind of sport is thrilling and exiting; nevertheless, it also is rather dangerous. The safety and performance of the sportsperson depends on numerous objective and subjective factors; however, many depend on the person’s attitude and mood. Higgins states, “Psychological research suggests that trying to avoid a negative outcome and trying to attain a positive outcome have different effects on performance.” (Worthy et al 53). It implies that for one to excel in an activity, he or she must possess love for the game, at first. Rabstejnek concurs with this thought by arguing that the fears of succeeding in any venture or sport makes people blind to realize the fun and happiness in their lives (4-11).

Mistakes and unfavorable conditions in skydiving always end up in either one of the two ways: a serious injury or fatality. Reported fatalities and injuries in this sport are numerous and make many people shy away from it. A number of risks have been established and factored into skydiving; some of them are discussed below;

The Weather. In most instances, the weather is the major cause of the deaths and other fatalities associated with this sport. Bad weather disrupts the fall of the divers and makes them unable to control their chutes. Rainy, windy, cloudy, or stormy weather is always a widely feared situation in the skydiving sport. On the other hand, the most favorable weather for the sport is windless, sunny any cloudless sky. This weather condition is characteristic for the summer time, and that is when most of the dives are made.

Faulty Equipment. If a dive is made and the equipment is faulty, more often than not, it results in a fatality or a serious injury. Therefore, equipments used in skydiving are checked for several times before the dive, to make sure that they are in full working condition.

Suicidal Ideas among Skydivers. Some divers may have suicidal thoughts during the dive and may decide to use the diving experience to end their lives. This situation is imminent once one reaches terminal velocity and decides not to open a parachute. The only prevention measure for such deaths is thorough psychological research of people, who intend to make a dive, to ensure that there are experiencing no personal reasons that may prompt them to commit a suicide.

Skydiving is very refreshing, mind opening, and exiting sport. All possible measures have been made to make the sport safe; some of these measures include;

Safety Measures. There have been fewer and fewer fatalities since the inception of skydiving. Numerous sport associations and clubs spend a lot of time, money, and afford for designing better equipment, safety measures, and training programs. Currently, the equipment used in skydiving is more advanced and safer than ever before.

Reduced Risk among Well-trained Divers. Nowadays, divers are supposed to undergo a training program before they are allowed to skydive. This measure is aimed at reducing the number of fatalities resulting from skydivers’ mistake since a well-trained person is in a better position and knows how to react when faced with a difficulty, as opposed to a non-trained one.

Parachuting is gaining popularity with each year; today, skydiving has become a hobby for people from all over the world. Even though it contains a number of risks, the death rate is very low despite the fears of many people. The percentage of calamities and fatalities resulting from this sport is innumerous, almost negligible when matched with the number of dives made each year.

“Jumping is fun! Skydiving is not just falling; it is flying—the closest we have been able to come to free, unencumbered, non-mechanical individual flight,” says Mike Turoff in the book The Skydiver’s Handbook. I totally agree with him because skydiving provides the maximum liberty that one can ever experience. In this article, I’d like to describe to you my first jump in order to show you how much fun skydiving is. First of all, I learned about skydiving via the Internet and TV.

There are countless pages of information about skydiving on the Internet. My first jump was a part of the accelerated free fall (AFF). AFF is a course for training new skydivers which includes fourteen jumps. Even though it has fourteen jumps, you will always remember the first one! On the jump day, I went to the skydiving center at 8:30 in the morning. The AFF course started at 9:00. The course included basic parachute equipment information, free falling information, emergency procedures, parachute opening, canopy control, and finally landing information.

We were only four people in the classroom. The AFF students studied all the necessary lessons to make a safe skydive. We used special equipment to study parachute equipment, canopy control, and landing. After seven long hours, at the end of the class, we took a written exam. We had to score 100% in order to pass the test. Everybody passed. Then came the gear-up part! We put on our diving overalls, parachutes, altimeters which are used to watch the altitude during the skydive, helmets, gloves and goggles.

There were many professional skydivers around, and they were giving us a hard time with some traditional skydiving jokes. I myself was the first person from the class who was going to jump. The next step was boarding the airplane. We used a twin otter double engine aircraft. That was a large aircraft; at least twenty skydivers could get on that plane. I was sitting between two jumpmasters (skydiving instructors) and in front of a cameraman. At that moment, I started feeling extremely worried and excited. The jumpmasters were talking to me, asking questions about my feelings.

During the plane’s take off, all I could say was, “Wow!” Then, I began watched my altimeter to see whether the altitude number was changing. I want to stop here to tell you something about the other skydivers on board. They were very relaxed although the aircraft was uncomfortable. Probably, I was the most frightened person on board. The others were telling jokes to each other and even drinking juice. Some of them were offering me candies and gum to celebrate my becoming a skydiver. In short, those guys were the craziest people that I have ever seen together. Can you imagine someone drinking orange juice just before jumping down from thirteen thousand feet? Well, that’s what they did. The altimeter was working perfectly. Only that fact was able to make me smile a little bit, but I was also considering what I could do if my parachute didn’t open! Finally, all the altimeters were saying thirteen thousand feet. The jumpers opened the door. I looked down and was able to see someone who had already jumped.

Then, because of the cold air at that altitude, my goggles smoked up and I could hardly see anymore. After a few seconds, the smoke disappeared and I could see the airplane was empty. All the other skydivers had already jumped except for my jumpmasters and myself. They told me to stand up and walk toward the exit door. I felt pretty heavy and could hardly walk.This may have been because of the heavy jump suit and parachute equipment. As I approached the door, I felt colder and colder. My cameraman was outside of the plane, and the jumpmasters were holding me tightly for a safe, very first skydive. My jumpmasters and I did the exiting procedures and finally let ourselves go out of the airplane. Those were the most interesting and enjoyable seconds that I have ever experienced. For a few seconds, I had a sense of falling.

Then, I noticed that we were falling faster and faster as the seconds passed. After a while, after about the first ten seconds, I could see my cameraman filming my free fall. I was supposed to do some air maneuvers to pass to the second AFF level. I did those. My jumpmasters were still holding me and waiting actively for any possible emergencies. There was no longer any sense of falling and speed. It was mostly like floating in the air and hearing the wind deep in your ears. I periodically checked my altimeter to see the proper altitude to pull my ripcord and open the parachute. The necessary altitude to pull it was 5,500 feet. At that altitude, I gave a “5-5” signal to my jumpmasters, and I pulled my ripcord. That was extremely enjoyable. My parachute opened fast, and I felt a little shocked. Once my canopy opened, I checked it for any malfunction. It was perfectly okay and stable.

The canopy flight, of course, was much slower than the free fall. I could see the beautiful environment from thousands of feet above. Then I looked for the drop zone “landing area” and saw it behind the clouds. I flew my parachute to the drop zone and very smoothly landed on the ground. I was one of the successful students who were able to walk right after touching down, without falling. The 5-minute adventure was ended! I picked up my parachute and walked through the skydiving building. It was a sunny day. My friends and my family members celebrated the adventure for the rest of the day, and I decided to continue skydiving.

Today, I am an AFF level four student with three successful jumps. However, of course, my first jump will always be the most enjoyable and unforgettable one. If I were you, I would not waste any more time. I would sign up for a very first jump as soon as possible. Once you try it, you will not be able to stop making jumps. At least, I have not been able to do so. I continue to go skydiving whenever I can. I would like to give one more personal message: Skydiving is a must-do activity, and everyone must try it at least once in his or her life. I guarantee you that it will be an unforgettable experience for you, too!