Skydiving Precautions

Jumping out of a plane with a parachute is certain to get adrenaline coursing through your veins. However, skydiving is also a potentially dangerous activity, as a variety of things can go wrong. To make sure that your skydiving experience goes well, you must take several precautions before you make the big leap.

  1. Parachutes

    • The most basic precautions you should take when skydiving involve your parachute. Before jumping, make sure that the release works well and that you have a second parachute in your pack for backup. This way, if the first parachute fails to release, the second will take its place and still allow you to land safely. Ensuring that you are using a modern, rectangular parachute will also allow you to slow down as you approach the ground, making sure that you have a smooth landing that occurs without injury.

    Conditions

    • Avoid skydiving under hazardous weather conditions. Though this may seem obvious, some skydivers do not consider certain conditions, such as light wind or some cloud cover, to pose hazards. However, wind can make jumping very difficult, and beginners should not jump if the wind is over 15mph. Similarly, cloud cover does not permit the aircraft to get high enough to provide adequate time to implement safety procedures, should an emergency occur during the jump. Therefore, even these seemingly innocuous conditions can pose very real dangers.

    Devices

    • Beginning skydivers may not realize the amount of adrenaline and nerves they will feel while making their first jump. Because of this, they may fail to activate their parachute properly. Automatic Automation Devices, or AADs, will activate your second parachute when they sense you have hit a certain velocity, ensuring that you still land safely. They are thus an important part of the gear for beginning and even experienced divers.

    Physical Precautions

    • While skydivers should obviously not jump when physically ill, other conditions that may not seem harmful can prove to be under certain conditions. Those with colds or congestion can damage their ears when jumping from the plane, while pregnant women risk damaging their unborn children. Similarly, people who have recently given blood should wait to skydive as their blood pressure can be unusually low.