A skydive is an activity requiring a person to break his/her
free fall from a certain height using a parachute.
This is how skydiving is done:
A group of people called skydivers (these people are
professionally trained and should not be imitated under any
circumstances, unless a person has undergone the same kind of
training) meet to perform a skydiving act.
The skydivers pay a base operator to take them up in the sky on
a light cargo plane. To be able to skydive, they would have to
jump out of their aircraft into the sky.
A skydiver usually travels at the speed of 12,000 feet or 4000
meters altitude and free falling from the sky. To help them slow
down their speed in a safer altitude, they would have to
activate their parachute at a certain height.
Once the parachute is open, the thrill of the skydive is almost
finish. But then again, at a high altitude, the skydiver still
needs to get back safely to the ground without hitting any
obstacles like trees, electric post and other tall
infrastructures.
The skydiver now is able to control his/her parachutes to
his/her preferred direction.
Speculations to the reason why skydivers skydive is because this
is the sport or activity closest to us humans, being able to fly
at all.
Most skydivers when asked says that in skydiving, they can do
pretty much whatever a bird can do on air, except that they
can¡¯t fly up. Also, most skydivers feel that to skydive is a
kind of addiction from the adrenaline rush that they get from
it.
But to skydive is only an aerial activity wherein the skydivers
use their body as a flying machine instead of an actual machine
itself.
For inexperienced skydivers, the first jump is usually a tandem
jump. A tandem jump is to skydive together with an experienced
skydiver.
The beginner is usually in front of the professional, while the
professional secures the jump exit, maintain freefall position
and make sure it is stable and control the parachute in the
skydive.
A skydive may seem to be a complex skill but it is actually a
basic activity that can be understood even on the first jump.
The first skydive is very crucial to all skydiving enthusiasts,
here they learn the basics of the skill and learns to overcome
their fear of not being able to control the chutes properly.
The four basic skills of a skydive is basic safety, free fall,
operating the parachute and safe landing.
Basic safety is really just being able to know how to properly
execute a skydive.
This would include checking of your gears, normal exit from the
plane, how to react when facing an emergency, how to correctly
deploy your parachute, knowing how to handle common malfunction,
picking the right landing area and setting up and properly
executing a landing
For the free fall maneuvers, skydivers basically need to learn
how to maintain a stable skydive experience while they are free
falling, belly first from the sky. They must also learn to move
or turn while they are free falling all the while maintaining
the belly down position.
Parachute deployment may very well be the key to a perfect
skydive. Learning to know when and how to deploy your parachute
also ensures the safety of the jumper. The practical minimum is
about 2,000 feet for advanced skydivers to deploy their
parachutes.
A good landing also ensures a safe skydive experience and of
course a chance to impress everyone who is watching.
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