Speech Communication > How to Operate a Parachute (Safely) - Visual Aid Speech

It is estimated that there is 1 fatality in every 82,000 jumps, which equates 1 for every 3,800 participants. There are over 5 million skydives each year. Out of the thirty three deaths that occurred last year, most were due to common but easily avoidable errors: low turns, improper gear, and failure to pull. Three deaths last year were due to double malfunctions (both main and reserve canopies).

My name is XYZ, myself not, but my boyfriend is a skydiver. I’m here to explain how a parachute functions. I’ll explain how skydivers use their parachutes to help them get safely down to the ground.

I’ll explain how to prepare,

use,

and maintain the parachute.

The preparation is one of the most important things in terms of safety for a skydiver. First of all skydivers have to make sure that the parachute is prepared properly for the jump.

We need to check if the container is in good physical shape.

We check that the cut-away rings are attached.

Then we check the reserve pin, which ensures the opening of the reserve chute in case of emergency.

Then we check the main pin and the ripcord that it is in place, and that nothing hangs out.

Then we make sure that it satisfies additional safety requirements

We have to turn on the Cypress (it is a safety device that opens the reserve if the main is not open by the time the jumper reaches a certain altitude).

In addition to checking the main canopy, we have to check the expiration date of the reserve canopy, which need to be repacked in every 5 months to ensure its working ability.

Then we put our rig on and if we have the chance, we can ask another skydiver to check it again.

 

The operation of the parachute means the actual ‘flying’ of it.

Before you do anything, you have to be sure that you know how to open it.

At the time of opening your body has to take a certain position, which is the so called ‘belly-fly’. This is flying horizontally; the belly is towards the ground. This is the position where the speed is the slowest.

Then you have to move your left hand towards your waist, but make sure that the body remains in a steady position.

Then you pull the cord which will open a little canopy, called the pilot chute, which in turn will open the main canopy.

The next important thing is that you know how to fly with it.

After it opens you have to look up to check that it is undamaged.

You have to pull down your steering cords, and try them to see that they work. If you pull the right one, you will make a right turn, if you pull the left one, you will make a left turn.

The landing is the most important and the most dangerous part of course. As you approaching the ground, you have to pull both cords at the same time so your flying speed slows, and the parachute will fly horizontally, which allows the skydiver to reach the ground. If the canopy’s speed is still high, the skydiver has to run pretty fast at landing.

The last but not least important is the maintenance of the canopy.

You have to maintain it daily if you using it everyday.

If the canopy got wet somehow, make sure it is completely dry before you put it away.

Check your canopy to see that it’s unharmed, and do the same with its cords to check that they’re not twisted or broken.

You also have to perform some routines on the long run as well.

• You have to make sure that your reserve canopy is repacked in every five months. Without showing your reserve card you won’t be able to jump.

• It is important to note that every canopy gets worn out. You shouldn’t make more then a thousand jumps with the same canopy. It might rip if the material gets too old. It becomes more instable, and it will have a much bigger speed which poses great dangers to the landing skydiver.

 

As I promised in the beginning, I showed and explained here how a parachute works.

I gave details of how you have to prepare your parachute for a jump, the techniques of its use, and the means of maintaining it.

I chose this subject for my presentation because even though I’m not a skydiver, I still think everybody should try it at least once. I did it three times, and by the third time I actually dared to open my eyes, and enjoyed it. I think this sport is not for everybody. You have to be focused, and very serious about it, because yours as well as other jumpers’ life is at risk. Even if I didn’t make most of you to run to the first drop zone and jump out of an airplane, I hope that at least some of you will remember this presentation and will try skydiving. I just wanted to explain that skydiving is just as safe and fun of a sport as all the others. If you don’t believe me, just try it.

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