Parachuting

Parachuting is the practice of descending through the air with a parachute. It includes recreational skydiving, military jumps, and other parachute-assisted descents.

Parachute: A device that creates drag to slow an object's descent through the air. The canopy is the central device that makes a parachute descent possible.
Skydiving: A sport in which people exit an aircraft, freefall, and deploy parachutes for landing. Skydiving is the best-known recreational form of parachuting.
Skydiving harness: A wearable system that connects a skydiver to the parachute container and canopy. The harness transfers the canopy's forces to the jumper and secures the equipment.
Leonardo da Vinci's parachute: A pyramidal parachute design sketched by Leonardo da Vinci in the late fifteenth century. The sketch is an early recorded proposal for a device to descend safely from a height.
Ram-air parachute: A steerable parachute with an airfoil-shaped canopy inflated by forward motion. Most modern sport parachuting uses this canopy design for glide and control.
Military parachuting: The use of parachutes to insert military personnel or equipment from aircraft. Military jumps use parachuting to move forces or supplies into areas inaccessible by landing.
Reserve parachute: A backup parachute carried for use if the main parachute fails or cannot be used safely. A reserve provides an independent option when the main canopy malfunctions.
André-Jacques Garnerin: A French balloonist who made a notable parachute descent from a balloon in 1797. Garnerin's public descent helped demonstrate parachuting as an aerial feat.
Parachute deployment: The process of extracting and inflating a parachute during descent. Deployment timing determines when the canopy opens and begins slowing the descent.
BASE jumping: A parachute sport involving jumps from fixed objects such as buildings, antennas, spans, and cliffs. Unlike aircraft-based parachuting, BASE jumping begins from fixed structures at low altitude.

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