You are here

Home > About > Skydiving Overview > Safety

Safety

Safety is the biggest concern for all potential skydivers. Obviously skydiving is dangerous, but how dangerous is it?

The fact is that Skydiving is not as dangerous as the Media would have us believe. This is attributed to many factors.

Training

The risk of Skydiving is reduced dramatically by proper training. In the UK all sport parachuting adheres to the rules of the BPA (see 'British Parachute Association' below).

In order to jump on your own you must be a qualified Skydiver. Qualifying involves extensive ground training and in-air instruction. Training is progressive, introducing you to things one step and a time.

Once qualified, there are strict limits to what you are allowed to do. 'Licences' and 'Ratings' are awarded once you gain further experience which give you the option of doing new and more exciting things.

No Skydiver, with 10 jumps or 10,000 jumps, will ever stop learning.

Equipment

Modern parachute equipment is safer than it has ever been. Total equipment malfunctions (where no parachute can be deployed) are unheard of.

Every Skydiver in the UK must jump with:

  • A main parachute - This is used day-to-day and is usually packed by the skydiver themselves.
  • Reserve Parachute - This is used in the event of the main parachute failing to open. The reserve is packed by a qualified Rigger or Advanced Packer and is packed in a way that is designed to open more reliably than the main parachute, which is packed to open comfortably.
  • Automatic Activation Device (AAD) - This is a small computer that will open the reserve parachute at a certain altitude if the skydiver is still in freefall. This means that you will still land under your reserve if, for any reason, you cannot deploy your own parachute

Unfortunately, nearly all fatalities in skydiving are attributed to human-error instead of equipment failure, and usually under a perfectly good parachute. Often, the parachute was too advanced (fast) for the person flying it. As a student skydiver you will be jumping very large, docile canopies that will forgive any mistakes you make. These are designed to get you to the ground safely and will provide you with more than enough enjoyment for your first jumps.

British Parachute Association

The BPA is the governing body for sport parachuting. The BPA set the rules and moderate the Sport. The BPA website has a fantastic safety section which I urge you to read.

Statistics

Please see the BPA website for statistical information on injuries and fatalities.

Like anything we do in life, Skydiving is a risk. We manage risk on a daily basis by weighing the risk against the benefit.

For example, driving is a risk which we consider before getting into our cars. However, we accept this risk because of the freedom driving allows us. (For the record, driving is statistically more likely to kill you than skydiving).