Skydiving

1. Skydiving • Skydiving is something that you probably see all the time. • Every major soft drink company has done a commercial with skydivers in it. • Lots of action films feature skydivers. • Skydiving appears in reality shows. • The sport definitely has an edge to it. There is something about leaping from a plane and falling through the air at 120 miles per hour that really gets people's attention. • Have you ever wondered how skydiving works? • What kind of equipment do skydivers use? • How safe is skydiving as a sport? • How do you become a skydiver and how much • does it cost?

2. Tandem Skydive • Most people experience skydiving by doing a tandem jump strapped onto a qualified instructor • You get to jump from 15,000ft and travel at speeds of over 120 mph before the parachute is deployed • The parachute is built for two for a very soft landing

3. Learning to Skydive • You can learn to skydive with 2 instructors who teach you while flying in freefall at 120mph • You learn to make yourself unstable then prove you can recover and deploy your parachute before you qualify • This course qualifies you as a skydiver in only 8 jumps which is why it is called accellerated Freefall

4. Static Line • New skydivers can learn to fly a parachute before learning freefall by doing a static line course • When they leave the aircraft the parachute is automatically deployed for you • You progress slowly and become qualified in approx 30 jumps

5. Video & Photos • Skydivers wear cameras on thier heads to take photos and vodeo skydivers • You can take a DVD of your tandem skydive or photos home with you

6. Parachutes • Parachutes come in all sizes from 300 sq ft to 79 sq ft for the very experienced pilots • Skydivers have to pack thier own parachutes or can pay a packer to do it for them

7. Formation Skydiving • Formation skydiving is when a group of skydivers get together and make as many different formations as possible within 1 minute • The record is 43 points achieved by a french competition team

8. Canopy Formation • Canopy formation is when a group of skydivers fly the parachutes together and hold onto them to make different formations. • You need 100 skydives before your allowed to do this

9. Freefly • Some skydivers now prefer to fly upside down or standing up which is called freefly skydiving • This has only become popular over the past couple of years • Most new skydivers now want to freefly

10. Swooping • Skydivers with small fast canopies love to fly at speed over water, this is called swooping • Only skydivers with over 500 jumps are allowed to do this because if you get it wrong it can be dangerous

11. Birdman • Skydivers who jump with winged suits are called birdmen • When they fly together they are called a flock of birdmen • The advantage is they get to fly for twice as long as formation skydivers

12. Accuracy • Accuracy is a competition to see who can land on the smallest point • This is one of the oldest parachute competitions

13. Parachute Displays • Skydivers have jumped into many events promoting the sport and these are called parachute displays • You need a minimum of 200 skydivers before your allowed to jump into a display

14. World Records • The first 100 formation skydive was done in 1999 • The largest formationskydive is now 400 • The Largest Canopy Formation was achieved this year with 100 skydivers holding each others parachutes

15. Fun & Excitment • Skydiving is all about having as much fun as you can in a very short period of time • There are now a lof of skydiving game on the internet for children and adults

16. Skydiving Challenges • Skydivers can be very creative and are always trying to do things that have never been done before • The photos show one guy landing in a speeding boat and another gou not wearing his parachute – (Dont try this at home)

17. Skydiving Stunts • Very experienced skydivers organise and take part in skydiviong stunts for TV & Film

18. TV Adverts • Many companies have used skydiving to advertise thier products on TV • This is becuase its a very visual way to get attention

19. Sponsorship • Skydivers can get sponsored by large companies who want thier logo or name seen in a very vissible manner

20. Famous People • Many famous people have done a skydive, here is a photo of president Bush. • James Bond always looks good skydiving but never does it himself, he has a stunt man to take his place

21. Wind Tunnels • Now anyone can learn to skydive at any age in a wind tunnel • This new way of skydiving now lets skydivers train without having to worry about the parachute flight or being in real freefall • These photo’s were taken in Roosendal wind tunnel, one of the best in Europe