Skydiving Fun Facts

Skydiving Fun Facts

1. Captain Kittinger recorded the highest skydive from a height of almost 102,800 feet, in 1960. Kittinger descended for almost 85,000 feet freefalling at a speed of 715 mph, before deploying his parachute. Update: In the desert surrounding Roswell, N.M., on Sunday, Baumgartner broke Kittinger's world record for the highest and fastest free fall. UPDATE: Felix Baumgartner broke this record on 14 October, 2012. He jumped from a height of 128,100 feet or 39 km for the highest skydive - more than four miles higher than Kittinger's jump in 1960, which was from 102,800 feet or 19.5 miles. He achieved Mach 1.24 and thus also broke the sound barrier.

2. The youngest to accomplish the feat of skydiving was a four year old. The jump was a tandem jump (skydiving while being harnessed to a trainer), and was made from an elevation of 10,000 feet.

3. On 6th of February 2004, a group of 357 skydivers joined hands and stayed in that formation for 6 seconds in Takhli, Thailand. This was their 6th attempt.

4. This record was broken on February 8, 2006 and the record for the largest freefall formation was a 400-way set in Udon Thani, Thailand by World Team. Five C-130 Hercules airplanes were used and it was held for 4.25 seconds. They had exited from an altitude of 25,000 feet 5. On 20th of May 2001, Michael Zang created a new world record by completing 500 jumps in a day. His jumps were made in intervals of less than 3 minutes and he performed these jumps from 2,100 feet.

5. On 20th of May 2001, Michael Zang created a new world record by completing 500 jumps in a day. His jumps were made in intervals of less than 3 minutes and he performed these jumps from 2,100 feet.

6. During freefall, the wind traveling past your ears is well over 100 mph. This much makes you deaf to all sounds you cannot hear a fellow skydiver. By yelling into each other's ears, you may hear a little but you certainly can't have a proper conversation.

7. Jonas holds the record for getting the first tattoo while freefalling at a height of 4,000m in Sweden. He got a 'WFFT' tattoo made while skydiving with Nordin. WFFT stands for World's First Freefall Tattoo!

8. Approximately 3.1 million skydives occur annually. Out of this, the average number of fatalities is around 55 which is less than 1% of the jumps that take place

9. Some of the most daring skydivers include a 92 year old man sporting artificial knees, a hearing aid and weighing 105 pounds who leaped from 3,500 feet did a solo jump and a 90 years old woman who skydived from 12,000 feet to celebrate her birthday.

10. The first skydiving center in India was set up by Sports Authority of Gujarat while the first skydiving school in India, Agni Aviation is located in Bangalore.

11. The extravagant designer Adrian Ionel Haiduc, owner of the H'Art Design Ltd.jewerly company, launched his collection "Man's on Air" with the participation of 11 parachutists who launched from a plane wearing his creations. This set the world record for the highest launch of a jewelry collection.

12. The largest all-female skydiving formation-world record was set by 181 female skydivers who joined together to set the new world record for the largest all-female skydiving formation. This was done in order to raise money in the fight against breast cancer, raising over 900-thousand dollars towards the cause.

13. 3 skydivers including 2 Brittons, Leo Dickinson and Ralph Mitchell, and an Indian Air Force officer, Ramesh Tripathi, jumped from an airplane at 20,000 ft (6.1 km) and landed by parachute at Gorak Shep, a frozen lake bed, 16,940ft. (5.1 km) above sea level, near Mount Everest-setting the world for the highest parachute jump landing.

14. Airborne warfare began in 1918. The 1st infantry was the very first to go airborne. It was the U.S military dropping a unit from a bomber in the sky onto the city of Metz. This was the brain child of Lewis H. Brereton, a young soldier on the staff of General Billy Mitchell.

15.There have been instances in which military planes have gone down in bodies of water and pilots have used their parachutes to save their lives. They have deployed their parachutes underwater and been pulled up by the parachute in addition to activating their life vests.

16.The lowest combat jump occurred July 3, 1944 at 175 feet, which was accidental due to an altimeter error. A total of two aircraft made the mistake. The lowest planned combat jump was from 250 feet in Crete.

17. The lowest mass tactical jump was 143 feet.

18.You don't have to worry about the free fall creating that "heart attack-inducing" roller coaster drop feeling. The feeling is actually one similar to floating and the air resistance creates a degree of support. Free falling is like a human being taking flight. The air flow is constant and allows for aerial maneuvers that are a lot of fun.

Hope you found these as interesting as I did.....

-- Blue Skies

Skydive Long Island is the closest tandem skydiving center to NYC. Our skydiving facility is conveniently located on Long Island only 50 miles east of New York City, at the Brookhaven-Calabro Airport in Shirley, NY. We hope you'll join us soon for what will be one of the most exciting adventures of your life - SKYDIVING in Long Island!