Jason Laurendeau. Berkshire Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports. Editor: Douglas Booth & Holly Thorpe. Berkshire, 2007.
For many people, jumping out of a “perfectly good airplane” at 3,800 meters, freefalling toward Earth at 200 kilometers per hour for sixty seconds, and then deploying a parachute ten to twelve seconds before impacting the Earth exemplifies extreme sport. Once primarily the purview of military personnel and stunt performers, skydiving has recently entered the mainstream of extreme sport. Marketed as an adventure sport and popularized in advertising campaigns, music videos, and feature films, skydiving has evolved into a sport that millions of people try once and that hundreds of thousands take up on a regular basis.
History
As with many risk activities, the exact genesis of parachuting is a topic of debate. Although Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer Leonardo da Vinci is commonly thought to be the originator of the modern concept of parachuting, other sources suggest that Fausto Veranzio produced the first sketch of a parachute, entitled Homo Volans (flying man), in 1595. Meanwhile, Chinese legend suggests that Emperor Shun (2258-2208 BCE) performed the first parachute descent. Whatever the source of the concept, parachute descents from aircraft did not develop until the late eighteenth century. Another century and a half would pass before recreational skydiving as we now know it emerged.
The first parachute descent from an aircraft was made by André Jacques Garnerin, who jumped from a gas-filled balloon above Paris in October 1797. Initially most balloon-ists balked at the idea of taking a parachute with them for two reasons: the “unnecessary” weight and the idea that carrying one implied a lack of faith in their balloon. Without initial general acceptance as a useful item of safety equipment, the parachute found a more receptive audience with the entertainment-seeking public and the military and, as a result, gained a degree of legitimacy. With the advent of fixed-wing flight at the beginning of the twentieth century came new problems for parachutists. These included the speed of the aircraft, the opening shock of the parachute, and the lack of an apparatus attached to the aircraft from which a parachutist could safely deploy a parachute. Furthermore, with the new technology came a renewed objection on the part of aviators for the use of parachutes as safety devices.
World War I was a turning point for parachuting. Military involvement in parachuting affected the development of the sport in a number of ways. One effect was an increased demand for equipment. This demand led to important technological advances. For instance, in an effort to come up with a parachute suitable for use by military pilots, Leslie Irvin and Floyd Smith designed, built, and tested the first practical manually operated parachute in the United States. After demonstrating the suitability of the equipment by performing a freefall jump (a jump in which one’s parachute is opened manually after a delay following exit from the aircraft) in 1919, Irvin received an order from the army for three hundred parachutes. The military provided such an immense demand for equipment that the few manufacturers employed were unable to meet the demand until 1942. Perhaps the defining moment for the legitimation of parachuting came in the spring of 1941. The German capture of the island of Crete was the culmination of the successes and the technological advances by the military in parachuting. With the foundation laid by the experiences of stunt jumpers and military personnel, in the post-World War II period parachuting gained popularity as a sport in Western societies.
Technical Issues
Skydiving is perhaps most accurately referred to as “sport parachuting,” in part to reflect the fact that it includes both one’s time in freefall (i.e., the time between leaving the aircraft and deploying one’s parachute) and one’s time underneath a parachute. Nevertheless, both practitioners and members of the general public tend to refer to the sport as “skydiving.” Generally, skydiving takes place at a drop zone (DZ), a facility with authorization for parachute jumps. In addition to regular jumps, many skydivers attend events called “boogies.” Boogies are special events hosted by one DZ to draw jumpers from surrounding DZs for jumping and partying. They range from the relatively small, which draw jumpers from only a few drop zones, to large international boogies such as the World Freefall Convention, which draws thousands of skydivers every year.
The central item of skydiving equipment is a “rig,” a container system housing two parachutes: a main and a reserve. In the case of a malfunction of the main, a jumper may or may not jettison it (depending on the type of malfunction) before deploying the reserve. Rigs may also be equipped with an apparatus known as an “automatic activation device” (AAD). Various designs of AADs (e.g., timer, barometric) have been around since the 1950s, with all but the earliest models designed to automatically deploy the reserve if a jumper is too close to the ground and still falling too quickly. (Before the arrival of the Sentinel in 1959, AADs were armed just prior to exit and set to fire the main after a delay. If the main had already been deployed, the device still fired.) Initially AAD technology was somewhat suspect, with early models sometimes activating at inappropriate altitudes. An unexpected reserve deployment at an inopportune time can result in one jumper colliding with another jumper or having one’s main and reserve canopies deployed at the same time, both potentially dangerous situations. As such, most experienced jumpers initially avoided AADs. Since the late 1980s, however, more precise and reliable models of AADs have been developed and have become popular.
Perhaps the most significant technological innovation to shape modern skydiving was the rectangular ram-air parachute, introduced in the late 1960s and refined in subsequent decades. In contrast to a round parachute that simply slows descent (leaving a jumper largely at the mercy of the winds), the ram-air parachute is a self-inflating design shaped somewhat like an airplane wing and allows for accurate steering and softer landings. This innovation changed the sport dramatically. The advent and development of this canopy technology made jumpers canopy pilots rather than captives of the wind. In addition, this innovation laid the foundation for numerous advances in canopy technologies from the late 1980s on. Modern high-performance canopies (many of which are elliptical rather than rectangular) are capable of previously unimaginable ground speed and responsiveness while still allowing for safe landings. Many observers suggest, however, that these canopies also reduce the skydiver’s margin for error. Interestingly, some controversy exists within the skydiving community as to the suitability of such high-performance canopies. Many jumpers enjoy generating high speeds by doing a maneuver often called a “hook turn” or a “swoop.” This maneuver involves initiating a turn just prior to landing so that the canopy dives toward the ground. As the parachute planes out of this dive, the canopy achieves an increase in ground speed. The parachutist “surfs” just inches above the ground for some time and then uses the “brakes” to “flare,” slowing the parachute for landing. If performed skillfully, a hook turn can result in a spectacular approach and a soft and safe landing. A number of serious injuries and deaths, however, have resulted from improperly executed hook turns.
Skydiving Community
Surveys indicate that 85 percent of skydivers are men and that the majority of jumpers are between thirty and forty-nine years of age. Further, there is a skew toward the upper middle class in terms of income and education. This skew can be explained by the fact that serious involvement in skydiving requires considerable investment of time and money. Globally, skydiving is much more prevalent in developed societies, with approximately 40 percent of jumpers residing in the United States.
A 2003 report by the International Parachuting Commission (IPC) indicates that, between 1989 and 2002, between 285,000 and 417,000 jumpers worldwide performed between 4.59 million and 6.87 million skydives each year. Because not all countries submitted data for each year, these estimates are slightly conservative. From these same data the IPC concluded that during this time roughly 4,500 jumpers performed seventy-six thousand skydives for every one fatality. In addition to these fatalities, as well as those that might not have been counted in this report, numerous injuries in skydiving were reported. Because these injuries tend to be underreported, it is impossible to accurately assess the rate of injury in the sport.
During the past decade and a half more experienced jumpers (as a percentage of all fatalities) have been dying. In 1990 expert skydivers (those with more than 250 freefalls) accounted for 33 percent (23 of 70) of all skydiving fatalities, according to the IPC. In contrast, in 2002 expert skydivers represented 60 percent (44 of 72) of all fatalities. Researchers and jumpers also have noted more landing mishaps as the cause of skydiving fatalities. In 2002, for example, of the seventy-three fatalities for which the IPC has data, thirty-eight (52 percent) could be attributed to “fast canopies” or “other landing errors.” Because jumpers generally gain a certain amount of experience in the sport before attempting these high-performance landings, these two findings seem to be related.
Subdisciplines
A jumper has a certain amount of time in freefall, usually between thirty and sixty seconds, to perform as many maneuvers as possible before the time comes to activate his or her parachute. Jumpers can pursue a number of subdisciplines in freefall.
For many recreational and competitive jumpers, freefall time is used for formation skydiving (FS), often referred to as “relative work” because jumpers fly relative to one another, making particular formations with their bodies in freefall. An FS jump is generally referred to as an “X-way.” A two-person jump is a two-way, a four-person jump is a four-way, and so on. As abilities and techniques developed, progresively larger freefall formations became possible, building up to 50-ways in the late 1970s and a world-record 400-way in 2006 over Udon Thani, Thailand. At the same time competitions (primarily in 8-way and 4-way) developed around the number of set formations a team could complete in a given time period.
During the mid-1980s the discipline of freeflying developed out of the experiments of a group of jumpers (called the “freefly clowns”) with nontraditional freefall positions and has become popular. Whereas relative work is performed almost exclusively belly-to-Earth (a stable freefall position), freeflying is performed in sitting, head-down, and standing positions, among others. Advocates suggest that freeflying expands the possibilities of movement in freefall and thus allows for more creativity and flow.
Another subdiscipline is skysurfing, which involves freefalling while attached to a surfboard-like apparatus. The board is generally the size of a snowboard, demands a particular set of skills related to control over various body positions in freefall, and also necessitates specifically designed safety equipment. For example, there is a cutaway cable so that a jumper can jettison the board in the event of trouble. Skysurfing has proven to be a marketable form of skydiving, having been featured in numerous popular culture outlets and for a time included in the ESPN X-Games.
Some people consider BASE (building, antenna, span, Earth) jumping (also known as “fixed object jumping”) to be a subdiscipline of skydiving. Although skydiving and BASE jumping share some technical elements, they also have numerous elements of divergence.
“Pond-swooping” is a discipline that has only recently developed. Participants perform an aggressive swoop as they approach the landing area, then glide across a small body of water, aiming to travel a great distance just inches above the water before touching down on land. In competition, points are awarded for such aspects as greatest distance, style, and degree of technical difficulty. Competition began in the late 1990s, and the sport has since been formalized, with the Pro Swooping Tour conducting events in which competitors vie for tens of thousands of dollars in prize money. Swooping has been featured in numerous media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, the Today Show, and the Outdoor Life Network.
Since the 1930s a small number of jumpers have experimented with various configurations of “wings” to be worn in freefall. Between 1930 and 1961 seventy-two of the seventy-five “birdmen” working on these wings died in the attempt. More recently, Patrick de Gayardon, an experienced French jumper, developed a wingsuit that revolutionized this type of skydiving. Although de Gayardon died in 1998 because of a rigging error as he was working on a modification of the suit, he laid the foundations for the subdiscipline that has come to be called “skyflying.” Highly experienced jumpers can now slow their vertical descent to below 40 kilometers per hour and cover great horizontal distances as well. This slowed fall rate means that jumpers spend longer in freefall—often between one and three minutes. Modern wingsuits use ram-air technology, and many people argue that skyflying is the closest thing to pure human flight that anyone has achieved.
Some jumpers engage in a discipline of skydiving in which freefall is not at all the point. In canopy formation skydiving (CFS)—often called “canopy relative work” or “CRW”—jumpers construct formations with each other after they have deployed their parachutes. As in formation skydiving, jumpers in CFS may try to construct many formations in one jump or build large formations. The current record for the largest formation is an 85-way, set in 2005 over Lake Wales, Florida.
Training and Competition
In recent decades, with more people taking up skydiving, training practices have been formalized. One popular way for jumpers to begin in the sport, for instance, is to perform a “tandem jump.” In a tandem jump senior instructors wear a special rig designed to carry two people. He or she attaches a novice to him/herself and the rig with a harness and is ultimately in charge of the operation of the parachute equipment, helping the novice to deploy the parachute and land safely. Another popular way to get started in the sport is to perform a “static-line” jump or an “instructor-assisted deployment” (IAD). Although these methods have slight differences, they are substantially similar in the sense that a student jumper performs the jump on his or her own, but an instructor is responsible for deploying the student’s parachute as the student leaves the aircraft. Another popular method to train students goes by various names, including “accelerated freefall” (United States, Australia, United Kingdom) and “progressive freefall” (Canada). This method is particularly common at DZs with large aircraft (larger aircraft are generally unsuitable for static lines or IADs, and they provide more altitude for longer freefalls). With this method, students progress quickly to lengthy freefall jumps, accompanied by one or two experienced instructors who offer corrections to body position, help develop awareness in freefall, and provide help in parachute deployment if necessary.
After becoming proficient at basic skydiving skills (e.g., stable freefall position, parachute deployment, basic safety procedures), novice parachutists continue to follow progression guidelines toward higher levels of proficiency in various areas of the sport before they are permitted to participate in jumps demanding these skills (e.g., night jumps, formation skydives).
Skydiving competitions date back to at least 1930, when jumpers gathered in Russia to demonstrate who could land closest to a target on the ground. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) sanctioned the World Parachuting Championships in 1951, with events being added as subdisciplines have been developed. The most recent discipline to be added to major competitions is freeflying, sanctioned in 2000.
The Sky’s the Limit
Is skydiving an extreme sport? This question is difficult to answer primarily because of the recent technical innovations and the variety of ways to engage in the sport. Together these factors have changed the face of skydiving dramatically in the last forty years. In the 1960s and into the 1970s, for example, jumping equipment was heavy, landings were routinely hard under round parachutes, and numerous serious injuries and deaths resulted from situations in which jumpers failed to deploy a parachute in time for it to fully inflate. These days, however, people commonly perform their first jumps (either solo or tandem) under large rectangular parachutes equipped with AADs, performing soft, accurate landings. Moreover, modern canopy technologies, AADs, and training protocols seem to have dramatically decreased the hazards of the sport for many recreational jumpers. However, despite these advances in technologies, many people argue that skydiving remains “extreme.” Even for those jumpers practicing a relatively mainstream version of skydiving, the risk is so dramatic that it would be difficult to argue otherwise.
Moreover, recent innovations create opportunities for jumpers to push the envelope in ways that would have been difficult to envision only twenty years ago. For jumpers pioneering these innovations, skydiving is definitely an extreme sport. Jeb Corliss and Luigi Cani, for example, are developing the skills and technologies to attempt to land a wingsuit without the use of a parachute. Many of skydiving’s most important innovations have been driven by participants’ thirst for new adventures and achievements. Although skydiving appears to have become less extreme for those who do it as a one-time adventure and perhaps for those who pursue relatively mainstream versions of the sport, it remains, for many, the most extreme of sports.