It's A Bird! It's A Plane! No - It's A Sky Diver!
December 4th, 2008

Skydiving comes in many forms and form several distances. You have your professionals, teachers, novices, and spectators. The draw of skydiving for many sports enthusiasts is the prospect of flying without a plane. This unique experience allows you to soar through the sky and feel nothing but the air you are gliding through.

When you jump from the plane, you begin to accelerate toward the earth gaining speed with every second you are falling. As you are gaining speed the resistance of the air increases. When you reach the point of gravity, the skydiver will no longer continue accelerating at this point. This is what is called terminal velocity. There are several positions the skydiver can take. I am sure you have seen pictures where they are tucked in a ball or in a spread eagle position, or in the position where it looks like they are diving straight towards the earth. Each of these positions affects the air resistance on the skydiver. If the skydiver uses the spread eagle position, they will reach the terminal velocity slower than another position because the resistance of the air is greater.

An Austrian skydiver became the first person to sky dive across the English Channel. He wore a jumpsuit with a carbon fin strapped to his back and an oxygen tank so that he could breathe along with a parachute when he landed at his destination. When he jumped from the plane he reached speeds of 220 miles per hour when he first began, then for the most part, he was soaring at 135 miles per hour.

Accelerated Freefall: If you enjoy skydiving, you will revel with the adrenaline rush you receive when you begin a course in accelerated freefall. This course is a six-hour course that will teach you the fundamentals of freefalling, safety procedures, and parachute flight. You will also fly within no less than two instructors at least 11,500 feet about the earth. Once you have completed the different levels of this course you will be licensed and able to jump and perform accelerated freefall whenever you get the rush.

Static Line Jump: This jump is the traditional method to learn how to skydive. The way this is performed the student does a parachute jump during which the deployment of the parachute is started by a static line attached to the aircraft. The beginning skydiving student will never feel like they are left alone or not know what the next step is the instructors are always around showing technique and preparing them for their first static line jump.

If you want to learn to skydive but are not quite sure if you are ready to commit to this sport you may want to consider experiencing a wind tunnel called SkyVenture. This is a state of the art indoor wind tunnel where you can safely experience skydiving. Several of the world's best skydivers use this as a form of training for their skydiving adventures.

Some questions that you may have regarding skydiving:

If you take a skydiving course, how do you know that you are doing everything correctly? Many courses offer debriefings after the jumps as well as video footage of your jump. You will hear from your instructors as to what you did and what needs to change and then review your jump via video.

What does it feel like to freefall to the earth? You may think that freefalling is much like freefalling on an amusement ride but it is quite different. Freefalling while you are skydiving feels more like you are floating on a cushion of air similar to the feeling of floating on water except with a great adrenaline rush.

While I am skydiving what happens if I cannot open the parachute? Opening the parachute is not as difficult as you may think that it is but if you were to have a problem or simply forget because you are enjoying the skydiving adventure, the instructors would open the parachute for you via computer devices. Each parachute is equipped with a computerized activation device, which will open the parachute for you if for some reason you were unable to. This makes skydiving safer than some people may think

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