Skydiving

Skydiving is a parachute jump technique, which may be performed from an airplane, helicopter or hot air balloon. It is performed for recreational purposes, sport or transport (such as of military or fire personnel).

It is an unconventional sport: some modalities are performed in competition. It consists in making free air jumps using the parachute from a certain height (approximately 4000 meters of altitude, minimum 850 meters).

Because it is a high risk activity, the parachutist should take various safety measures. To begin jumping, one must take a course and pass a safety test. Normally there are instructors who are responsible for monitoring the activity and provide the details of it, in order to make it safe and recreational.

Each skydiver carries two parachutes, one main and one reserve. It is further recommended to wear a helmet, goggles, altimeter and automatic emergency opener. Once the parachute is opened, the practitioner can control the direction and speed of descent. But before doing so one must follow security plans given by the instructor about where to land, otherwise it would be fatal to the security of each practitioner.

The skydiving equipment is generally composed of a container, a harness, a main parachute, a reserve parachute, an automatic trigger (optional), altimeter, helmet and pants (optional).

The container is a pouch where the main parachute and reserve or emergency chutes are packed. It is attached to the harness, which is a special harness that has no seam, i.e., the harness is a continuous, not divided into parts; a seam might break when the parachute opened. It goes from one leg to the other and through the back.

The automatic trigger is an electronic device that activates the reserve parachute if, at a given height, there is excessive speed for the fixed reference in the instrument. This can occur if, for example, the jumper has fainted in the air for some reason.

Modalities

Sport parachuting is distinguished by its various forms:

Accuracy (the parachutist should fall as close as possible to a target)
Swooping (a type of landing in which the skydiver passes at the ground at high speed over long distances by various maneuvers; it can be done on any surface although it is usually done in the water with a view toward raising a trail of water; plus it provides a safer area)
Work on (a team of paratroopers, which takes different formations during freefall in the “belly flier” position)
Freestyle (a version of human flight where tricks are performed very similar to Olympic gymnastics)
Vuelo Libre (or Free Fly, is the mode that combines all the positions, shapes and directions of flight; two of the basic positions are sitting and head-first) During the free fall, parachutists “fly” somewhat, but always continue to fall.
Tracking (in which the flyer assumes a position which produces the maximum horizontal displacement)
Sky Surf (with a skyboard, a board similar to a snowboard that is strapped on the feet)
Wingsuit (where you can fly with a bodysuit configured similar to that of the flying squirrel, reducing the vertical velocity and moving long distances horizontally)
Relative Working Sails (a team of paratroopers, with the parachute open, adopt various configurations, joining their sails)
Tandem jump (jumping with a passenger, this can be merely recreational or instructional)
Working on vertical, is a variant of Skydive, which conducts similar exercises to work on the traditional, but the jumpers perform these exercises in flight or sitting upside down (chute assist). It is a very recent form and the teams, at present (2009) are: Team Mandrin, Arizona 4 Speed Arsenal and France, among others.

B.A.S.E. Jumping (jumping from fixed platforms, such as antennas, mountains, bridges, buildings, etc.). While the B.A.S.E. jump could be considered a form of parachuting, in most cases it is not accepted as such but as an independent sport of skydiving. This happens for various reasons: usually jumps are made at much lower altitudes, there is only one parachute (not an emergency), opening times and reaction are very different, altimeters are not used, etc.

Experts recommend a minimum of 200 jumps from a plane before making a B.A.S.E. jump because it requires total body control in freefall, especially in jumping from mountains. The lead, and proper management of it, is required to get away from the wall before opening the parachute, as the landing zone is usually small and sometimes has obstacles such as rocks, trees, water, and sand.