Adventure & Extreme Sports 🇺🇸United States20th century

Skydiving

Officially Skydiving / Parachuting

Extreme sport of exiting an aircraft at altitude, freefalling through the sky, and deploying a parachute to land safely — includes formation, freestyle, canopy, and speed disciplines.

📐sky / dropzone landing area⏱~5 min🌤outdoor

Photo · Wikipedia

What is Skydiving?

Skydiving is the sport of jumping from an aircraft (typically 3,000-4,500 m / 10,000-15,000 ft altitude) and performing acrobatic manoeuvres during freefall (typically 45-70 seconds terminal velocity ~200 km/h belly-to-earth) before deploying a parachute for a controlled landing. It descends from military parachute experiments (WW1) and became a civilian sport in the 1950s after the war. Modern skydiving has many disciplines: Formation Skydiving (teams build shapes), Freeflying (head-down, sitfly), Canopy Piloting (Swooping — high-speed low landings), Speed Skydiving (fastest terminal velocity, current record 601 km/h), Wingsuit Flying (with fabric membranes for gliding), and Accuracy Landing. The USPA (US Parachute Association) and FAI govern the sport. Skydiving is remarkably safe with modern equipment — ~0.4 fatalities per 100,000 jumps at USPA-affiliated dropzones.

Quick facts

How it works

Objective

Depends on discipline: Formation — build most points/formations in 35 sec; Freefly — best judged routine; Canopy — accurate/fast/distance landing; Wingsuit — most distance / speed / performance.

Match structure

Competition rounds: each jumper/team performs a set task (formation sequence, freestyle routine, target landing). Judges score based on discipline rubric. Sum of round scores over 5-10 rounds = final ranking.

Rules

Basic rules

Safety altitudes
Deployment altitude: 800-1,500 m. Hard deck (cutaway decision) ~450 m. AAD backup fires by 260 m.
License required (student → A/B/C/D)
USPA A (25+ jumps, basic solo skills), B (50+), C (200+), D (500+, night jump).
Weather minimums
No jumps in rain, high winds >30 km/h (varies), or cloud below 800 m — visibility required for landing.
First-timer tandem or AFF
Tandem: attached to instructor. AFF: solo with 2 instructors gripping until deployment.
Landing pattern
Downwind → base → final with 90° turns; land into wind for slowest ground speed.

Advanced rules

Formation Skydiving (FS/4-way)
4-person team builds sequence of formations in 35 sec working time; judged on completed points.
Vertical (Free Fly)
2- or 3-person head-down / sitfly team; judged routine 35 sec.
Canopy Piloting (Swooping)
High-speed low-altitude flying through gates: distance, speed, accuracy, freestyle.
Speed Skydiving
Fastest average speed over 3-sec measurement window; current world record 601 km/h (Henrik Raimer, 2016).
Wingsuit BASE / Skydive
Special membrane suit — glide angles and distances judged, or BASE flying.
Big-way records
World record formation 400 jumpers, 2006 Thailand.

Scoring

Discipline-specific: points for formation, judged aesthetics for freestyle, meters for accuracy landing, km/h for speed.

Action	Points
Formation point (4-way)	1 per completed formation in 35 sec
Freefly / Freestyle	Judged 0-10 by 5 judges on artistic/technical
Accuracy landing	Distance from dead-centre disc in cm (lower = better)
Speed skydiving	km/h averaged over 3 sec measurement window
Canopy piloting	Distance/speed/accuracy through gates

Win condition · Highest total across multiple rounds wins the competition.

Playing area

Called

sky / dropzone landing area

Dimensions

Freefall from 3,000-4,500 m altitude; landing area typically grass or wide open field.

Aircraft climbs to altitude; jumpers exit and freefall; parachute opens at 800-1,500 m; land in designated dropzone.

Equipment

Main parachute (canopy)
Ram-air rectangular canopy 100-260 sq ft, controllable via toggles for direction/speed.
Reserve parachute
Backup canopy in same rig, activated by cutaway system or AAD.
AAD (Automatic Activation Device)
Sensors altitude + descent rate; auto-deploys reserve if main not open by set altitude — Cypres/Vigil/M2.
Jumpsuit
Grippers for formation flying; freefly-specific for head-down.
Helmet
Full-face or open; camera mount optional.
Altimeter (visual + audible)
Wrist-mounted analog + in-helmet audible beep at set altitudes.
Goggles
Wind protection at 200 km/h freefall.
Wingsuit (optional)
Fabric membrane between arms/legs for glide ratio 3:1+.

Officiating

USPA/FAI judges review helmet-camera video from formation and freefly jumps to score; canopy piloting scored electronically via gate sensors.

Chief Judge
Discipline Judges (typically 5)
Video Judges (helmet-cam review)
Meet Director

Strategies

AFF path
Accelerated Freefall: 7-8 stages of solo jumps with instructors, ~$1,800-2,500 through A-license.
Static-line path
Cheaper progression: chute deployed by line from aircraft; jump 5-10 static line then progress to freefall.
Currency
Stay current — USPA requires jump in last 60 days for solo currency; longer requires check-out jump.
Discipline focus early
Choose specialty (formation, freefly, canopy) after 100+ jumps and coach-directed training.

Terminology

Freefall: Descent before parachute opens; terminal velocity ~200 km/h belly-to-earth, ~300+ head-down.
Deployment / Opening: Pulling ripcord or pilot chute to open main canopy.
Cutaway: Emergency release of main canopy in case of malfunction; reserve then deployed.
AAD: Automatic Activation Device that fires reserve at set altitude if main not open.
Wingsuit: Fabric-membrane jumpsuit giving glide ratio 3:1 (typical) horizontal/vertical.
Swoop / Swooping: Canopy piloting sub-discipline: high-speed low landing arc.
Arch: Belly-to-earth stable freefall position.
Sit-fly / Head-down: Vertical freefall positions (freefly).
Dropzone (DZ): Skydiving centre with aircraft and landing area.
Tandem: First-jump for tourists: harnessed to certified tandem-master.
AFF: Accelerated Freefall — student progression program.
Big-way: Large formation attempt, 50+ jumpers.
Hard deck: Altitude by which cutaway decision must be made (~450 m).
Base / Formation Points: Formations built in Formation Skydiving competitions.

Major competitions

FAI World Parachuting Championships (Mondial)
biennial · worldwide · since 1951
USPA National Skydiving Championships
annual · USA · since 1958
Red Bull Aces (wingsuit)
annual · worldwide · since 2014
World Air Games (parachuting)
quadrennial · worldwide

Where it is played

Governing bodies

International Skydiving Commission (FAI-IPC)
Founded 1932 · Lausanne, Switzerland
Official site ↗
United States Parachute AssociationUSPA
Founded 1957 · Fredericksburg, VA, USA
Official site ↗
British Skydiving
Founded 1962 · Leicester, UK
Official site ↗

Famous names & records

Famous athletes

Felix Baumgartner (Austria) — Red Bull Stratos 2012: 39 km altitude jump, first supersonic freefall (1,357 km/h)
Alan Eustace (USA) — 2014 stratospheric jump 41.4 km altitude, broke Baumgartner's record
Luke Aikins (USA) — 2016 first person to jump from 7.6 km with no parachute, landed in 30×30 m net
Joseph Kittinger (USA) — 1960 stratospheric jump 31 km, held record until 2012
Andy Farrington (USA) — 8× World Champion Formation Skydiver (Airspeed team)
Domitille Kiger (France) — 5× World Champion Canopy Piloting
Petter Neby (Norway/Sweden) — first BASE jumper to reach 3,000+ jumps
Jeb Corliss (USA) — famous wingsuit BASE jumper (Table Mountain, Great Wall of China 'flight')

Records

Highest altitude jump
Alan Eustace — 41,425 m (135,908 ft) (2014)
First supersonic freefall (Red Bull Stratos)
Felix Baumgartner — 1,357.6 km/h at 39 km altitude (2012)
Speed skydiving world record
Henrik Raimer (Sweden) — 601 km/h average over 3 sec (2016)
Largest formation
400 jumpers, Udon Thani Thailand — 400-way formation (2006)
First person to jump without a parachute
Luke Aikins — 7.6 km altitude, landed in net (2016)

Learn this sport

beginner

1
First tandem jump
Attached to instructor; ~$200-350 at USPA/BS dropzone.
2
Ground school
4-6 hour classroom + gear intro for AFF program.
3
AFF Level 1
First solo freefall with 2 instructors gripping until deployment altitude.
4
Complete AFF (~$2,000)
8 progressive jumps toward solo qualification.

intermediate

1
A-license (25 jumps + skills)
Solo qualified — can pack own chute, jump self-supervised.
2
Recurrency skills
Emergency procedures, canopy control, formation coach-jumps.
3
First 100 jumps
Explore all disciplines; pick specialty.

advanced

1
B/C/D license
50/200/500+ jumps; night, water landing, coaching qualifications.
2
Competitive discipline
Formation (4-way, 8-way), Freefly, Canopy Piloting, Wingsuit — team-based training.
3
National / World Championships
USPA Nationals + FAI World Championships every 2 years.

Frequently asked

How dangerous is skydiving?+

Very safe today — USPA statistics show ~0.4 fatalities per 100,000 jumps (2019-2023 avg). Modern AAD backups have virtually eliminated 'no-pull' fatalities. Injuries mostly from landing.

How much does it cost to skydive?+

Tandem: $200-350. AFF program to A-license: ~$2,000-2,500. Solo jumps ~$25-30 per lift. Own gear: $3,000-8,000+.

How fast is freefall?+

Terminal velocity ~200 km/h (120 mph) belly-to-earth. Head-down / speed skydiving 300-400+ km/h. Record: 601 km/h (Raimer, 2016). Baumgartner Stratos: 1,357 km/h (supersonic) at 39 km altitude.

What's the highest jump?+

Alan Eustace jumped from 41,425 m (135,908 ft) in 2014, breaking Baumgartner's 39 km Red Bull Stratos record (2012).

Can I jump without a parachute?+

Luke Aikins did it in 2016 from 7.6 km altitude, landing in a 30×30 m net — the only person to intentionally jump without a chute and survive.

What's BASE jumping?+

BASE = Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges), Earth (cliffs). Much more dangerous than skydiving — no reserve, low altitude, no time for backup.

Sources & provenance

Wikipedia — Parachuting— Wikipedia
USPA (US Parachute Association)— USPA
FAI International Skydiving Commission— FAI

Last verified 2026-08-24.community