The main characteristic that draws anyone's attention is the extreme nature of this sport. Leaping out from a plane and falling through air at speeds over 120 mph is definitely an edge.

For the first ? timers, the best and most popular way to take a leap is the tandem jump. This procedure requires for the student to leap from the plane strapped to his instructor and fall with the instructor's parachute (which is big enough to carry both your and the instructor's weight and is controlled by the instructor).

At first sight, there is a great resemblance between a simple jump and a tandem jump, but in reality, there are several big differences:

* Unlike a simple jump, when an experienced skydiver will simply leap from the plane, the tandem jump requires more maneuvers for the leap in order to synchronize the student and the instructor.

* In the tandem jumps, the speeds of falling through air are greater than in the simple jump because of the higher weight of the tandem jumpers (180 ? 200 mph instead of 120 mph). This speed is reduced with a drogue parachute of around 4 feet in diameter which is pulled by the instructor immediately after the leap and is kept through the entire free fall.

* After the free fall, when the altitude of deployment is reached, the instructor or the student pulls a cord that releases the drogue and pulls out the parachute from the container.

* The student and the instructor land together.

When choosing the method you'll first skydive you have to consider how much time you have and how much cash you've got. Off course, how brave you are is another factor and depending on these factors you'll have to choose one of three methods for your first jump.If what you want is to fly freely you have to go for accelerated free fall. Just want a nice ride, tandem might be the best choice. If you just want a quick ride you can go for static line.