Skydiving stats. for an essay

[Skydiver40TN 0]

Hope someone can steer me to some good info on skydiving like # of new jumpers per year or # of tandems done annually. Anything like that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[tunaplanet 0]

I kind of looked around and didn't see anything worhwhile on the net. I am sure your paper will contain more than just statistics. If that is the case feel free to drop me an email. I will put some time aside and answer any questions you may have.

Good luck.

Forty-two

[ripper0289 0]

Have you tried either the USPA website or their phone number? Since they are pretty much the final authority I would think that they would have your answers. I've never dealt with them personally, but if the people at my DZ are any indication, they'll probably be more than glad to help.

[tombuch 0]

I'll offer some quick numbers from my book, JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy, published by McGraw-Hill in February 2003:

"Skydiving is a quickly evolving sport that is enjoyed by more than 300,000 American's each year. Of those, about 275,000 are students and will make only one jump." -Page 3

82% of active skydivers are men, 14.7% are women, and 3.3 percent are not listed by gender, according to USPA -Graphic, page 4.

Age breakdown reported by USPA for active jumpers is as follows: 0-29 year =21%, 30-39=34.4%, 40-49=25.7%, 50-59=11.2%, 60+ years= 3.3%, Unknown =4.4 percent. -Graphic, page 6

"According to records maintained by the United States Parachute Association (USPA), between 1991 and 2000 there were an average of 33 skydiving fatalities in the United States each year." -Page 120

"USPA data for 2000 show that there were 32 fatalities, and there were 34,217 members of the organization that year. Using these figures yields a fatality rate of 1 per 1,069 members. The fatality numbers vary significantly from year to year, but a 10 year average of data collected between 1991 and 2000 shows one skydiving death recorded for every 903 USPA members. (See figures 7.2 and 7.3) USPA single year data also shows that members made an estimated 2,244,165 jumps in the year 2000, presenting a fatality rate of just one death for each 70,000 skydives." -Page 121

"The USPA data from 2001 show there were 35 actual fatalities involving skydivers that year, but only 5, or 14 percent, of those who died were classified as students." -Page 122

There are of course many other statistics in JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy, and in another book called Parachuting: The Skydivers Handbook by Poynter and Turoff. Both books are available at many local bookstores, and on line at places like Amazon.com.

If you have other specific questions, please feel free to drop me a line.

Blue Skies,

Tom Buchanan
Instructor (AFF, SL, Iad, Tandem)
Author JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[velo90 0]

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but a 10 year average of data collected between 1991 and 2000 shows one skydiving death recorded for every 903 USPA members

That is the statistic that really has me worried.
It is also the one for me that makes skydiving more dangerous than driving. 1 in a thousand drivers don't die every year in car accidents.

[pilotdave 0]

But look at the bright side. Drop your USPA membership and ya won't die!

Dave

[kallend 1,623]

www.uspa.org/about/images/memsurvey02.pdf

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[mr2mk1g 10]

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But look at the bright side. Drop your USPA membership and ya won't die!

Thats right, the USPA has no record of any NON-USPA skydiver ever dieing in a skydiving accident.... cynics suggest this may be connected to the USPA’s policy of only recording USPA fatalities… I however, prefer to avoid risking my life with membership of this obviously dangerous fraternity.

[jmpnkramer 0]

I know that Z-Hills has the stats for the Drop Zone on their webpage. You have to do a search for it.

As far as the sport in general then I would suggest going to U.S.P.A. like ervyone else has or try a googgle search and see what you can come up with.


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[JohnRich 4]

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but a 10 year average of data collected between 1991 and 2000 shows one skydiving death recorded for every 903 USPA members

That is the statistic that really has me worried.
It is also the one for me that makes skydiving more dangerous than driving. 1 in a thousand drivers don't die every year in car accidents.

That's an invalid "apples and oranges" comparison.

There are about 35 deaths per year, so every 10 years, that would be 350 fatalities. Which indeed, is about 1% of the USPA membership at any given time.

However, what this ignores, is that the membership is not constant from year to year. People come, and people go. The total number of skydivers over those 10 years, is much higher than the one-time snapshot figure being used in this comparison.

Furthermore, the statistic ignores the many millions of people who made first jumps during that period, and even experienced jumpers, who are not members of the USPA.

To show the absurdity of that argument, if you applied that trend to the 50 years in which skydiving has been popular, then 5% of all active skydivers would have died in the sport, according to their method of reasoning. And that, is ridiculous. Membership has actually doubled over the last 15 years alone.

[catfishhunter 1]

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To show the absurdity of that argument, if you continued that trend for 100 years, every single skydiver would be dead, according to their method of reasoning. And that, of course, is ridiculous.

umm in 100 years I am willing to bet everyone that is a skydiver right now will be dead. sorry being a smartass

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