[Ruatha]

Originally posted by Kamog:

It's very difficult to calculate how fast the skydivers are falling, because skydivers have an irregular shape, and therefore the math for the air resistance is complex. The calculation is easier if we are considering falling spheres, but it is still not that simple. It would probably be easier to empirically determine a skydiver's speed of descent by observing many skydivers and measuring their speeds. Once you have some statistics on the speeds, you will know the ballpark figure. If you know the distance from yourself to the skydiver and you have a stopwatch, you can roughly calculate the speed by seeing how far they go down in a period of time.

When I used to skydive we almost always fell at the same speed. AS we can adjust the speed by making ourselfs have a greater or lesser air resistance. You want to fall as fast as the other skydivers so that you can do formations.,
If I recall rightly (Haven't jumped since 1994) we calculated that the avarage speed we fell at was about 190 km/h, wich we could increase up to over 300 km/h by either going headfirst, feet first or if several people in a circle put their feet in the middle making a wedge shaped formation with the point downwards. How much we could reduce this speed I don't remember but I do remember that it hurts when someone below you reduced their speed, "flying" into you from below.

I myself have hit a formation from below, sending them hurtling all over the skye, unfortunatly there was a video phografer present outside the formation documenting it

It looks like a locomotive hits a standing crowd!
(we all have to be newbies sometime (or as it's called in skydiving , turkeys (a bird that doesn't fly)))