Skydiving

On August 20, 1913, Frenchman Adolphe Begoud became the first pilot in the history of aviation to parachute out of his plane. On April 28, 1919, the American Leslie Le Roy Irvin performed the first freefall jump with a manually deployable rear parachute. Richard Kohnke is considered to be the father of parachuting in Germany.

Conventional jumping training is divided into automatic and free fall training. During the first jump in free fall training, the jumper falls for one to three seconds before opening the parachute on their own.

World championships have been held in various disciplines since 1952, classic disciplines are style and target jumping. The mobility and skill of the athlete play a major role here. In para-skiing, giant slalom and target jumping must be mastered as a combination sport. In formation skydiving, the jumpers open their special parachutes immediately after exiting the aircraft. They form formations by hooking their feet to the lines of other canopies. Various competitive disciplines have developed from free-fall formation jumping.

Each parachute system consists of 4 components: harness, main parachute, reserve parachute and automatic opening. The parachute system is examined every 2 years by an authorized technician for damage and wear and tear, the result is documented in papers. The equipment also includes an altimeter, safety goggles, helmet or leather cap and a jumper suit tailored to the respective discipline.