SkyDiving
Skydiving or parachuting involves jumping out of an aircraft, such as an airplane, helicopter, or gondola of a balloon at, at about 4000 meters(12000 ft). The person skydiving then free-falls for a period of time and activates a parachute, slowing the participant down to a safe landing speed. Once a parachute is opened it's speed and direction can be controled with cords called "steering lines" and hand grips called "toggles", which are attached to the parachute so participants can direct themselves to the landing site.
Skydiving involves several complex skills that take several jumps to master. However, the basics are usually taught in the first few jumps. There are four general areas of skill, including basic safety, freefall, deploying and landing. Basic safety usually covers how and when to do a gear check, exit the jump platform, act in an emergency, deploy a parachute, handle common malfunctions, pick a landing area, and execute a landing.
In freefall most sky divers learn to jump and maintian a a stable positon with the belly facing down towards Earth, called the "box" position. Learning the "box" position is essential for a parachute deployment. Next, participants or jumpers learn how to move and turn in any direction while in the belly down to Earth position. These skills allow a group of jumpers to create sequences of formations on a single jump. Deploying a parachute is a matter of free fall manoeuvres, parachute operation and landing safety. A parachute should be released or deployed high up enough to give the jumper enough time to handle a possible malfunction. The minimum for professional skydiver is about 2000 ft.
There are mutliple ways a person can practice differnt aspects of skydiving without actually jumping. For example wind tunnels are used to practice freefall skills and virtual reality skydiving simulators can be used to practice parachute control. Skydivers, that are new to the sport, have several options available to them. For example, they can jump Tandem style, which is where the jumper is attached to an instuctor. In addition to that they can jump from a static line which automatically deploys the parachute when the jumper exits the aircraft, assisted deployment - where the instructor triggers the parachute to open, and accelerated freefall. Accelerated freefall is when the instructor jumps in sequence with the parachuter and intervenes if necessary during the freefall stage. After mastering the basics a skydiver can then participate in many other parachuting activities.