Skydiving: How high is too high? How low is too low?

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Me showing my good side while bailing out over my campsite in the Mojave desert. 

This photo never ceases to get my attention because it looks like I'm skydiving at a really low altitude. It's only an optical illusion created by the out-of-focus ground features.  I exited at 3,500 feet on this jump.

How high do skydivers usually exit?

12,500 feet AGL (Above Ground Level), sometimes up to 14,500 depending on the altitude of the drop zone, type of aircraft and type of jump.  From these altitudes, at a typical belly-to-earth fall rate of around 115 mph, a skydiver can enjoy a freefall of up to and slightly over 1 minute until he or she reaches pull altitude.  This time frame shrinks considerably if the skydiver falls in a vertical head-down position (a popular form of freefall called "Freeflying"), or expands to around double that number if the skydiver is wearing, and properly using, a "wing suit" which can nearly halve freefall speeds.

Some exceptions to these maximum exit altitudes:

• Large freefall formations (say, around 100 or more skydivers) require more time to build (form-up in freefall), thus such jumps start at higher altitudes and often require that jumpers breathe bottled oxygen during the climb to the higher altitudes (around 18,000 feet is typical).

• High altitude jumps made for the sake of making a high altitude jump.  Some skydive centers offer high altitude jump training for experienced jumpers.  Such jumps can approach 30,000 feet.  During such jumps, skydivers must carry & use bottled oxygen ("bailout bottle") in freefall.   Basically, a high altitude jump is a feather some skydivers want in their cap.

What's the highest parachute jump ever made?

Currently this record* is 102,800 feet (around 20 miles).  (These days it seems there's always a few teams preparing to beat the record. So keep googling around the internet to see if any of them finally beat it. One day, somebody will.)

This successful 102,800 foot Air Force test jump was made, from a special high altitude balloon, on August 16, 1960 by Capt. Joseph Kittenger.  He was in freefall** for nearly five minutes. 

Because of the extreme altitudes involved, Joe had to wear an astronaut-style pressure-suit.  Keep in mind: the world's first human astronaut, Yuri Gargarin, had not yet flown into space. Only military test pilots had exceeded 100,000 feet of altitude in experimental rocket aircraft. Joe was making a parachute jump from the edge of space. Also, at those altitudes the air was so thin, and the resultant aerodynamic drag so small, that Joe approached the speed of sound in freefall (he was clocked at around 614mph -- there is some debate that he might have even surpassed the speed of sound. But I don't think the data supports that claim).

An automated camera in the balloon's gondola took movies of Joe falling away.  One of those frames made the cover of Life magazine, and is truly spellbinding; he looks like an astronaut falling out of a spacecraft in earth orbit.

*The USAF never submitted the jump to the FAI, and the FAI rules likely preclude the use of the stabilizing drogue. So the former USSR holds the official FAI world altitude record in this category-- a jump made by from 83,500 feet by Maj. Yevgeny Andreyev in November 1962. But good luck finding anybody who recognizes Andreyev over Kittinger. Again, these days it seems there's always a few teams preparing to beat the record. So keep googling around the internet to see if any of them finally beat it. One day, somebody will.

** During most of the freefall descent, a small drogue chute stabilized Joe's freefall and slowed him down a bit.  Many purist sport skydivers appropriately call his freefall "drogue fall" since it wasn't truly free of a decelerator device. And yet when skydivers talk about beating the world record, nobody mentions the actual FAI world record holder, rather, they talk of beating Maj. Joe Kittinger's common sense world record.

How low do skydivers deploy their parachutes?

The United States Parachute Association sets minimum pack opening altitude at 2,000 feet AGL(Above Ground Level as opposed to MSL -- Mean Sea Level) for experienced skydivers, 2,500 feet for slightly less experienced skydivers, and up to 5,500 feet for certain training jumps.  These recommended pull altitudes are largely respected and observed in the skydiving community.  An exception to this rule are properly trained & equipped BASE jumpers, as described in the last paragraph below.

How fast do parachutes open?

A properly packed and deployed skydiving "ram-air" reserve parachute can open within 200 feet.  Primary, or main, parachutes are often packed (some even designed) in a manner that actually slows their opening by as much as several hundred feet, sometimes more.  This is desirable in a main parachute because fast openings usually mean hard openings.  Hard openings can be painful and unnecessarily hard on equipment & jumper.  This isn't conducive to a long skydiving career.

Reserve parachutes are built to take it, and the sometimes painfully quick reserve parachute openings are the price you pay for super fast emergency parachute openings -- which, thankfully, aren't very frequent.

Do skydivers use their reserve parachutes often?

Your chances of seeing an emergency reserve parachute deployment at a busy skydive center ("drop zone") during the course of one weekend are fairly good.  However, this has more to do with statistical odds piling up. During the course of two or three days at a busy skydive center, many hundreds of jumps may take place.  It's not uncommon to meet skydivers with thousands of jumps, and only a handful of reserve parachute deployments to their credit.

Also, many reserve deployments aren't dire emergencies where the reserve meant life or death to a jumper.  As the axiom says "if in doubt, whip it out."  Many jumpers faced with minor problems such as a broken line, or minor canopy damage choose to jettison the questionable, but apparently functioning, parachute and go to their more reliable reserve. 

So long as the jettison and reserve activation are initiated at a safe altitude (minimum 1,600 feet as per USPA recommendations), this is actually considered to be a very conservative practice with benefits ranging from peace of mind, to avoiding sprains broken bones (incurred when a damaged canopy lands you too fast or too hard), to saving your life (when a damaged canopy lands you way too fast or too hard).

Because of the extremely high reliability of modern reserve parachute systems, many skydivers take it for granted that their reserve parachute will open properly when properly activated.  Accordingly, depending on the nature of the emergency, many skydivers regard having to use their reserve parachute as more of a nuisance than a milestone.  After landing from an uneventful "reserve ride", some skydivers quickly downplay the event, and instead focus on the hassle it has caused them.

What hassle, you ask? 

For one, when you jettison your main parachute (a necessary procedure in most emergency situations), you risk losing it (jettisoning it -- via a procedure known as a "break-away" or "cut-away" -- causes it no damage, and it can be instantly reattached later).  Most jettisoned canopies are recovered, but with prices for new canopies starting at around $1,500.00, one lost canopy can be quite a setback.

Two, when a reserve parachute is deployed a fairly expensive component of the reserve deployment system detaches in freefall (as it is supposed to) and can easily be lost.

Three, once the reserve has been deployed an FAA certified parachute rigger must inspect and re-pack it.  This service can cost around $50 to $75, sometimes more, and cannot always be performed immediately. 

It's not uncommon to see a skydiver moping around the drop zone after a reserve deployment, frustrated because his "reserve ride" has left him grounded possibly for the rest of the day while he searches for lost gear, and waits while his reserve parachute gets its inspection & repack  -- "I&R". 

How much does it cost to skydive?

As of July 2008, experienced jumpers in Southern California who own their own gear pay $27+ per jump (I used to pay $18 per jump in the 1990s).  For their money, they receive a jump ticket to 12,500 feet of altitude, sometimes more.

A first jump course & jump can cost anywhere from around $220 to over $300 depending on options like video, photos, and wind tunnel ("indoor skydiving") time.

Fully training a skydiver at a USPA accredited drop zone: in the early 1990's I spent about $1,200.00 on a relaxed, hybrid static line/free fall training program that dragged out over a leisurely 14 jumps. Most people then and now train through an accelerated eight jump course for around $2,000. That number can easily surpass $2,000 depending on variables like wind-tunnel ("indoor skydiving") training, repeat jumps, and freefall video & photo services, and yes, price of fuel.

Do you need a license to be a skydiver?

No and yes.  The Federal Aviation Administration has no licensing requirements for skydivers.   However, most commercial drop zones in the USA are regulated by the United States Parachute Association.  The USPA is an organization that oversees sport skydiving in the United States.  Among other things, they require skydiver licensing (through USPA's own licensing program) at USPA member drop zones.

From how low can you safely jump?

Sport skydives are almost never intentionally initiated from below 2,000 feet, but it certainly has been done, usually in emergency situations.  The lowest emergency deployment I've ever seen was around 300 feet; the skydiver had only moments under his parachute before he landed.

Military parachuting is a whole different ball of wax.  I cannot personally attest to their practices, but I've spoken with some former special forces jumpers who spoke of making special static line jumps from well below 2,000 feet.

One area deserving special mention is BASE jumping.

BASE jumpers are parachutists who jump from fixed objects such as skyscrapers and cliffs.  (BASE is an acronym that stands for Buildings, Antenna, Spans (bridges) and Earth (Cliffs), the four types of objects typically jumped). Because most BASE jumps take place well below 2000 feet, BASE jumpers have been forced and inspired to rethink equipment design and parachute packing & deployment methods. 

As a result,  BASE jumpers have developed highly specialized parachute equipment and packing techniques designed to get a parachute open very fast.  In the world of BASE jumping, successful free-fall parachute jumps from below 200 feet have been achieved.  I have personally made freefall BASE jumps from 350 feet, one static line jump from 145 feet, and a few "direct bag" (a type of assisted deployment) jumps from 210 feet.