Inside Skydiving:
How Do You Breathe?
Recently, the question of whether it’s hard to breathe during a skydive has been making waves on the interweb. As a Tandem Instructor (TI) with over 2,000 tandem jumps under my belt, I didn’t think much of the breathing concern—I figured my pre-jump airplane briefing was doing its job, as none of my students ever mentioned having trouble.
However, last week, a viral video on Instagram was circulating around and caught my attention. It featured a first-time tandem skydiver in freefall, panicking and trying to signal her instructor that she couldn’t breathe. The video sparked widespread discussion, and when Airborne Petawawa weighed in with a comment explaining the situation, it gained so much traction that I felt inspired to dive deeper into the topic with this blog post! You can check out the video and our comment here (it's currently at 1,100+ likes, yeah baby!).
HOW TO BREATHE
The #1 way to breathe in freefall while skydiving is DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH!
That's it, that's all. Once we pick up speed we are hurtling towards the Earth at approximately 120 mph, (give or take, depending on how many Pop-Tarts I’ve indulged in lately) the sheer force of that wind can feel overwhelming. The wind isn’t just windy—it’s the windiest wind you’ll ever feel, and it’s blasting straight into your face and up your nose. Trust me, I have done many front rides as a tandem student and my nose hole gets absolutely blasted.
The best way to counter act all that wind is to breathe and be mindful about it. Taking short, shallow breaths, like you’re hyperventilating, won’t work on the ground, let alone at 12,500 feet in freefall.
Personally, I tell all my tandem students to breathe through their nose, as this helps with that mindul breathing.
And if that doesn't work: SCREAM. Screaming actually helps regulate your breathing because that big scream out is immediately followed by a deep, substantial, life-giving breath in!
Aria in a full-face helmet. Photo by Dennis Sadler
COMMON MYTHS
Many people who don’t spend their lives at altitude, jumping out of planes (weird, right?), often ask me about the 'lack of oxygen' during the climb or the idea of 'thin air.' One of the first things we learn in the First Jump Course when training to become licensed skydivers is that oxygen isn’t required until we reach altitudes of over 13,000 feet. I think Hollywood has played a big role in this confusion, with movies showcasing military HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) or HAHO (High Altitude, High Opening) jumps. For military jumps, oxygen is required at 10,000 feet or higher (conservative regulations, they like their oxygen I guess), but for civilian skydives, oxygen use only becomes necessary for jumps from above 13,000 feet. The reasoning? Spending extended periods at that altitude can lead to hypoxia—a condition where the body is deprived of oxygen, causing symptoms like dizziness, confusion, or acting 'loopy.' These safety standards are set by Transport Canada here in Canada and by the FAA in the United States.
Why am I telling you this?
- There's plenty of oxygen on your skydive.
- The reason you can't breathe is because you're holding your breath.
- The air is not 'thin' unless we are looking to skydive from above 13,000 feet.
- Majority of drop zones jump from 12,500' so you won't be needing an oxygen mask anytime soon.
TIPS FOR EASY BREATHING
I know I’ve already mentioned this, but I want to reiterate it for all the article skimmers out there. To make it even clearer, I’m including my personal tandem skydiver first-time briefing—something I’ve perfected over the course of 2,000+ tandem jumps.
"When that door opens, it's going to be really windy, loud, and cold. I'll give you a ready, set, GO and I'll push us out. Once we are out, try to breathe through your nose: it's like sticking your head out of a car window on the highway, it's just windy. If you can't breathe, scream! It will force air into your lungs."
Or if they ride motorycles I'll say, "It's like riding a Harley Davidson without a helmet on, it's windy." But honestly people only get that if they're American because here in Canada, I think it's illegal to ride without a helmet on.
Anyway, here's your tips for breathing during your first skydive in list form, yay!
- Don't hold your breath!
- Breathe through your nose.
- SCREAM!
Interested in making your first tandem skydive? Read all about what to expect and frequently asked questions here.
EMBARASSING SKYDIVING STORY
I want to share this super embarrassing story of mine about breathing during freefall because it perfectly highlights the anxiety-driven nature of feeling like you can’t breathe while skydiving. For the record, I’m not typically an anxious person—but hey, I’m human, and we all get accustomed to a certain level of comfort. This story taught me a lot about how perception and mindset can affect our experience during a skydive.
So I had about 150 skydives at this point, and right after I finished my Accelerated Freefall Course (AFF), I went out and purchased a full-face helmet. This type of helmet encapsulates your face and gives you substantial wind block, just like a motorcycle helmet would when the visor is closed. Anyway, I did a whole bunch of jumps in my sweet, comfy, quiet little helmet, and then I had the bright idea to switch to an open-face helmet—basically, a helmet without a visor that you wear goggles with. No sweat, right? I’m a PRO at this point. I have 100+ skydives; I know what I’m doing. (That’s sarcasm, by the way.)
Not only did I decide to switch up my helmet vibe, but I also added a massive camera on top—my professional mirrorless Sony for taking high-definition still photos and a GoPro for filming video. ALSO, I made this skydive a 7-person jump. Yes! Let’s add more work to the jump, include lots of other skydivers, and increase the variability of it all because now I have to worry about not just myself, but other people too. Perfect.
This is how my skydive went:
- Exit from the airplane with friends—sweet!
- The wind hits my face.
- My mouth opens, and I gulp like a fish.
- I fly towards my friends.
- I point towards my face and give the 'WTF is happening?' look.
- Friends smile for the massive camera on my head and carry on with life.
- I leave the skydive early, flying away and deploying my parachute.
- In my panic to breathe, my deployment is sloppy, and part of my rig (the riser that attaches the lines to the parachute system) slaps my camera on the opening.
- I look up and thank sweet baby Jesus that my camera is still on my head.
So what went wrong? After hundreds of jumps without feeling the wind shooting up my nose, I forgot to breathe! All that wind hit my nose, and I tried to take shallow breaths through my mouth instead of breathing through my nose. I wasn’t about to scream; I wasn’t scared… well, not until I couldn’t breathe. But overall, I was just confused. That jump shook me, and for a while, I was scared to wear my open-face helmet again. Eventually, I just told myself, 'Aria, breathe through your frickin' nose'—and boom, I never had another issue again!