Most “bucket list” jumpers who simply want to experience the beauty of free fall once, will get their first introduction to skydiving through a tandem jump, sometimes also called a tandem skydive. Skydiving activities take place around drop zones or a skydiving centre, usually found at an airport where aircraft takes groups of skydivers up into the air so they can perform their jumps. Skydiving is one of the most popular action sports known to adrenalin and adventure seekers alike. It’s not uncommon for people to move straight into AFF or static line training, the two most common skydiving training progression programs for students to become fully certified as skydivers and participate in the sport on their own terms.
Aircraft vary in type and size depending on the size of the drop zone.
Skydiving Disciplines
Some of these disciplines are more involved and require higher levels of skill to be executed safely. After becoming certified skydivers there are a variety of disciplines jumpers can participate, develop or even compete in.
Relative Work
Skydivers arch to free fall in a belly-to-earth position. RW or “Formation Skydiving” as it is also known, is the art of creating formations with multiple skydivers holding on to or gripping each other’s limbs. RW competitions are frequent and world records for the largest completed formations are still being challenged and set on a regular basis. This one goes up to 300 people flying together during one jump.
Freeflying
This includes sit-flying, stands (an upright position where a skydiver falls feet first) and head down or an inverted positions where the skydivers falls head first. Freeflying is a more recent addition to the roster of skydiving disciplines but has quickly become one of the most popular and fastest growing aspects of the sport. Freeflying has become a broad term to loosely describe all non traditional belly-to-earth flying positions. This one is also one of the most difficult disciplines in the sport. This discipline goes up to 40 people during one jump.
Freestyle
While incredibly beautiful to watch, it is a smaller less popular branch of the sport. This is one of the most difficult disciplines in the sport. In freestyle a skydiver performs acrobatic manoeuvres during free fall while a team member videos the routine for judges to look at. The freestyler performs precise acrobatic maneuvers, including loops and twists, poses and spins, while free falling at speeds up to 170 mph. Freestyle team is judged from the video by a team of judges on the ground. Scoring is based on the precision, difficulty and creativity of the performance as well as the quality of the camera work.
Canopy Relative Work
CRWdogs (skydivers who devote themselves to this discipline) are skilled canopy pilots who has to be comfortable flying an open parachute in near proximity to other jumpers. Also known as CRW, skydivers open their parachutes immediately after exiting the aircraft and create formations by holding on to each other’s canopies. This one goes up to 50 people at the time for the records.
Swooping
Swooping refers to skydivers performing speed-inducing manoeuvres where after they glide or “swoop” inches/centimetres above the ground or water for as far as possible before landing. Also known as “Canopy Piloting”, Swoopers will often compete by measuring the distance covered during a swoop, performing advanced body and harness positioning manoeuvres or running slalom through gates.
Wingsuiting
Wingsuit flying includes a specially designed jumpsuit called a “wingsuit” made with fabric under the arms and between the legs. These “wings” allow the jumper to slowly descent back to earth while covering a larger area and longer distances in-flight. A parachute is deployed at a certain altitude to allow the jumper to comfortably return into a normal canopy controlled state for safe landing. Proximity flying refers to (usually BASE jumper) flying their wingsuits in close proximity to fixed objects like mountains, cliffs and gorges. This discipline goes up to 50 people involved during the jump.
Indoor Skydiving
You can start your training by trying out indoor skydiving first and experiencing the art of skydiving from a different point of view. Learning to skydive can be as easy as not having to jump out of an airplane just yet. Indoor skydiving is where you enter a vertical wind tunnel, powered by fans underneath a grate in the floor, where a strong consistent stream of air is created, lifting you up into the air making you “fly” without any effort from your side, although it quite duifficoult due to using your entire body to manuver in the air. This makes for a great skydiving experience even if it is not 14,000 feet above the ground.