Russian Skydivers: Who Are They?

Online Reprint

{Editor’s note: The data in this article have not been fact checked or verified by Blue Skies Magazine.}

By Klim Legchakov

Based on SPORTISTIKA.COM sociological research, in collaboration with The Lomonosov Moscow State University Statistics Department and the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism Extreme Activity Department. Translated by SPORTISTIKA.COM for Blue Skies Mag. With assistance of Margarita Stanislava Goncharova, Michael Kutsik, Inna Volobueva, Anatoly Zhirov, Oleg Karasev, Maria Tsyplakova, Nina Bychkova and Irving Blacker.

About the Research

From March through June 2016 the research team of SPORTISTIKA.COM, in collaboration with the Lomonosov Moscow State University statistics department and the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism Extreme Activity Department, with assistance of Skycenter DZ Pushchino, DZ Kolomna, DZ Vatulino and administrations of other Russian drop-zones, made the first complex sociological, statistical and economical research of the Russian skydiving community. We interviewed 530 skydivers from more than 25 different cities and towns. Now we are glad to present the results to the Blue Skies Mag readers!

Number of active skydivers worldwide and in the Russian Federation

According to approximate assessments of skydivers themselves, the number of active skydivers all over the world exceeds 100,000 people: 34,726 skydivers registered with the United States Parachute Association (USPA); 13,677 skydivers are members of the France Parachuting Federation (FPF); the Parachute Federation of Germany (DFV) licensed 12,796 skydivers; the British Parachute Association (BPA) registered 6,269 skydivers; 3,400 people are registered with the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association (CSPA); and the Australian Parachute Federation (APF) licensed 2,393 sportspeople. There are 4,190 skydivers registered with our Parachuting Federation of Russia (as of the May 31, 2016 report).

SPORTISTIKA.COM assessed that the number of all active skydivers in Russia amounted to 8,300 sportspeople at the time of the article publication (49.6 percent of Russian skydivers do not acquire an official license and membership with the Parachuting Federation of Russia).

Russian skydiving community’s psychological characteristics

Generally, an individual makes his first parachute jump because of his aspiration to investigate extra physical and mental capabilities, and also because of risk and the pursuit of an adrenaline rush; although sometimes the first jump in Russia is just a holiday gift from friends, colleagues and relatives. It is known that 55 percent of the economically active population in Russia dreams about their first parachute jump. In most cases they are under 19 years old (73 percent). The share of people who have already jumped at least once is 8% (according to Research of SuperJob.ru of 1 800 economically active Russian respondents.). Thus, at least 6,000,000 Russians have a parachute jump experience, and around 42,000,000 only dream of doing it.

Our question “Why did you decide to start skydiving?” was replied to by respondents as follows:

• 45% life-long dream. Hooked after first jump;
• 22% were motivated by friends or relatives fond of skydiving;
• 12% fans of extreme sports;
• nearly 7% of respondents decided to jump during a difficult phase in life;
• 5% were influenced by advertising or a skydive video;
• only 4% skydive because they used to parachute in the Army.

64 percent of our respondents motivated at least one person to come to a drop-zone and make a jump.

A person is much more involved in such extreme kinds of sports more deeply due to sincere interest and an inquisitive mind and not, as commonly believed, to express his or her individualism and foolhardy boldness. While acquiring more experience the skydiver’s individual psychological qualities undergo a significant transformation: the negative effects of the stressful first jump experience are reduced and positive personality traits (independence from the influence of social groups, self-confidence, panic and stress resistance) start to form. The negative impact of skydiving on the human mind, as every other extreme kind of sport, is primarily connected with the destruction of our centuries-old self-preservation instinct (based on N. V. Alekhina’s research “Changes, arising in skydivers’ and paratroopers’ minds while jumping with a parachute,” the State Physical Culture Academy of Kharkiv.).

Subject to temperament types, the Russian skydiving community is full of optimistic and socially sanguine people (44%). Then, we are represented by relaxed and peaceful phlegmatic people (28%). 20% of Russian skydivers have an explosive choleric temperament. Melancholic skydivers represent the minority – 8%. It is hard to say which type of temperament every individual had had before he or she became a skydiver, although skydiving definitely influences its change.

Skydiving is mainly about training the human mind. Although the muscular system plays significant role in different skydiving disciplines, the physics of body is not as significant as believed. Nevertheless, a good physical form is required. The psychotherapist, Doctor of Medical Sciences Leonid Grimak noted in his book “Psychological Preparation of the Skydiver”: “…the reaction of a healthy organism while skydiving is always within the physiological norm and is not much different from the functional changes in the body, that occur in other kinds of sports activities, where an athlete is under considerable physical stress, … physiological changes in the body appear mainly due to strong neuro-psychological stress…”.

Russian skydiving community’s sociological characteristics

Gender structure

According to our research, there are 75% men and 25% women among Russian skydivers. Taking into account the Parachuting Federation of Russia official report there are 21% of the women registered with the Federation (among 4,190 licensed skydivers).

The proportion of women in the Russian skydiving community is equivalent to the share of women in the German skydiving community (22%). The fair sex is represented only with 13.8% in the Australian skydiving community, and 13.1% in France. The share of women in the Australian community dropped to this level compared to 17.8% a decade ago. Now there is a special program for attracting women in skydiving on the Australian continent. The main idea of the program is to teach and license female instructors, who will involve more female students in skydiving by their own example. There were just 9% of women holding instructor licenses among the Russian skydiving instructors interviewed by SPORTISTIKA.COM.

From my own experience, I note great inspiration can be taken from female instructors – they keep students calmer during the training program. Of course, this depends entirely on the particular trainer.

Despite the considerable disproportion of men in the worldwide skydiving community, one still cannot say that skydiving is a purely male sport! I find freeflying, freestyle, formation skydiving, and other disciplines unimaginable without women. Artistic abilities, flexibility, elegance are among qualities that allow female skydivers to present amazing results in skydiving.

Age, education and social status

The average age of Russian skydivers is 33 (men – 34, women – 30). Yet there were respondents from as low as 14 years old and even up to the age 70. Compared with German skydivers, whose average age is 42, according to the Parachute Federation of Germany (DFV) 2015 report (DFV, INSITA, 2015. [The Federation interviewed only 232 respondents among 12 796 registered skydivers. It is questionable whether such research is representative…]), we may conclude that the Russian skydivers’ community is younger than its German counterpart by nine years.

When Russian skydivers made their first parachute jump the average age was 23.

86% of respondents (90% women and 85% men) among the age group from 25 to 64 years old have a higher education while the higher education rate in Russia is only 54%. 17.5% of the interviewed skydivers among the specified age group have more than one higher education or academic degree (18% men and 14% women). Such statistics allow us to conclude that skydiving attracts educated Russians. These educated people tend to be financially capable of being engaged in such an expensive sports activity.

Russian skydivers’ position levels at work:

1. Specialists (50%);
2. Top and middle-level managers (26%);
3. Entrepreneurs (14%);
4. Students (4%);
5. Presently not employed (6%).

Such a range of Russian skydivers’ position levels at work exists in the German skydiving community. The only significant difference is in the share of German entrepreneurs (21% vs 14% in Russian community). At the expense of that, the share of top and middle-level managers is lower – 19% vs. our 26%.

The structure of the Russian skydiving community by professions:

1. Economics & Management (24%);
2. Engineering (22%);
3. IT (16%);
4. Skydiving and sports (6%);
5. Jurisprudence (5%);
6. Public health services (4%);
7. Education & science (2%);
8. Other (military, art, public services, etc.) (21%).

By making a parallel structural analysis of the German skydiving community, we see that 7.4% of German skydivers are economists. The engineers are represented equally in both communities. Less represented are scientists and teachers (3%), and healthcare workers with 8%. It is interesting to note that German programmers (IT specialists) almost completely ignore skydiving! The share of IT specialists in the German community is around 1% against the 16% among Russian skydivers.

About half of the Russian skydivers (46%) served in the Army or received a military rank after they graduated university. A quarter of those who had military service experience are paratroopers.

Despite the differences in age, levels of education and social status, communication on drop-zones between skydivers is informal. Representatives of the Russian skydiving community are struggling to remove any social and psychological barriers, based on differences, which are normal among individuals in their daily lives; it depends on an every specific skydiver to think whether informal communication is a result of the West Culture Effect or a consequence of becoming a member of the “band.”

Family

There are 49% married men and 31% married women among Russian skydivers in comparison with 63% and 52% of the population of Russia, according to the State Statistics Department report.

51% of the male and 29% of the female skydivers have children. 20% and 10% respectively have two or more children. More than half of our respondents (62%) declared that they are planning to teach their kids skydiving. The minority claimed that they would not teach their children: however, parents are of the opinion that a child should choose for him or herself.

Relatives of 64% of Russian skydivers have a positive attitude to the fact that their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives or parents have adventures in the sky. Relatives of 22% of skydivers disapprove parachuting activities. 12% of skydivers responded that their relatives are also fond of skydiving. Only 2% of respondents told us that they keep back the information about their parachute jumps from relatives due to negative prejudices people have about skydiving.

Relatives of female skydivers worry about their daughters, sisters and wives more often, than the kin of male skydivers do.

Smoking

According to WHO historical data, there are 53.3% of male smokers and 16.1% female smokers in the Russian Federation (31% of the whole population of Russia, according to the “WCIOM” report on the 31st May 2016). The good news is that only 24% of skydivers who smoke in the Russian skydiving community. In comparison with the country’s rates the share of female skydivers who smoke is 1.5 times higher (equal to 24%), and the share of male skydivers who smoke is less than half of the country’s current rate. There is an informal rule of conduct at our drop-zones: “Skydivers don’t smoke”. Administrations of DZs have right to suspend an athlete if they find him smoking and wearing a parachute system at the same time.

Russian skydiving community’s subjective characteristics

A sport or a hobby

It is well known that there are always two main groups of people in any kind of sport: sportspeople and amateurs. Their proportion in skydiving according to SPORTISTIKA.COM research is as follows: 72.5% are amateurs, who define skydiving as a hobby and relaxation after hard working weeks, around 13% are professional athletes training to win a contest or set a record in any skydiving discipline. The rest are instructors, operators, etc.

80% of Russian skydivers are officially permitted to make parachute jumps in groups with other skydivers; we call them “educated skydivers.” 44% of Russian skydivers usually take part in skydiving competitions, 13% are record-holders. 13% is also the share of candidates for master of sports, masters of sports, and world-class athletes in skydiving. Around 33% of Russian skydivers have “C”, “D” and “E” licenses. Of this, 14% are instructors, and it does not define training and teaching as their main activity.

The average Russian skydiver starts to form his sportsman/amateur status at around 200 jump. At this point he will be an advanced skydiver, who has tried every discipline. From hereon he will develop his skills further.

70% of respondents are fond of other kinds of sports besides skydiving. More often they are snowboarding, Alpine skiing, martial arts, athletics, game sports, mountaineering and rock-climbing, motorcycling, swimming, diving, fencing, riding, and dancing. Most of sportsmen are professionals in their disciplines.

Number of jumps

The average number of parachute jumps made by a Russian skydiver amounts to approximately 230. Professional skydivers have over 800 and even more than 5,000 jumps.

The total annual number of parachute jumps in Russia exceeds 500,000. Each year by taking more people into our sport, we increase this number. In the United States, for example, the total annual number of jumps, according to the USPA reports, increased by 20% to 3,200,000 from 2000 to 2014. In 2014 Australians made 355,200 jumps, which is similar to Germans in 2013 when they jumped 346,815 times. People all over the world make around 5,500,000 jumps every year. Thus, a skydiver makes 55 jumps annually in average. A German skydiver jumps 27 times per year, an American makes 91 jumps, an Australian sportsman jumps 148 times and a Russian skydiver depending on his dedication makes 60 to 100 jumps annually. This does not take into account flying hours in a wind tunnel.

Skydiver’s weight

Sometimes Russian people do not even think about making a first jump because they consider their body weight to be too heavy. We shuttered that opinion by investigating the minimum and the maximum weights of Russian skydivers – the range is from 30 to 130 kg (66 to 286 lbs.). The average weight of female skydivers is 60 kg (132 lbs.), male skydivers – 80 kg (176 lbs.).

Skydiving disciplines

After finishing a training program (in 50% of cases it is AFF, in 48.5% – Russian Klassika, in 1.5% – StaticLine) skydivers start challenging themselves in different skydiving disciplines.

The research revealed the most popular disciplines Russian skydivers are attracted to. The first place took mixed formation skydiving (43% of respondents marked that discipline), than come freeflying and freestyle with a 29% share. Canopy piloting and accuracy landing took the third place (22%), and 15% of skydivers favored wingsuits (this discipline attracts more male than female Russian skydivers). The swoop discipline collected 8%. The remaining 2% of respondents chose canopy formation and skysurfing. The main difference between Russian and German skydiving communities is the rate of skydivers involved in wingsuit discipline – it is half as much than in Russia.

13% of Russian skydivers do not favor any particular skydiving discipline – they simply “jump for pleasure”. More often they are just beginners with the total average number of jumps reaching 70.

The main objective for beginners is wingsuit piloting. Skilled skydivers aim to set records in a specific discipline.

Choosing a drop-zone

The main factor (marked by 47% of respondents) influencing Russian skydivers’ choice for the drop-zone is its proximity to their homes. A quarter of the respondents choose their DZs because they used to jump or started skydiving there. Another factor of no small importance (marked by 10% of respondents) is «the atmosphere»: good people, friendly administration etc.

16% of Russian skydivers jump abroad regularly (Europe, CIS, America, Asia and UAE). The typical skydiver of this category differs from other Russian skydivers because of a huge total number of parachute jumps he made. Usually this class of Russian skydivers composes of entrepreneurs or top/middle-level managers. Among the reasons for skydiving outside of Russia, our respondents noted the short warm season, international competitions, vacations and beautiful landscapes in foreign countries.

According to the DROPZONE.COM data base the United States of America has the most developed skydiving infrastructure. There are 331 sport-class drop-zones and 18 sport-class wind tunnels in the country. After the USA the infrastructure development level goes to Germany, which built 89 DZs and 1 WT. France comes third with 75 DZs and 2 WTs. Then comes Australia (60 DZs, 1 WT), Brazil (59 DZs, 1 WT), Italy (47 DZs), Canada (45 DZs, 2 WTs), Argentina (42 DZs). Russia is at the 8th position with 40 DZs and 5 WTs, located in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, plus one skydiving complex in Grozny under construction. After our country comes the United Kingdom with 32 DZs and 4 WTs. The rest is spread throughout remaining countries.

Of course, we cannot neglect to mention the United Arab Emirates with their DZ Palm and DZ Dessert which are two of the most popular places for skydiving contests.

There are more than 1,313 drop-zones all over the world and around 60 wind tunnels of sport class. So, if a Russian skydiver is about to go abroad, he always packs his skydiving license and checks the existence of a DZ near the place he will be staying.

Risk of injury and death in skydiving

(Excluding military organizations’ statistics)

When we talk about skydiving and skydivers, we cannot ignore the risk of injury and death in jumping. It is remarkable that the risk of being injured while skydiving is very low in comparison with football or rugby, for example. Out of every 100 Russian skydivers there are only 22 who have been seriously injured. The share of seriously injured male skydivers is nearly 5 times higher than seriously injured female – 28% vs 6% according to the research. We clarify such statistics by the disproportion in total number of parachute jumps made by men and women – men have 2.5 times more jumps than women, – as well as by greater accuracy in landing by females which is typical of their nature.

The main serious injuries of the typical Russian skydiver: lower-limbs’ bones fractures and cracks, and ligament ruptures. Not so common are broken fingers, serious injuries of the shoulders, concussions to the brain, and neck and spinal injuries. Russian skydivers suffer the majority of these injuries while landing. That is why Russian drop-zone administrators pay special attention to the final stage of a parachute jump while training skydivers.

You could for example try to remember all the injuries you received while playing football! This might not have been so few! So, we cannot say skydiving is an extremely dangerous kind of sport without taking into account the injury rates of other sports. The share of those who did not have even a slight injury amounted to 62% (59% of male and 71% of female Russian skydivers). Taking into account the statistics we have to agree that skydiving is rather safe compared to other extreme kinds of sports. This motivates Russian skydivers to develop their skills in skydiving even further.

The annual number of injured skydivers is monitored by only a few countries. Thus, there were 204 injuries registered by the Australian Parachute Federation in 2014. Australian students are the most risky category among Australian skydivers, according to the APF Annual Report. The most riskless are “B” licensed skydivers. The injury rate of skydiving in Australia in 2014 was 5.7 injuries of all types per 10,000 skydives and is now decreasing. In 2014, the USPA registered 729 skydiving injuries, so the rate amounted to 2.3 injuries per 10,000 jumps. Russia has no such aggregated official statistics yet.

Notwithstanding popular opinion, the fatality rate in skydiving is rather low! After viewing a fatal skydiving video audiences tend to have a long-term negative impression, although the average number of deaths in skydiving is very insignificant. The annual fatality rate in Russian skydiving is one of the lowest – one death per 2,685 skydivers. In the U.S. it is one per 1,528 skydivers; in Germany – one per 2,994; in Australia – one per 1,053;in Canada – one per 2,078. The world’s average annual skydiving fatality rate is one per 1,700 skydivers .

As we know, the highest fatality rates are in base-jumping (1 death per 166 sportspeople) , hang-gliding (1 per 1,000), motorcycling (1 per 1,000), rock-climbing (1 per 1,167), boxing (1 per 2,200) . Just for a comparison: one out of every 4 025 human dies in Russian road accidents annually (including one out of every 2 425 motorcyclists); due to accidental poisoning (including alcohol poisoning) we lose one out of every 2,710 Russians.

Russia stands in third place of the worlds ranking by total number of deaths in skydiving with 34 fatal jumps between 2004 and 2014. After this comes the United States with 250 deaths, and Germany with 47 fatal skydives, according to the unofficial database of dropzone.com/safety. Then we have France (30 deaths), Australia (25), the United Kingdom (22), South Africa (19), Italy (19), Canada (18), and Spain (16).

Using total number of jumps by countries, SPORTISTIKA.COM assessed that one out of every 161,765 jumps in Russia is lethal. By comparison one out of every 156,300 jumps in Australia, one out of every 140,800 in the USA, and one out of every 81,170 in Germany. On average one out of every 110,000 skydives is fatal around the world.

The main reasons for fatalities in Russian skydiving and all over the world are the same:

• landings (the main cause – law altitude turn, more often in a swoop);
• malfunctions;
• collisions.

Skydiving fatality statistics for the period 2004-2014
Causes of fatal skydives	World (647 skydivers)	USA (250 skydivers)	Russia (34 skydivers)
Landings	32.0%	29.4%	35.3%
Malfunctions	19.0%	19.0%	32.4%
Collisions	15.0%	15.9%	23.5%
No pulls	9.0%	7.5%	2.9%
Reserve Problems	4.0%	3.6%	0.0%
Other	14.0%	24.6%	5.9%

Based on data published on http://www.dropzone.com/safety/

According to APF reports of the last decade, the most risky category of skydivers contains experienced sportsmen with “E” licenses; then come students. Skydivers with the “B” licenses are at the least risk of both death and injuries.

A skydiver’s safety depends on his skills of reaction in emergencies, which periodically arise while jumping. Of course, students have not developed such skills yet, but with time will gain the experience necessary to deal with all situations. On the other hand, experienced skydivers simply do not continue to hone their skills for safe landing, and even to the point of ignoring the ever so important cut-away skills. They unfortunately overestimate their abilities.

Cut-away is a commonly encountered problem in Russia. 38% of Russian skydivers have at least one cut-away experience. Those who have not experienced the procedure yet are beginners in most cases. A Russian skydiver has to be ready to make a cut-away at around one in every 660 jumps; starting from the 135th. The correct using of skydiver’s skills in the cut-away procedure increases his chases to stay alive in emergency situations by around 700 times !

We can explain the significant range between the numbers 135 and 660 by the fact that a Russian skydiving beginner expects to carry out such a procedure happening with other skydivers. The research team of SPORTISTIKA.COM suspects that the lack of cut-away experience in particular and the mental attitude in general to its inevitable realization leads him to making a cut-away just in case. This happens even in cases when a cut-away is not needed at all and there is a chase to safe the main canopy. However, after experiencing the first cut-away and analyzing all the actions made on practice a skydiver becomes psychologically stable to handle such cases and realizes that sometimes he may struggle to safe the main canopy, if he is at an acceptable altitude. That is why the cut-away frequency falls to 5 times, after the first one (660/135).

Taking into consideration the statistics above, administrations of Russian drop-zones, paying much attention to safety, run a rigorous behavioral policy. A chief instructor of any Russian DZ has the right to ban a skydiver or make him pass the skydiving theory one more time if he finds out that the infringer breaks rules of freefalling, piloting, landing or violating the rules of conduct. There are 15% of Russian skydivers who have been suspended by a chief instructor at least once. The minimal period of a ban was an hour, and the maximal – a month. The main reasons of banning: low deploying, landing mistakes, low altitude turn, failure to comply with rules of conduct, bad state of health.

Let us stress once again that skydiving all over the world and particularly in Russia is not the most dangerous sport discipline! However, a person should take a real look at his physical and mental stability before going for skydiving.

Cost of skydiving in Russia

If you are going to skydive in Russia, you have to be aware of some economic issues in our country. Becoming a skydiver in Russia – how much is it? Look at the calculation below (1 USD = 66 RUB):

58,790 RUB (890 USD) is the average cost of a training program (AFF, 8 jumps), insurance and a membership fee
+ 45,000 RUB (682 USD) is the optimal price for a Russian made helmet (227 USD), skydiving suit (182 USD), sneakers (76 USD), a pair of gloves (45 USD) and an altimeter (152 USD)
+ 297,000 RUB (4,500 USD) is the average cost of a parachute system made by a Russian producer
= 400,790 RUB (just 6,072 USD)!

Of course, you may rent a parachute system and extra equipment from a drop-zone or another skydiver to lower the cost to approximately 890 USD. In comparison, you have to pay around 360,000 RUB (5,455 USD) to get a private jet pilot’s license in Russia, or 800,000 RUB (12,121 USD) to get a helicopter pilot’s license.
The prices in our country are much lower than in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada and others, not because of any lack of quality of our products and services, but because of the economy crisis of 2014, when the price of Russian currency (Ruble) lost half of its value of the United States Dollar (from 33 rubles per dollar to 66) and currencies of other developed counties.

The Russian skydiving equipment market is a huge data field for a market analysis made by SPORTISTIKA.COM. Within the plot of this article, I will illustrate just few issues.

A parachute system is not a mass manufacturing product in Russia. There are only few parts of equipment in bulk production. However, a parachute should fit all of the skydiver’s requirements, that is why Russian skydivers preorder systems and the delivery time can be from 3 to 6 months.

58% of Russian skydivers own their personal systems and 52% use them for jumping regularly. 32% of skydivers rent systems from a drop-zone, 7% rent from a person and 2% borrow parachutes from friends.

Nearly 44% of sport-class parachute systems on the Russian skydiving equipment market are made by domestic producers and around 56% are imported. Approximately 8% of our respondents use combined systems of domestic and foreign components.

Analyzing drop-zones’ services, we should take into account the price of the full altitude lift (generally it is 4,000 meters in Russia = 13,123 ft.) as the main relative parameter. So you could be transported to that altitude just for 1,200 RUB (18.39 USD) at any drop-zone near Moscow. If you are in Dubai, for example, you have to pay 120 AED (32.67 USD) or 100 AED (27.23 USD) to get to 4,000 meters altitude at DZ Palm or DZ Desert respectively. In Arizona you are able to catch a plane flying to 13,000 ft. for 25 USD. If you are going to DZ Thai Sky Adventures in Thailand you will have to pay 1,100 THB (31.25 USD) for every 11,000 ft. jump. If you are in Germany’s DZ GoJump the payment is 29 euros (32.74 USD) . Please pay attention to the fact that the prices we have provided are only for a “taxi-service”. In addition a skydiver should pay insurance and membership fees, and rent if necessary.

So you can see, the cost of skydiving in our country looks very attractive for those who are going to jump abroad. Do not miss the season, or you can also experience even more extreme feelings during winter.

From the Author

Though skydiving in modern Russia is not a kind of sport for the masses, we can nevertheless still call it “Big-Time Sports”! The sport discipline we represent, which is so impressive for sportspeople and so frightening for spectators, has a huge opportunity to become a national sport as long as we continue to make it popular in our country.

We are always glad to see our foreign friends at Russian drop zones and are ready to do our best in making their jumps with us unforgettable.

So break a leg and see you at the DZ!

From Russia with love,
Klim.

About the Author: Klim Legchakov is editor-in-chief of the Russian startup project «SPORTISTIKA.COM» and The Lomonosov Moscow State University statistics department expert. He has been skydiving in Moscow for three years. Contact him at klim@sportistika.com.