Extreme Individual Sports, Parachute Jumping

Many extreme sports like Bungee Jumping, Base Jumping and Parachute Jumping, have one main thing in common, they all involve a nutter or an average person jumping off of something which is solid and safe. Is the phrase "adrenaline junkie" correct, is that all that they want? a quick fix of adrenalin? Or is it that people, who have done a parachute jump, or indeed any of the other extreme jumping sports, love the danger of a possible near death experience. I have done only one parachute jump, yes, it was exhilarating, in fact, it was really extremely exciting, even though there was an instructor strapped to my back, I was just glad that he wasn't excited. Another theory, from personal experience, is that the people who do this, have faced their fears, and actually have a more positive view of life.

 Parachute Jumping is possibly the safest ariel extreme sport around at the moment. The average jump height, or for newbe's at this sport, is 3500 feet, and if you have no training at all, you can still book a parachute jump with a jumping school and perform a Parachute Jump with an instructor strapped to your back who does all the work for you. You just have to show up and look scared. As a birthday present or anytime gift, this is absolutely perfect. Once you get hooked on this sport, and you will, you can then start to train with an approved school. On your first solo jump, you will still be at 3500 ft, but you will be using a static line, which once you have jumped, will pull the parachute open for you.

 The first, and by far the most important piece of equipment you will need, is a parachute, obvious really, the parachute has a reserve parachute in a separate compartment. All the equipment whilst training, is provided by the training school, after training you will have to hire the equipment or buy it, and the equipment does not come cheap. An altimeter is the meter which measures your height from the ground, usually worn on the wrist, another types attaches to your ear and beeps at certain altitudes. Although helmets are not necessary, they are usually worn when jumping from very high in the atmosphere. Goggles should also be worn to protect them from rushing wind. The automatic Parachute Release, ( Automatic Aactivation Device, AAD ) is exactly what it says, it releases the parachute automatically. These are a parachutists best friend, in case of blackouts or the jumper loses track off height, these little devices will open the parachute at a pre-determiend height. The last important piece of equipment that you will need is an aeroplane, or you could jump from a hot-air balloon.

 Sky Diving is like parachute jumping with style. This where you can show off your ariel acrobatics, either by yourself or with lots of other people. You can learn to sky dive in a vertical wind tunnel. This is where a rather large fan is on the floor of a specially built room, and you "float" above it, performing little acrobatic movements, such as turning around, it is mainly used to learn hoe to stay level and control your body whilst in the air. Sky divers have the freedom of the air, like no other extreme sport on this planet. Once they have left the aeroplane, there are about as free as a bird, but not for that long. Sky Diver's tricks include skate boarding, skiing, and driving cars, yes they drive cars out of aeroplanes, just like they do in the movies.