You’re a new skydiver (or a new-skydiver-to-be)! That means one thing: You have questions. Luckily, at Skydive Chicago we’ve been teaching people to skydive for–quite literally–generations. We can confidently say that there’s no question you can ask about skydiving for which we don’t have an answer at the ready. One of the frequently asked questions is all about parachuting and parachutes so we’ll jump in here!
Where’s all the parachuting near me?
Okiedoke. In order to meet your goals here–to find out where all the nearby parachuting is located, so you can get your freefall groove on–you’re going to need to change your tack. As the technology of skydiving has changed over the years, so has the terminology. We’ll catch you up.
The word “parachuting” isn’t really in common use, these days, outside of the military. If you want to skydive for fun (and not into, like, a war zone), try Googling “skydiving near me” or–much, much better!–search the listing maintained by the United States Parachute Association. That directory is a handy guide to many other dropzones in the sport.
Are parachutes round?
Oh, dear. Sounds like our first order of business is going to be to get you into the modern era, n’est-ce pas? Round parachutes, these days, are the stuff of clip art and cargo dropping. Humans, in pretty much every situation that requires a skydive, jump rectangular, steerable, “ram-air” parachutes. Gone are the days of slowly sinking to the earth; These are highly advanced wings.
They’re not shy about it, either. Some of our favorite performance-forward parachute designs are actually made by a manufacturer called “Performance Designs.” (Spoiler: They’re really fun to fly.)
How does it feel when your parachute opens?
Modern skydiving equipment is designed to deliver, cushy openings. Once deployed, the parachute is designed to kinda bubble up overhead, like a big ol’ colorful flower blossoming gracefully into existence. Granted, that’s not the experience every time. When they happen–though, luckily, they rarely do–a hard opening can slap an unlucky skydiver across the feels like a rolled-up wet towel. (At Skydive Chicago, we take meticulous care with our parachute packing to prevent such an eventuality. We have a vested interest in soft openings, you see!)
How are the parachute landings?
It’s not like the days of ole. Many people draw on old school thinking of war days, round parachutes, and hard landings. Parachute technology has advanced so much to give parachutes different flight characteristics for tandem skydives to beginner skydivers to advanced. They use different materials and shapes to give the parachute a desired performance. Through the years teaching methods have dramatically improved as well.
Tandem parachute landings are a bit different than solo skydivers. This is because you’re attached to an instructor and it’s almost like doing a 3-legged race together. Because the touch down timing is important, tandem students will lift their legs on their instructors cue so they can anticipate a butt slide landing. For student jumpers, they’re taught a ‘parachute landing fall’ or PLF to absorb an abnormal landing. Regardless, parachutes and training help in having nice landings but it is really up to the pilot (aka jumper) of the parachute.
Skydiving is not only exciting, it’s an in-person exploration of some pretty highly advanced aerodynamic concepts in a high-flying laboratory that just happens to be breathtakingly beautiful. You’ll learn loads, even on that first-time tandem skydiving experience–and even more as you progress through our skydiving certification program, which you’ll clamor to sign up for after that first jump. Don’t believe us? Man-oh-man. You shall see.
How about it? Want to take to the skies and find out everything there is to know about the art and science of the parachute? Class is in session, buddy! We’re waiting for you.
