

If the skydiver gets this wrong, it can result in injuries or fatality. The goal of this – known as ‘swooping’ – is that you increase the speed of the parachute as it crosses the ground. One of these maneuvers involves parachute work where the skydiver purposely increases their rate of descent by quickly turning the parachute. It’s more likely for issues to occur when someone with thousands of jumps under their belt attempts something new or more advanced than they’ve done before. What are the risks involved?Īs we’ve mentioned, the main risks involved with skydiving are related to advanced maneuvers. Statistically, you’re more likely to die being struck by lightning or stung by a bee. Tandem skydiving – where you’re attached to an experienced skydiving instructor for your jump – has an even better safety rate, with 0.002 fatalities per 1,000 jumps on average over the past 10 years.

This equates to 0.006 fatalities per 1,000 jumps, which is a very small risk. Out of those, there were 21 fatal skydiving accidents. That includes first-time tandem skydivers and experienced solo skydivers. The USPA recorded a total of 3.5 million jumps in the US in 2015. To answer this one in more detail, let’s go back to the USPA statistics we mentioned earlier. When people do sadly die during a skydive, it’s most likely to happen during advanced maneuvers typically, ‘normal’ skydiving results in even fewer issues. The short answer to this is ‘hardly any’. It sounds like a fluffy answer, but we have so many precautions in place to reduce risk that for many, the risk quotient is manageable. The USPA (United States Parachute Association) has statistics about how many people jump and how many have problems along the way – we’ll come to this in a bit.Įssentially, skydiving is as safe as it can be. The sheer volume of skydives that happen across the world means that we have tons of data to show that while the sport has risks, it can be done safely. Skydiving is an incredibly exciting adrenaline fueled sport that tens of thousands of people across the world enjoy every year. Or worse, for you to never experience the joy of skydiving at all! Is skydiving safe?

But in everything we do, we try to mitigate those risks as much as possible. Skydiving is awesome, and the last thing we want is for you to not enjoy your experience because you’re concerned about safety. Like any sport, there are risks involved with skydiving. If you’re trying something new that you’re unfamiliar with, you may want to know the risks. People often ask us about skydiving safety, which is totally understandable.
