Skydiving  Skydiving is something that you probably see all the time.  Every major soft drink company has done a commercial with skydivers in it.  Lots of action films feature skydivers.  Skydiving appears in reality shows.  The sport definitely has an edge to it. There is something about leaping from a plane and falling through the air at 120 miles per hour that really gets people's attention.  Have you ever wondered how skydiving works?  What kind of equipment do skydivers use?  How safe is skydiving as a sport?  How do you become a skydiver and how much  does it cost?

Tandem Skydive  Most people experience skydiving by doing a tandem jump strapped onto a qualified instructor  You get to jump from 15,000ft and travel at speeds of over 120 mph before the parachute is deployed  The parachute is built for two for a very soft landing

Learning to Skydive  You can learn to skydive with 2 instructors who teach you while flying in freefall at 120mph  You learn to make yourself unstable then prove you can recover and deploy your parachute before you qualify  This course qualifies you as a skydiver in only 8 jumps which is why it is called accellerated Freefall

Static Line  New skydivers can learn to fly a parachute before learning freefall by doing a static line course  When they leave the aircraft the parachute is automatically deployed for you  You progress slowly and become qualified in approx 30 jumps

Video & Photos  Skydivers wear cameras on thier heads to take photos and vodeo skydivers  You can take a DVD of your tandem skydive or photos home with you

Parachutes  Parachutes come in all sizes from 300 sq ft to 79 sq ft for the very experienced pilots  Skydivers have to pack thier own parachutes or can pay a packer to do it for them

Formation Skydiving  Formation skydiving is when a group of skydivers get together and make as many different formations as possible within 1 minute  The record is 43 points achieved by a french competition team

Canopy Formation  Canopy formation is when a group of skydivers fly the parachutes together and hold onto them to make different formations.  You need 100 skydives before your allowed to do this

Freefly  Some skydivers now prefer to fly upside down or standing up which is called freefly skydiving  This has only become popular over the past couple of years  Most new skydivers now want to freefly

Swooping  Skydivers with small fast canopies love to fly at speed over water, this is called swooping  Only skydivers with over 500 jumps are allowed to do this because if you get it wrong it can be dangerous

Birdman  Skydivers who jump with winged suits are called birdmen  When they fly together they are called a flock of birdmen  The advantage is they get to fly for twice as long as formation skydivers

Accuracy  Accuracy is a competition to see who can land on the smallest point  This is one of the oldest parachute competitions

Parachute Displays  Skydivers have jumped into many events promoting the sport and these are called parachute displays  You need a minimum of 200 skydivers before your allowed to jump into a display

World Records  The first 100 formation skydive was done in 1999  The largest formationskydive is now 400  The Largest Canopy Formation was achieved this year with 100 skydivers holding each others parachutes

Fun & Excitment  Skydiving is all about having as much fun as you can in a very short period of time  There are now a lof of skydiving game on the internet for children and adults

Skydiving Challenges  Skydivers can be very creative and are always trying to do things that have never been done before  The photos show one guy landing in a speeding boat and another gou not wearing his parachute – (Dont try this at home)

Skydiving Stunts  Very experienced skydivers organise and take part in skydiviong stunts for TV & Film

TV Adverts  Many companies have used skydiving to advertise thier products on TV  This is becuase its a very visual way to get attention

 Skydivers can get sponsored by large companies who want thier logo or name seen in a very vissible manner Sponsorship

Famous People  Many famous people have done a skydive, here is a photo of president Bush.  James Bond always looks good skydiving but never does it himself, he has a stunt man to take his place

Wind Tunnels  Now anyone can learn to skydive at any age in a wind tunnel  This new way of skydiving now lets skydivers train without having to worry about the parachute flight or being in real freefall  These photo’s were taken in Roosendal wind tunnel, one of the best in Europe