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Sky Diving History Consists of Many Daring Efforts to Conquer the Skies
from: Maxx Sports GuidesMan's attempts to conquer the skies led to the discovery of a highly popular air sport - sky diving.
So many people attempted to conquer the skies, or at least to fly like the birds that it's almost impossible to discern when the eve of sky diving history actually occurred.
Sky diving history is actually a by-product of several coexisting sciences: flight, controlled free fall and the parachute.
The height afforded by flight into several leagues in the air provided the opportunity for controlled free fall, and sky diving.
And without the insurance provided by parachutes, no one would even think about jumping into space.
Primitive Parachutes
Perhaps the first page of sky diving history should start with attempts to break the free fall by primitive parachutes.
Several accounts record the exploits of Arabian daredevil Armen Firman (considered by the Arab world the true pioneer of non-powered flight) in 852.
The Muslim, using mostly fabric tied to wooden struts, managed to jump from several heights and glide for several distances before crashing inelegantly to the ground and sustaining minor injuries.
The Arabs would soon honor Firman for his pioneering efforts in unaided flight, while the Western world would still be waiting for its hero.
Leonardo DaVinci's Flight Ideas
During the middle Ages, the great renaissance inventor Leonardo DaVinci dabbled in ideas about flight and freefall. Among his manuscripts and drawings where mechanisms designed to fly or at least break the free fall of objects.
Considerable disputes arose when certain anonymous manuscripts dated 1470 surfaced, depicting several designs suspiciously close to those of DaVinci.
However, Leonardo was still seen as an authentic public figure in man's attempts to fly. As a result, he is the second candidate for the next phase of sky diving history.
In 1899 inventors Orville and Wilbur Wright finally did achieve man's dream for the better part of his existence.
As a result of the brothers' achievement, airplanes became a reality, allowing man to reach higher than the tallest peak and far beyond.
Though balloons and lighter than air craft are already a mainstay, airplanes of all sizes can do much more. The Wright brothers are prime candidates for the next phase of sky diving history.
Parachute Invented
Everybody saw the next need: how man could exit an aircraft several leagues above the earth. The many public requests for what later became known as parachutes attracted scores of innovators and inventors.
At last Captain Albert Berry successfully jumped from a moving aircraft using a parachute. It was considered the first act of sky diving and perhaps the dawn of sky diving history.
Sky Diving Upstate Ny News