Using a parachute involves a specific sequence of actions: deploying the canopy, steering it through the air with hand toggles, and executing a controlled landing by flaring at the right moment. Modern parachutes are rectangular “ram-air” canopies that fly more like a wing than a balloon, giving you real control over direction, speed, and where you touch down. Every skydive follows the same core steps, whether you’re a first-time tandem student or a licensed jumper.
Parts of a Parachute System
A modern parachute rig is not just a canopy stuffed in a bag. It’s a system of components that work together in a precise order. Understanding what each part does helps the rest of the process make sense.
The container is the backpack-like housing that holds everything. Inside it sits the main canopy, your primary parachute, which is made of nylon fabric divided into seven or nine cells. These cells run front to back and inflate with air, giving the canopy a rigid, wing-like shape. The canopy connects to your body through lines that attach to risers, webbing straps secured to your harness. Your rear risers hold the steering toggles, which connect to brake lines at the back edge of the canopy.
Two smaller but critical components: the pilot chute is a small round parachute (about the size of a softball when packed) that you throw into the airstream to initiate deployment. The slider is a square piece of fabric that sits at the top of the lines and controls how fast the canopy opens, preventing the kind of sudden, violent opening that could injure you. Every rig also carries a reserve canopy packed separately as a backup.
Pre-Jump Gear Checks
The United States Parachute Association recommends inspecting your equipment four separate times before every jump: before putting it on, immediately after putting it on, before boarding the aircraft, and before exiting. This isn’t paranoia. It’s the same logic behind a pilot’s preflight checklist.
A standard check covers your helmet fit and chin strap, clean goggles, properly assembled three-ring release system (the mechanism that lets you disconnect your main canopy in an emergency), a correctly routed reserve static line, and your main canopy’s container closure. You verify that the pilot chute is secure in its pouch, the closing pin is seated properly, harness straps are routed correctly and not twisted, and both leg straps and chest strap are snug. If you’re jumping with an altimeter, you confirm it’s set correctly and doesn’t block your emergency handles.
How Deployment Works
On a typical skydive, you freefall until reaching your planned deployment altitude. USPA recommends a decision altitude no lower than 2,500 feet for students and A-license holders, and 1,800 feet for more experienced jumpers holding B through D licenses.
When it’s time, you reach back and throw the pilot chute into the air. It catches the wind immediately and pulls the deployment bag (containing the packed main canopy) off your back. The lines pay out first, held in place by rubber stows that prevent the canopy from inflating before the lines are fully extended. Once line stretch is complete, the deployment bag pulls away from the canopy, and the cells begin filling with air. The slider, which started near the top of the canopy, rides down the lines to slow the opening. The whole sequence, from throwing the pilot chute to full inflation, takes a few seconds.
In static-line jumps (common in military and some student programs), a cord attached to the aircraft initiates deployment automatically as you exit, removing the need to throw a pilot chute yourself.
Steering Under Canopy
Once the canopy is fully inflated, you unstow the steering toggles from the rear risers and take one in each hand. These toggles pull down on the trailing edge of the canopy, which is how you control it.
Pulling the right toggle turns you right. Pulling the left turns you left. The deeper you pull, the sharper the turn. Pulling both toggles evenly slows your forward speed without turning, which is the basis of the landing flare. Releasing both toggles returns the canopy to full flight, its fastest forward speed. You can also steer by pulling on the front risers to increase speed and steepen your descent, though this is a more advanced technique.
Your job under canopy is to navigate toward the landing area while managing altitude. Most jumpers fly a pattern similar to an airplane’s landing circuit: a downwind leg, a base leg perpendicular to the wind, and a final approach into the wind. Flying into the wind on final approach slows your ground speed and gives you the softest possible landing.
The Landing Flare
The flare is the single most important skill for a safe landing. It converts your forward and downward speed into a brief moment of lift, letting you touch down gently rather than slamming into the ground.
As you approach the ground on final, you smoothly pull both toggles down in one continuous motion. Proper technique matters: start with your hands high, then as they pass about shoulder level, move your elbows back and keep your hands close to your torso. Brush the knuckles of your thumbs down your rib cage as a physical cue to maintain the right path. Rotate your knuckles toward the ground at the finish. When done correctly, the flare feels almost effortless because your arms are in their strongest mechanical position.
Timing is everything. Flare too high and you’ll stall the canopy with air still beneath you, then drop. Flare too late and you hit the ground at full speed. The right moment depends on your canopy type, wing loading, and wind conditions, which is why student training dedicates significant time to practicing this on the ground before anyone jumps.
The Parachute Landing Fall
If conditions aren’t ideal or you’re landing a round canopy (still used in some military and emergency applications), the parachute landing fall, or PLF, distributes impact across your body instead of concentrating it in your ankles and knees. The technique involves hitting the ground at five points in rapid sequence: the balls of your feet, the side of your calves, your hamstrings, your buttocks, and your back. You’re essentially converting a downward impact into a sideways roll.
The key is committing to the roll rather than trying to stay upright. Landing stiff-legged or dropping straight onto your buttocks is a common cause of lumbar spine compression injuries in parachutists. Even experienced jumpers under modern ram-air canopies use the PLF when wind conditions are tricky or when a flare doesn’t go as planned.
Emergency Procedures
Every jumper learns what to do when the main canopy doesn’t open correctly. The two critical actions are the cutaway (disconnecting the malfunctioning main) and deploying the reserve.
In most malfunctions, the sequence is straightforward: pull the cutaway handle with one hand to release the main canopy, then immediately pull the reserve handle with the other. Some situations call for skipping the cutaway entirely and going straight to the reserve. A pilot-chute-in-tow, where the pilot chute is out but fails to extract the main canopy, is one scenario where jumpers may choose either approach depending on their equipment and training.
Modern rigs include a reserve static line (RSL) that automatically initiates reserve deployment when you cut away your main, adding a layer of redundancy. Most contemporary skydivers also jump with an automatic activation device, a small computer that monitors altitude and descent rate. If it senses you’ve reached an unsafe altitude while still falling too fast, it fires a cutter that opens the reserve container. This device exists as a last resort, not a substitute for manual emergency procedures.
How Safe Is It
In 2024, approximately 3.88 million skydives were made in the United States with nine fatalities, a rate of roughly 1 per 431,000 jumps. That fatality rate of 0.23 per 100,000 jumps was the lowest on record. About 6% of USPA members reported an injury requiring medical treatment during the year.
The sport’s improving safety record reflects better equipment, standardized training, and technology like automatic activation devices. But the numbers also reflect a culture of checklists, decision altitudes, and emergency drills. A parachute is a simple device in concept. Using one safely is a skill built through ground training, repeated practice, and respect for the procedures that keep each step predictable.