When is Skydiver’s Day celebrated?
Parachute, sky, aviation, flight. Everyone for whom these words are not an easy sound can safely call Skydiver’s Day 2022 their professional holiday and celebrate it July 26 – on the day when a group of pilots in 1930 for the first time made a series of parachute jumps from an airplane.
history of the holiday
References to parachutes go back to the time of Leonardo da Vinci. He was the first to write about a device with which you can safely descend from any height to the ground. Moreover, he drew and painted a detailed diagram of this aircraft.
In the XNUMXth century, the idea and design of a parachute was developed by the scientist Faust Verancio and for the first time made a successful jump from a low tower on a makeshift device.
The story describes a case when a French prisoner tried to escape by building a parachute from sheets fastened with whalebone. He almost succeeded, but due to the fact that the fall was slow, the jailers noticed him and returned him to the cell. A similar situation occurred in 1777 in Paris with one sentenced to death. He had to test a flying cloak invented by a French professor. If the flight is successful, he will be pardoned. The suicide bomber had nothing to lose. He jumped off the roof of the armory. For some time it soared in the wind, but soon it flew down like a stone. However, being almost at the ground, he was able to regain his balance and fall completely unscathed, for which he received a purse of gold from a happy professor.
In general, the word “parachute”, which means “against falling”, was first coined by the French physicist Lenormand, naming his invention as such. He experienced it personally by jumping from an observatory.
In Our Country, the first creator of the parachute was the inventor Gleb Kotelnikov. He designed, tested and patented his creation, giving it the appearance we know today. This was prompted by the tragedy that claimed the life of the pilot Lev Matsievich. Kotelnikov was the first to understand that a parachute should be light and be worn by a person. It is more convenient to make it in the form of a knapsack, in which a silk cloth will be placed. For many years he tried to introduce his invention into the military industry, but ran into failures. Technology in those years was valued more than human lives. Only in 1929, its development was recognized and became a mandatory attribute for aviation.
The 30s were marked by the rapid development of parachuting. Parachuting is gaining momentum more and more, becoming available to everyone in all corners of the world.
The importance of using a parachute to save life in the air is undeniable. Respect for this direction led to the emergence of a separate holiday – Parachutist’s Day.
Holiday traditions
Skydiver’s Day 2022 in Our Country is accompanied by mass events, flight master classes, parachuting competitions.
This is classic skydiving – the exact execution of the given exercises: landing at a certain point, working out figures in the air.
Group acrobatics – a jump in a group and the further construction of beautiful figures in the air.
Dome acrobatics – building figures with open parachutes. Touching each other’s canopies or parachutes of other athletes. Dangerous, but very spectacular direction.
Skysurfing – an athlete jumps with a parachute, standing with his feet on a ski.
Interesting Facts
- The speed of free fall is 50 meters per second.
- In flight, you will not be able to talk, as shown in Hollywood films. These are all inventions of directors.
- The highest height from which a person jumped was 38 m. He was dressed in a special spacesuit, which allowed him not to burn out in the atmosphere.
- Banzai skydiving is an extremely dangerous hobby in Japan. A parachute is thrown from the plane, a person jumps out behind him, who needs to catch, put on a parachute and open the canopy in flight.
- The chance of death in a parachute fall is 25 per 100.
- An athlete flies a distance of 3 meters in 000 minute.
- The lowest jump was from a height of 10 meters in 1945 during the crash of a British aircraft shot down in Germany.
- The oldest skydiver jumped at the age of 97 with an instructor from a height of 3 meters.
- Wingsuit is a type of parachuting. The inspiration was bats and flying squirrels. A webbed suit is worn with the parachute. A distinctive feature is that the athlete flies forward, not down. For such entertainment, an experience of 200 parachute jumps is required.
- The allowed weight for jumping is from 40 to 95 kg.