Safety and equipment

Parachuting is under consideration of all safety aspects a very safe kind of sport. Accidents are in most cases not to blame on the technology but on human failure or overestimation of one's own capabilities. The parachuting system itself is subject to a kind of certification, which is to be accomplished in regular intervals. Also one cannot hop arbitrarily from airplanes. Only licensed persons, except, of course, students under supervision of an instructor, may land on so-called "drop zones", i.e. areas that are classified as landing areas. Landings outside these areas require a special permission. Skydiving instructors and tandem masters must have an additional authorization (training and minimum number of jumps).

The equipment consists of the main parachute, a reserve parachute and an opening automat. If the main canopy should fail, it is possible to drop it manually and to open the reserve parachute, which is always packed by a particularly trained specialist. If you forget or if you are not able to open the reserve parachute, you still have a back-up in the opening automat. This small computer measures the free fall speed and your height every millisecond. If the skydiver falls under a height of 738 feet at a certain speed, a small explosive cartridge is released which then opens the reserve parachute.