Extreme Skydiving – Freefall
How fast do you think a skydiver freefalls to the ground below before their shoot is activated? Well believe it or not the velocity of a skydiving freefall can be adjusted with their body positions. Typically however your belly will be facing the Earth below but you can still reach a staggering 190 kph, but the top speed has been clocked at 988 kph.
The typical skydive of 14,000 ft the will generally last 5 – 7 minutes but the skydiving freefall itself lasts no more than 1 minute. And floating down to Earth is where you get to truly see the beauty of the land below and makes you really appreciate the beauty of the world we live in.
Skydiving over the Great Barrier Reef is one example of skydiving over natural beauty. While most people who travel here they spend a day or two on a snorkelling tours and then have nothing else to do. But what if you could see this natural wonder while falling 13,000 ft? It’s literally a breathtaking way to view the Great Barrier Reef. But there are also many other places over coastlines and national parks that make for a beautiful skydive.
On your first jump it will be tandem, skydiving with an instructor who will first brief you on safety and how to position your body during the jump. Shortly after you will be up in the air peaking out at 9,000 ft, right up to 14,000 ft and this is when the nerves really kick in, particularly as you are edging closer to the door. Your instructor will make the jump and within seconds the plane you leapt from seems miles away. This is when the feeling of the skydiving freefall and adrenalin really kicks in.
Although the feeling is difficult to describe, the skydiving freefall itself doesn’t seem to give you a feeling of falling at high speeds, even though the skydiving freefall is huge. This is because the ground doesn’t seem to get any closer until at last you arrive at the point where the instructor pulls the shoot.
If want to talk about extreme skydiving then let’s talk about a famous name in Skydiving… Joseph Kittinger, a military officer who holds the world record for highest altitude jump and the fastest skydiving freefall. In 1960 Kittinger made his jump from a balloon at an unbelievable height of 102,800 ft which got him speeds of up 988 kph. This kind of jump is the definition of extreme skydiving.
Another record worth mentioning is in formation skydiving. In Udon Thailand, 2006 400 skydivers participated in breaking the world record in formation skydiving. Formation skydiving gets more and more difficult when increasing the number of skydivers but in 2006 they pulled this stunt off successfully.
Many who skydive get hooked on the adrenalin where as others just try it for the experience, no matter how terrified they may be. But skydiving venues are located all over the world and can be easily taken up as a hobby or a one-off experience.
