Saturday 13 August 2011

SPORTS PARACHUTING : SKYDIVING

Parachuting is an activity involving a preplanned drop from a height using  an aerial platform and a deployable parachute.One type of parachuting is Ram Air (Square) commonly known as skydiving parachute, which is recreational, also called sport parachuting.

Typically, a trained skydiver and a group of associates meet at an isolated airport, referred to as a Drop Zone Landing Area. A operator at that airport usually operates one or more aircraft, and takes groups of skydivers up for a fee. In the earlier days of the sport, it was common for an individual jumper to go up in a light aircraft now bigger aerial platforms are also used for skydiving.

The jump involves individuals jumping out of aircraft usually an airplane, but sometimes a helicopter or even the gondola of a balloon, and free-falling for a period of time before activating a parachute Opening to land down at safe speeds.

Once the parachute is opened, (usually the parachute will be fully inflated by 3,000 ft). the jumper can control his or her direction and speed with cords called Steering Lines, with hand grips called Toggles that are attached to the parachute, and so he or she can aim for the landing site and come  in a safe landing environment. Most modern sport parachutes are self-inflating Ram-Air wings that provide control of speed and direction, to the sports person.

By changing the shape of the body, a skydiver can do turns, forward motion, backwards motion, and many other manuvers.  Experienced skydivers will tell someone that in freefall, one can do anything a bird can do, except go back up.
There are several ways one can get started in this sport and make a first jump.

1. Static Line : In parachuting, a static line is a cord connecting the deployment bag of the parachute to the aircraft from which the parachutist jumps. After Existing out the aircraft, this short line pulls the parachute deployment bag from its container. After that, the parachute deploys. The static line separates from the parachute, and remains in tow behind the aircraft. It is subsequently pulled in and stowed away by the Jumpmaster. Static lines are used in order to make sure that a parachute is deployed immediately after leaving the plane, regardless of any actions taken by the parachutist, however the parachutist must adopt and maintain a suitable body position throughout deployment to minimise the chances of a parachute malfunction, and twists.

2. Tandem : Tandem skydiving refers to a type of skydiving where a novice skydiver, student or passenger is connected with a harness passenger to an experienced skydiver,Tandem Master or andem Instructor. The instructor controls the whole jump from exit through free fall, opening the parachute, piloting the canopy, and landing. The student needs only little instructions and briefing before making a Tandem Skydive.

3. Accelerated Free Fall : Accelerated Freefall (AFF) : is also a method of skydiving training. It has replaced static line progression as the most common method of training skydivers. Two or more instructors assist the student during free fall and deployment of the parachute.

IPF is not able to conduct Tandem Skydiving and AFF frequently because of the limiting factors of the small aircrafts and high cost of operation of bigger aircraft/ helicopter.
Despite the perception of dangers, in aerosports fatalities are rare. In our organization we try to minimize the risk factor by taking adequate steps for safety. We believe that proper training, use of standard equipment with safety Devices substianally reduce the risk. As on date we are proud of our safety record with no incident/ accidents and no injury to any of our trainees. Most of the trainees are civilians with no parachuting background.

In IPF has conducted Parachute jumps. It is mandatory that all skydivers  carry  two parachutes one Main, one Reserve attached to a single harness inspected and packed by an experienced  parachute packer (Rigger). It is mandatory for all skydivers to use an Automatic Activation Device (AAD) that opens the reserve parachute at a safe altitude in the event of the jumper failing to activate the parachute himself or herself. 

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