Skydiving News

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 cant 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.

About the author:

James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of SkydiveSource.com and writes expert articles about skydive.

Written By: James Monahan

In years past, a serious physical disability meant unemployment, isolation, and inactivity for many thousands of people.

No longer. While the Americans with Disabilities Act has opened up the workplace and public facilities to people with disabilities, many organizations around the country have sprung up, offering access to sports programs both for wheelchair-bound individuals and amputees with artificial prosthetic devices. Disabled people are experiencing the joy of participating in Alpine and cross-country skiing, all kinds of water sports from swimming to sailing to scuba diving, and even more extreme sports such as mountain climbing and sky diving.

The importance of both competitive and recreational sports for individuals with disabilities can’t be overestimated. Particularly for formerly able-bodied people who find themselves disabled, sports can serve as a tremendous motivation in the rehabilitation process and can help alleviate the depression, confusion, and loss of self-esteem that often accompanies a debilitating injury. For those born with a serious disability, sports can serve as an important way of connecting to the “abled” world.

Competitive sports for the disabled are experiencing phenomenal success. The world-wide organization now known as the Paralympic Games was founded in Rome, Italy, in 1960, inspired by a 1948 competition organized in England for disabled World War II veterans. According to the Paralympic Games website, participating athletes compete in a variety of sports based on one of six disability-based classifications: amputee, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, visual impairment, intellectual disability, and a general group including individual disabilities which do not fit into one of the other five categories.

Both summer and winter sports competitions give disabled athletes the change to compete in a variety of sports; the list of summer sports includes 21 different competitive sports, ranging from archery and cycling to equestrian, powerlifting and judo. Five competitions designed specifically for wheelchair-bound athletes include basketball, dancing, fencing, rugby, and tennis. The list of winter sports is smaller, but no less challenging: athletes can compete in either Alpine or Nordic skiing, ice sledge hockey, and wheelchair curling.

Children with physical disabilities have special challenges; they’re dealing with sometimes substantial limitations at the same time that they are meeting all the other demands of becoming competent, balanced, emotionally and mentally healthy human beings. The National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) offers opportunities for children to take part in a wide range of sports activities, from skiing, ski racing, snowboarding and snowshoeing in the winter to rafting, horseback riding, and in-line skating in the summer.

The Paralympics and NSCD are only two of many organizations founded to involve disabled individuals in sports. It’s evident, from the success and increasing popularity of these organizations, that both adults and children with disabilities benefit greatly from participating in adaptive sports activities, and that the benefit extends to all aspects of their lives.

About the author:

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire and frequently contributes to Tips and Topics. She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com.

Written By: Aldene Fredenburg