Can You Breathe While Skydiving and Other Skydiving Myths

Published: April 7, 2017

Can You Breathe While Skydiving?

Can you breathe while skydiving? The answer is yes, you can! Even in freefall, falling at speeds up to 160mph, you can easily get plenty of oxygen to breathe. The only thing that stops first timers breathing during their skydive is that they simply forget; that's why we encourage people to scream out as they leave the aircraft, which kick starts the breathing and reminds them that they can!

Not being able to breathe is a common misconception of skydiving. Yes, your first skydive will take your breath away - but not literally! Here, we'll unpick some of the most common misconceptions of skydiving.

Myth: You can't breathe while skydiving

As we've already said, this one's not true. You can absolutely breathe during your skydive, and we actively encourage you to do so!

We're not really sure where this myth comes from. We know that plenty of people think it, but knowing that you can breathe very easily, we struggle to understand why.

That said, your first time skydiving can be quite overwhelming. The trick is to really just relax into it and enjoy every moment. For those of us who do it as a regular hobby, freefall is like a second home and is as comfortable for us as being on the ground.

Myth: You can talk to each other when skydiving

Now we do know where this one comes from! Remember the movie Point Break? The 90s movie (recently re-released) features a skydiving scene during which the skydivers are able to speak to each other freely.

(video contains adult language. NSFW)

Unfortunately, this one isn't true either. Much as we'd love to be able to chat in the air, the reality is that the noise of the wind and the speed at which you're falling make it nearly impossible to hear one another.

Instead, skydivers use hand signals and eye contact to communicate with one another. This allows us to give coaching and feedback in the air. To support this, we plan all of our skydives on the ground first, so everyone knows what they're doing and can get on with it in freefall.

Myth: You go up when your parachute opens

Have you ever watched a video of a skydive and spotted that the skydiver appears to go up when they pull their parachute?

There are even people who suggest a distance that they 'go up' (something like 22 feet). But again, this one's not true!

The only reason people think it is perspective. The camera that is filming the parachute opening is on the head of another skydiver - who continues to fall as the other skydiver deploys. This means, relative to the camera flyer, the skydiver is slowing down, and therefore appears to be 'going up' when, in fact, they actually continue to fall, just at a reduced rate.

Myth: There are better things to try in life than skydiving

This one's definitely not true... at least, that's our opinion! What could possibly be better than jumping out of an airplane and feeling the rush of freefall, following by the peace and calm of the parachute ride, then the enduring sense of pride in what you've achieved?

Of course, we're joking a bit here, but we really do believe skydiving is one of the greatest things you'll ever do. Don't believe us? Come and try it for yourself! We'd love to show you why we love it so much.