The risks of tandem-skydiving, and statistics regarding injuries and safety related incidents

General:

The activity of skydiving out of an airplane, involves risks that can lead to a severe injury, disability and even death. Incidents can happen due to many parameters, and during different parts of the activity, such as on the way to the airplane, around the airplane and the boarding process, during different parts of the flight itself, on exit from the airplane, during freefall, during the parachute opening process, the parachute gliding part, on landing, while already on the ground in the landing area, and more.

It is important to know that incidents can also occur on occasions in which the flight, the skydive, and the parachuting parts were all done correctly and by the lawful rules and regulations.

Statistics worldwide:

From an article of the British Parachute Association – BPA: based on tandem skydiving injury reports until 2013, the tandem injury rate is 1 in 1,100. Injuries can range anywhere from a small cut, a scratch, a sprain, and all the way to internal injuries or multiple fractures. Only when a jumper reports an injury, it counts as such. Most of the injuries are small wounds or simple fractures. Multiple fractures or internal damage are considered rare.

By the information shown throughout the years, the rate of a tandem-skydive fatality report is 1 in 750,000 on average. The number of injuries seem to stay mostly stable from year to year, but the fatality numbers seem way less stable, due to the relatively low number of cases.

The types and number of injuries depend on the tandem passenger’s gender, age, weight and health condition. On tandem jumps, the number of women’s injuries is twice the number of men’s. The number of injuries inclines, the higher the age and weight are, and the worse the jumper’s physical condition is.

Injuries Statistics at Paradive (until the end of 2019)

Since 2000, 150,000 tandem jumps were made in Paradive. During that time, there were no fatalities; however some incidents were involved with injuries of tandem passengers, as the following:

20 cases of fractures – skeletal/back/limbs/teeth (1 in 7,500 jumps)

15 cases of dislocated joints – shoulder/knee/jaw (1 in 10,000 jumps)

 50 cases of cuts and wounds – body/limbs/face (1 in 3,000 jumps)

10 cases of an injury or a tear to the eardrum (1 in 15,000 jumps)

There were many cases in which jumpers reported bruises or scratches, which caused them strong pain for a long period of time. In many cases jumpers didn’t feel well after the jump, due to dizziness or nausea, which can sometimes bring to vomiting and even loss of consciousness.

Before your jump, you should read this page and decide whether you’d like to make your jump in spite of the risks. According to your decision, if you are not interested in jumping, at Paradive you would receive a full refund for your payment.