Skydiving has quite a history and the facts are very interesting. Actually, the story goes back to Leonardo DaVinci when in 1485 he drew the plans for the first parachute. It was on June 26, 2000 that Adrian Nicholas jumped with an exact replica of DaVinci’s model and made 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 to 7,000 feet and using a normal parachute to complete his journey to the ground.
Here are some other skydiving facts that you might find interesting:
1. Airborne warfare began in 1918. The first infantry was the first to fly. It was the US Army dropping a unit from a bomber in the sky over the city of Metz. This was the brainchild of Lewis H. Brereton, a young soldier on General Billy Mitchell’s staff.
2. The highest parachute jump occurred in August 1960 by Captain Kittinger from nearly 102,800 feet. The free fall lasted over 4 minutes in which Kittinger’s free fall speed was nearly 715 mph. It was at 18,000 feet when he opened his parachute. That means he was in free fall mode for almost 85,000 feet.
3. There have been cases where military planes have plunged into bodies of water and the pilots have used their parachutes to save their lives. They have deployed their parachutes underwater and have been lifted by the parachute in addition to activating their life jackets.
4. The lowest combat jump occurred on July 3, 1944 at 175 feet, which was accidental due to altimeter error. A total of two aircraft made the mistake. The lowest planned combat jump was 250 feet on Crete.
5. The least mass tactical jump was 143 feet.
6. To prove that anyone of any age can skydive, a 92-year-old man with artificial knees did a solo jump in Cleveland, Ohio. He weighed a mother of 105 pounds, had fake knees and a hearing aid. He jumped 3,500 feet. The oldest tandem skydiver turned 100 in October 1999. A 90-year-old woman wanted to go diving for her birthday to prove that age is just a number. She jumped from 12,000 feet.
7. The youngest skydiver was four years old. Once again, this shows that any age individual can jump. The jump was a tandem jump, of course, and the jump was made at 10,000 feet.
8. To show how groups can have a good time, on February 6, 2004, a group of 357 banded together and stayed in formation for 6 seconds on their seventh attempt over Takhli, Thailand.
9. You don’t have to worry about free falling creating that “heart attack-inducing” roller coaster-falling feeling. The sensation is actually similar to floating and air resistance creates a degree of support. Free fall is like a human being taking flight. The airflow is constant and allows for very fun aerial maneuvers.
10. On May 20, 2001, Michael Zang broke the world record by completing 500 jumps in one day. This meant that his jumps had to be performed in cycles of less than 3 minutes and he completed these jumps from 2100 feet.
Here are some safety facts for you:
• Approximately 2 million parachute jumps occur annually. The average number of fatalities is 35 and that is less than 1% of the jumps that occur.
• There is not really an age requirement, but it is suggested that people be around 18 years of age. It is also important that the skydiver is in reasonably good health. As previously demonstrated with the 92, 90, and 100 year old jumpers, there is no upper limit.
• The cost of skydiving generally consists of the cost of the jump and all the equipment needed to perform the jump.
• The toss of the parachute is not painful and you can use the controls on the parachute to direct the parachute to the desired landing site. That way, if you stray in any way, you can get back on track.
• The landing is a soft landing. You land softly on your feet and step as if you were stepping off a curb.
• A number of security precautions have been implemented. You have your main chute, which is larger in a tandem jump, and you have your drug chute, which is a chute that the instructor drops shortly after the jump to slow down the jump. Slowing down prevents the jump from being as loud, allowing for instruction. Slowing down also means being able to enjoy the jump and make it a little less scary.
• It takes about 10-15 jumps before a student can jump without their instructor. Some may require more jumps than that before they are confident enough to take to the sky solo.
These are all great pieces of information for you to know whether you are doing your first tandem parasail dive or are an experienced skydiver.
