On the surface, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane doesn’t seem too safe. Nevertheless thousands enjoy the experience of free fall every year by doing exactly that – of course they are wearing a parachute. But, just how safe is the wacky sport?

One study that explored this question compared the risk when someone skydives to that a mother takes during childbirth, giving it an approximate 1 out of 100,000 chance of mortality. Of course skydivers increase the numerical probability by performing several jumps in a single day.

One of the main problems that led to death was failure to correct instability during early free fall. Most often this is a problem for beginners who panic, lose control and start to tumble wildly out of control. When this happens, their parachute can get tangled, or they may even fail to activate their chutes. Those with more experience realize they can stabilize their fall by keeping their legs spread.

Another problem that leads to fatalities is when a parachutist accidentally landed in water – particularly when they don’t have a life jacket, or their life jacket doesn’t work correctly. In addition to these incidents, water landings sometimes see a reserve chute activate while in the water, causing increased risk for drowning.

Given these statistics, specifics show that the parachute deployed at some point in one third of these fatalities. And, interestingly enough, a fourth of those who hit the ground survived the initial impact only to die later en route to the hospital. However, no one who hits the ground traveling at terminal velocity (125 mph or higher) ever survives.

Mortality rates were much higher in the early days of parachuting. Now, however, the sport is much safer. In 2007 there were just over 820 injuries due to skydiving and 18 deaths. But these figures come from over 2.2 million reported jumps.

Here is some basic FAQ about skydiving

What is skydiving?

Skydiving is an extreme sport in which a person jumps out of an aircraft.  Following the jump, they perform acrobatics as they descend.  Once at a safe altitude the jumper deploys their parachute and glide to the ground.

Is skydiving safe?

Skydiving is extremely safe.  This is in large part due to the many safety measures that the government has put in place to regulate ultimate safety in the sport.  Fatalities during skydiving occur 0.1% of the time, however, injuries such as broken bones and sprains are a little more common, especially amongst inexperienced jumpers.

How much does skydiving cost?

The cost of skydiving ranges anywhere from $25 for licensed skydivers who have their own gear to a few hundred dollars for AAF and tandem jumps.

How old do you have to be to skydive?

In most states, in order to skydive, divers must be the age of legal majority in their state.  This usually represents an age of 18.

What is a tandem dive?

A tandem skydive is when two people are harnessed together during the dive.

Do you need to have a certification to skydive?

A certification is not required to skydive, but to skydive without an instructor, a Class A license is required.  In order to obtain this license, a diver must successfully complete 25 jumps with an instructor.

What type of equipment is used for skydiving?

The equipment needed to skydive includes a helmet, jumpsuit, altimeter, parachute, harness container, and an automatic activation device.

What if the parachute doesn’t open?

If the parachute does not open, there is no need to panic because each skydiver is equipped with two parachutes.  The reserve parachute, which is rarely used, is inspected often by a FAA certified parachute rigger to make sure that it works properly.