How Fast Do You Fall When Skydiving?

Leaping from an airplane is uniquely exhilarating and relaxing. In fact, freefall is one of the most splendid parts of the skydive! On average, your rate of fall is 120 mph (193 kph) … but you may be interested to learn that the speed at which you fall in freefall can vary significantly based on several factors. Read on to learn: how fast is skydiving?

Skydiving Physics, Historically Speaking

Before skydiving existed, or airplanes for that matter, the principle that allows our sport to exist was discovered: gravity. Sir Isaac Newton considered how fast objects fall, if the rate of fall was constant, and what could cause variations to that speed. 

In 1687, Newton published his findings about the new secret of the universe, gravity, a force that acts by pulling objects toward the earth at a rate of 9.8 meters/second. This led to the concept of terminal velocity: the maximum speed an object can reach with the force of gravity acting upon it. People quickly began putting Newton’s findings to use to develop new technologies. Fast forward 110 years and the first “skydiving” event took place. In 1797, a man officially tested Newton’s theories and parachuted from a hot air balloon. It worked! In 1919, the first recorded freefall took place. Both of these groundbreaking events enabled early skydivers to grasp some of the properties of physics that still apply to skydiving today.

How Long Does It Take To Reach Terminal Velocity?

On average, it takes between 5 and 10 seconds to reach terminal velocity. What is the reason behind the time variable? Well, it depends on factors such as:

• How much drag you produce
• Your weight
• Your body position at exit
• How dense the air is
• The speed at which you are traveling before you jump (if at all)

With the entire freefall portion of a skydive taking around 60 seconds, the vast majority of freefall is spent at terminal velocity. For most people, terminal velocity occurs at 120 mph (193 kph) – but it can be faster or slower. More on that again later. 

The Speed of Tandem Skydiving

Tandem skydiving involves two people using one skydiving rig. During the jump, a highly-trained instructor is positioned in the back; their harness attached to the parachute. The tandem student is positioned in the front and wears their own harness, securely attached to the instructor. The tandem skydiving rig weighs approximately 60 lbs (27 kgs).

As discussed in our physics lesson above, weight can affect terminal velocity. The more an object (or person) weighs, the faster they will fall. Now, the combined weight of the student, instructor, and rig can weigh up to 500 lbs (227 kgs) – which would result in a speed of up to 200 mph (322 kph)!! Unless you adjust drag …

Tandem Skydiving Was Almost TOO Fast

While falling at 200 mph (322 kph) wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, it would certainly feel problematic when deploying the parachute! Canopies are designed to open closer to 120 mph (193 kph) – so deploying at a much higher fall rate would result in a hard opening which could damage the rig or injure you.

To solve this problem, the drogue parachute was invented. This is the small round parachute you see bobbing above a tandem pair during a skydive. It helps to increase drag and slow the fall rate, making freefall more steady and the opening much softer. 

How Fast Do Licensed Skydivers Go?

So far, we’ve talked about the average speed of skydiving: 120 mph (193 kph). This is based on the skydiving discipline we all learn first called belly skydiving (aks belly flying, the arch, or the belly-to-earth orientation). This is what you probably envision when you think of skydiving – belly to the ground, back to the sky.

But licensed skydivers have many opportunities to make exception to the average rate of fall. By, like, a lot.

Rate Of Speed By Skydiving Discipline

There are numerous skydiving disciplines. One frequently depicted is wingsuiting. Wingsuiters are able to slow the rate of fall dramatically by wearing jumpsuits with fabric between the legs and under the arms, giving them the ability to produce a lot of drag. With this level of control, wingsuiters can fly great distances (the furthest being almost 19 miles!). In fact, wingsuit flyers are able to slow down to 40 mph (64 kph): one third of the speed of the average jump!

Reaching speeds of up to 160 mph (260 kph), skydivers who practice the freefly discipline don’t have to wear a specific suit to change their speed. They do it based on the position of their body. Instead of falling belly to earth, they can lead with their feet or head, in a sitting position, doing a split – really any orientation you can imagine. 

The most need-for-speed skydivers out there, though, are in a discipline of their own called speed skydiving. These jumpers wear slick suits with no drag and focus on one thing: going as fast as humanly possible. Almost unbelievably, the record for the fastest skydiving speed ever recorded was 373 mph (601 kph)!!

All Good Freefalls End With A Canopy Ride

After your time in freefall is over, it’s time to slow your body as much as possible and deploy your parachute. The average rate of descent under canopy is around 17 mph (27 kph). But guess what? (Bet you guessed it.) That speed is variable too. 

Your body position does play a factor in your speed under canopy, but the most significant factor is the ratio of the weight of the canopy pilot to the size of the parachute, or wing. This ratio is called the skydiver’s wingloading. 

Lightly loaded parachutes, or ones with wings larger in comparison to the weight of the jumper, will be a lot more docile and fly slowly. Alternatively, heavily loaded parachutes, where the square feet of the wing is equal to or smaller than the weight of the pilot, will fly a lot more aggressively and fast. 

So, how fast is skydiving? It depends!! Find your local skydiving center and come play with gravity! Blue skies!