{"id":61393,"date":"2026-01-15T18:02:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=61393"},"modified":"2026-01-15T18:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:02:22","slug":"common-questions-about-skydiving-answered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/common-questions-about-skydiving-answered\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Questions About Skydiving, Answered"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

6 questions people often wonder about skydiving<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For people who don\u2019t skydive, the mystique around it can be dizzying. There can be so many assumptions made about the sport, and for good reason – jumping out of an airplane is a pretty weird thing to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most people, their understanding of skydiving comes from movies, things they\u2019ve seen on social media, or myths they\u2019ve had passed down as a fact.

We\u2019d love to clear a few questions up for anyone looking to skydive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if the parachute doesn\u2019t open?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s just go straight for the big one. The question almost everyone asks first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the reality: modern skydiving systems have come so far and there\u2019s a certain amount of confidence in the sport because of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every skydiver jumps with two parachutes: a main parachute and a reserve parachute.  The reserve parachute, the backup parachute, is packed from a master rigger who is heavily qualified for that pack job and maintained on strict schedules. Most rigs and most tandem rigs include an Automatic Activation Device (AAD), which will deploy the reserve parachute automatically if the skydiver is still in freefall below a certain altitude.This means: if you somehow don\u2019t deploy your parachute, it will open for you. And if that first one doesn\u2019t open or has a complication, you can get rid of that one and open your reserve parachute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parachute malfunctions do happen. That\u2019s not a secret. But they\u2019re anticipated, trained for, and managed. Skydivers practice emergency procedures repeatedly, and instructors train students from day one on how to handle them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea that skydiving relies on \u201cone parachute and fingers crossed\u201d hasn\u2019t been true for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo courtesy of Skydive Spaceland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cCan you breathe in freefall?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You can definitely breathe in freefall. The air is moving past you, and sometimes into your mouth if you have your mouth wide open, but it\u2019s not being sucked out of your lungs. What people often feel is a sort of sensory overload, forgetting to breathe, not suffocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adrenaline and excitement can feel really exhilarating and activating for our senses. Some people hold their breath without realizing it, assuming they couldn\u2019t breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you relax, breathing feels normal. A good tip – give a good shout or laugh when you exit, it\u2019ll help you remember to breathe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes it feel like falling?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Skydiving doesn\u2019t actually feel like falling, not in the way people often think it does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That stomach-dropping feeling you get on a roller coaster comes from a quick downward acceleration. In skydiving, the plane is moving at a fast speed and as you exit the airplane, you reach terminal velocity pretty quickly and then remain at a relatively constant speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of \u201cfalling,\u201d skydiving feels more like flying. The sensation is more like moving through<\/em> space than dropping out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are often shocked by how calm freefall feels compared to what they imagined. It\u2019s a nice surprise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs skydiving dangerous?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Skydiving is not without its own risks, and no experienced jumper will tell you it is. But, it\u2019s also much more regulated and structured than most people realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern skydiving includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n