What is the mortality rate for those who skydive regularly?
USPA data for 2000 shows that there were 32 fatalities, and there were 34,217 members of the organization that year. Using these figures defines a fatality rate of 1 per 1,069 members. The fatality numbers will vary significantly from year to year, but a ten year average of data collected between 1991 and 2000 shows one skydiving death was recorded for every 903 members. USPA single year data also show that members made an estimated 2,244,165 jumps in the year 2000, presenting a fatality rate of one death for each 70,130 skydives that year. Perhaps the most interesting statistics are related to tandem skydiving. When tandem skydiving began in the early 1980’s, there were many problems, and fatalities occurred with alarming frequency. The FAA released data in a 1999 Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) detailing statistics covering tandem fatalities for the years 1991 through 1996. That data included eight tandem fatalities, with 670,707 jumps made on tandem equipment, or one tandem de
