🪂 Skydiving

Skydiving means exiting an aircraft at altitude, spending under a minute in freefall and landing under a canopy. Competition disciplines score formation flying, freestyle, canopy piloting and accuracy on landing.

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• Skydiving Equipment List
• Skydiving Terms and Slang
• Best Skydiving Athletes of All Time
• Where Skydiving Is Most Popular
• The Tournaments That Matter

⏳ Skydiving History

• 1797: André-Jacques Garnerin made the first recorded parachute jump, launching skydiving’s beginnings.
• 1911-1914: Early 20th century inventors like Grant Morton and Charles Broadwick vastly improved parachute technology.
• 1930s: The military began to establish dedicated parachute regiments, marking the beginning of a thriving military parachuting culture.
• 1937: Russian skydiver Mikhail Gushchin achieved a new milestone, completing 101 jumps in one day, showcasing the potential of skydiving.
• 1950s-1960s: Post-World War II, sport parachuting surged in popularity with early competitions and the foundation of the United States Parachute Association (USPA).
• 1970s: The advent of new, thrilling skydiving disciplines like Freeflying and relative work.
• 1980s: Safety in skydiving saw major improvements with the widespread adoption of Automatic Activation Devices (AADs) and the introduction of tandem skydiving.
• 1990s-2000s: With ongoing advancements in parachute technology, newer disciplines such as swooping and wingsuit flying emerged.