Accuracy landing facts for kids
Imagine trying to land exactly on a tiny spot after jumping from a plane! That's what accuracy landing is all about. It's one of the oldest types of skydiving competitions. Skydivers try to land as close as they can to a special target on the ground.
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What is Competitive Accuracy Landing?
Accuracy landing is a team sport. Each team has 5 skydivers. They compete in 8 rounds. Skydivers usually jump from about 900 meters (around 3,000 feet) high. Sometimes they jump from even higher, like 1,100 meters (about 3,600 feet).
The goal is to land exactly on a spot called 'dead center'. Your score is how far you land from this spot. The best score is 0.00 meters, meaning you hit dead center perfectly! The worst score for a round is 0.16 meters (16 centimeters or about 6 inches) away. All the scores from each round are added up. These scores count for both individual skydivers and for the team. In some contests, only the four best scores from a team count towards the team's total.
The Target: "Dead Center"
The target is a small circle called "dead center." It's only 2 centimeters (a little less than an inch) wide! There's a special electronic disk that measures how far you land from the very middle of this circle. It measures in tiny steps of 1 centimeter (0.01 meters). The picture shows this electronic disk with the yellow dead center.
The size of the dead center has changed over time. It used to be larger, like 3 cm, 5 cm, or even 10 cm. It was made smaller in 2007. This change makes the competition harder. It also helps to show who the very best skydivers are. If two or more skydivers have the same score, they do extra jumps until a winner is found. A smaller target makes it less likely for many people to have the exact same score.
How Skydivers Land
Skydivers usually land on their feet. So, most try to touch the dead center mark with the heel of their shoe. The picture shows a skydiver just before landing. Their heel is perfectly aimed at the dead center. This helps them get the best score.
After the first 8 rounds, the team competition finishes, and the winners are announced. Then, the best individual skydivers move on. The top half of the skydivers do one more jump in a semifinal round. Their score from this jump is added to their earlier individual scores. From those remaining, the best half go to the final round.
If the top three places are tied, skydivers will do extra jumps. This is called "sudden death." They keep jumping until different scores separate them for each of the top three spots. Sometimes, organizers might choose the skydiver with the most perfect "dead center" landings as the winner if scores are tied.
World Record
A new world record was set in 2013 by Thomas Jeannerot. He is a member of the French Parachuting Team. This happened during the 4th Dubai International Parachuting Championship. The new record is landing within 2 cm of dead center in 10 jumps in a row! The World Air Sports Federation (FAI) officially approved this record in early 2014.
