PARACHUTING

Over the past 25 years or so, there has been a sharp increase in the popularity of parachuting as a sport. Parachuting can be learnt at a parachute club. The training is extremely strict. The instructor makes sure that the beginner has learnt and understood everything before the first jump is made. Like all parachutists, the beginner must wear two parachutes - a main one on the back and a slightly smaller reserve one on the front. Trainee parachutists do not open their parachutes themselves. By law, they have to make their first six descents using a parachute opened automatically by a 15-foot nylon static line fixed to the airplane. It takes about 2.7 seconds for the jumper's weight to pull on the line, and thus open the parachute. Trainees are taught how to 'spreadeagle' - to lie stomach down and stretch their arms and legs out to slow down their fall. In this way, they descend at about 120 miles per hour before the parachute opens, whereas an experienced sky-diver, descending headfirst, can travel at over 200 mph. Novices jump from a height of about 2,500 feet, while experienced free-fallers may jump from well over 7,000 feet, waiting until they are within 2,000 feet off the ground before pulling the ripcord to open their parachutes