Parachuting is the descent of a person through the atmosphere using a parachute. In sport parachuting, a jumper normally exits an aircraft, passes through a period of free fall, deploys a steerable canopy, flies it to a landing area and lands. Skydiving is commonly used as a synonym for sport parachuting, although it can more narrowly refer to controlling the body during freefall before the canopy is deployed.
Parachuting is used for recreation and competition, military deployment, emergency escape and access to remote areas. International competition and record activity is administered by the Skydiving Commission of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
History
On 22 October 1797, French balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin made the first well documented parachute descent from a balloon over Paris. His silk canopy opened after he separated a basket from the balloon at about . Early parachute descents were mainly public demonstrations or emergency experiments. After the development of a manually operated ripcord, Leslie Irvin made an intentional freefall jump from an aeroplane on 28 April 1919.
Sport parachuting expanded after the Second World War. The first World Parachuting Championships were held at Bled in 1951, initially centred on landing accuracy, and the FAI began recognising parachuting records and championships during the same period.
Uses Sport parachuting includes recreational jumps, training and internationally regulated competition. Military forces use parachutes to deliver personnel and supplies; specialised units also use controllable ram-air canopies for high-altitude freefall insertion. Forest-service smokejumpers parachute to remote wildfires and receive tools, food and water by air drop.
Parachutes have also been used for emergency escape from balloons and aircraft, particularly during the development of military aviation. Sport parachuting, by contrast, is a planned aircraft operation.
Jump sequence
A sport jump begins with exit from the aircraft. Immediately after exit, the relative wind comes from the direction of aircraft travel and shifts as the jumper's trajectory becomes more nearly vertical. Body position is used to manage this transition, while altitude awareness remains essential throughout freefall.
Freefall is the interval between exit and parachute deployment. In a stable belly-to-earth position, a skydiver reaches a terminal velocity of about ; head-down and more streamlined body positions produce higher speeds. Body position is used to maintain stability and control orientation during freefall. On formation jumps, participants break off at a planned altitude and track away to create horizontal separation before deploying their parachutes.
Deployment is normally initiated by a pilot chute, a small parachute used to initiate or accelerate deployment of the main parachute. Parachute opening can be divided into three stages: activation, deployment—when the parachute leaves its container—and inflation, when the canopy fills with air. Modern sport parachutes are generally ram-air canopies: air entering openings at the front inflates an upper and lower surface into a gliding airfoil.
After opening, the jumper checks that the canopy is fully inflated, stable and steerable, and confirms that it can be flared for landing. Steering-toggle inputs change the canopy's heading and speed: pulling one toggle initiates a turn, while pulling both down slows forward motion and descent. Wind affects the canopy's track and speed over the ground, producing slower progress into the wind, faster progress downwind and sideways drift during crosswind flight.
Canopy flight is commonly organised around a holding area and a planned landing pattern while the jumper monitors altitude, position and other canopy traffic. The pattern is a deliberate approach, commonly divided into downwind, base and final legs, that positions the canopy for a straight final descent toward a clear area. If the intended landing area cannot be reached, an alternate open area may be selected.
During final approach, pulling both steering toggles down flares the canopy, decreasing its forward speed and rate of descent before touchdown. When a stand-up landing is not possible, a parachute landing fall can reduce injury risk by distributing the impact across several points of the body.
Training
Training combines ground instruction with supervised jumps. Subjects normally include equipment, aircraft procedures, exit position, altitude awareness, parachute deployment, emergency procedures, canopy control, landing patterns and landing technique. Training systems differ among countries and national organisations.
In the United States, the United States Parachute Association (USPA) presents tandem, accelerated freefall, instructor-assisted deployment and static-line training within its student programme. British Skydiving uses static-line and accelerated-freefall routes for students progressing toward independent jumping.
Tandem
In a tandem jump, a student is attached by a separate harness to an instructor, and both use one tandem parachute system. The instructor controls the exit, freefall, deployment, canopy flight and landing. United States regulations require the parachutist in command to meet experience, licensing and system-specific training requirements, and require an operational automatic activation device on the tandem system.
Static-line progression In static-line training, a line attached to the aircraft initiates deployment as the student exits. The student gradually progresses to self deployment. The deployment delay is then increased until the student reaches terminal velocity. Early jumps therefore place emphasis on aircraft exit, canopy checks, steering, landing patterns and emergency procedures.
Instructor-assisted deployment Instructor-assisted deployment follows a progression similar to static-line training, but an instructor in the aircraft deploys the student's pilot chute as the student exits. Later jumps introduce independent deployment and longer freefall.
Accelerated freefall (AFF) In accelerated freefall, a student exits with one or more instructors who initially hold the student's harness during freefall. The method introduces freefall body control from the first training jumps and progresses toward independent exit, altitude awareness, deployment and canopy flight.
Wind tunnels and simulators Vertical wind tunnels can be used to practise body flight without a parachute jump. Indoor skydiving has also developed into a separate competitive sport with formation, artistic and dynamic events.
Equipment A modern sport system consists of a harness and container holding a main parachute and an approved reserve parachute. It may also include an automatic activation device (AAD), which initiates reserve deployment when preset conditions are detected. Other common equipment includes an altimeter, helmet and goggles.
Equipment regulation varies by jurisdiction. In the United States, civil sport jumpers using a single-person system must have a main canopy, an approved reserve canopy and an approved harness-container system. Reserve parachutes must be packed by a certificated rigger within the applicable interval, and any installed AAD must be maintained according to its manufacturer's instructions. U.S. tandem systems must contain an operational AAD, and the parachutist in command must meet experience, licensing and system-specific training requirements.
Safety Parachuting involves risk during aircraft operations, freefall, deployment, canopy flight and landing. A 2023 systematic review covering more than 62 million civilian jumps reported an average injury rate of 0.044% and an average fatality rate of 0.0011%. Lower-extremity and lumbar-spine injuries were the most common, and injuries occurred most often during landing.
National statistics are not directly interchangeable because participation, reporting and regulation differ. USPA estimated that its members made 3.47 million jumps in the United States in 2025, with 16 civilian fatalities, or 0.46 deaths per 100,000 jumps. Its member survey also estimated 4,777 reserve uses, about one per 726 jumps, and found that 5.6% of respondents reported an injury requiring medical treatment.
Training, equipment standards and operational rules are intended to reduce risk, but they do not eliminate it. Landing judgement and canopy control remain recurring safety concerns.
Disciplines and competition International parachuting and skydiving competitions include events performed in freefall, under an open canopy and in vertical wind tunnels. National associations also recognise training and recreational techniques that are not separate FAI championship disciplines.
Skydiving appeared in the air-sports programme of the World Games from 1997 through 2022. Canopy piloting was included from 2005 through 2022, while other skydiving events appeared between 1997 and 2009.
Canopy formation
In canopy formation, jumpers intentionally fly open parachutes close together and take grips on other canopies or suspension lines. The activity was formerly known as canopy relative work, or CRW (pronounced kro͞o). Basic formations include stacks and planes, in which one jumper docks feet on another canopy's suspension lines or risers.
FAI competition events include 4-way rotations, 4-way sequential and 2-way sequential. Teams repeat prescribed formations during a working period, while a videographer records the jump for judging. Because participants fly in contact with one another's canopies and lines, training includes docking, breakoff and emergency procedures. Entanglements and collapsed canopies are principal hazards, and specialised equipment commonly includes protective clothing and a hook knife.
Formation skydiving
Formation skydiving is the intentional manoeuvring of two or more skydivers near one another in freefall to build formations. Participants approach a designated base, take grips and move through planned formations while maintaining a common fall rate and level. Formations may be flown belly-to-earth or vertically, with participants head-down or feet-down. The discipline was traditionally called relative work or group freefall.
In FAI competition, a team normally consists of four or eight performers and a videographer. Each round uses a sequence drawn from an international pool of random formations and blocks. Teams repeat the sequence within a set working time, receiving one point for each correctly completed formation; judging is based on the videographer's recording. Large formations, often called big-ways, may involve dozens or hundreds of participants and are also flown as national or world record attempts under FAI record rules.
Before a formation jump, teams often rehearse the aircraft exit, formation shapes, grips and movement order on the ground, a practice known as a dirt dive. Training commonly begins with small groups and develops stable exits, body position, approach, docking, transition, breakoff and separation skills. Group planning is important because a failed or funnelled formation can bring jumpers into collision, and participants must create horizontal separation before deployment.
Freeflying
Freeflying uses a wider range of body orientations than traditional belly-to-earth skydiving. It includes back flying, sit flying, standing and head-down positions, as well as transitions between them. These orientations can produce high fall rates and rapid changes in relative speed, so group freeflying requires attention to levels, separation, breakoff and altitude awareness.