Skydiving or SCUBA Which is safer?

[barkeep]

I do both. Have done 158 sky dives and love them as much as I do scuba both can kill you but one will do it quickly if you make a mistake where as the other will take a few more miniutes,

 

[Tigerman]

I think people must be nuts to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft.

On the other hand, I consider breathing underwater to be a perfectly reasonable activity so what do I know?

To put it this way..
I once came back down INSIDE one of those "perfectly good" aircrafts because one of the jumpers had an issue and due to how cramped it was we couldnt get past that jumper to the door..

Ill tell you right now that the person whos nuts is the one that go back down with them out of their free will! Id rather be in a dogfight than land with those guys again!

 

[nsp09]

I don't know which is safer... but from my experience and from comparing the feeling it'll give you, mmm, I choose Scuba Diving.

It feels good underwater!!!

 

[gene02]

I can swim pretty good but can't fly worth a damm, nuf said.

Yea what he said.
I wonder if sky divers have the equivelant of SB and how the poll would work for them HMMMM!!!

 

[dwaters]

Yea what he said.
I wonder if sky divers have the equivelant of SB and how the poll would work for them HMMMM!!!

Yes, they talk about Scuba divers and sharks and drowning and so on.....

dropzone.com is the largest ... see what I found on their forum

Dropzone.com Skydive Forums: Search results

Bottom line is: use your brain and both sports will be safer for those that just think before they react!

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

I think scuba diving should be safer if you are talking about comparing an experienced skydiver with an experienced scuba diver....in actuality there are probably more in scuba who aren't experienced than you would find in sky diving so scuba diving probably results in more deaths per "exposure"

I think that gets mitigated though since the more experienced you get the more difficult diving you tend to take on. Obviously an experienced diver doing a beginners dive is probably very safe, but in reality that experienced diver is probably doing a decompression dive inside a cave somewhere

Skydiving does have many inexperienced people try it, but I believe the vast majority of operations force it to be done tandem so it's always an experienced diver in control.

 

[Hickdive]

I think people must be nuts to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft.

On the other hand, I consider breathing underwater to be a perfectly reasonable activity so what do I know?

Well, my view is that scuba involves nice, solid things like brass, chrome, steel, rubber, lead and so on.

Similarly, aircraft are aluminium, steel, rubber etc.

Parachutes, OTOH, are a couple of armfuls of floppy nylon in a rucksack

 

[HJeffreyM]

Again, why not open this question up to other "adventure" sports, or even so called normal day to day activities?

I have often wondered what the comparative risks are for skiing, snowboarding, mountaineering, rock climbing, sky diving, snowmobiling, and of course diving. I've often heard the statement: "I'm safer in the airplane than I am driving to and from the airport." Is this actually true?

It reminds me of a conversation I had recently with my mom.

Mom: Isn't SCUBA diving dangerous?
Me: Compared to what?

The problem with statistical comparisons are numerous. One is getting the apples and apples to line up. Only an actuary could really answer this question (any diving actuarys out there?). Another problem is the lack of a centralized data gathering organization for any of these activities. And finally, an additional difficulty is the lumping in of people who die of natural causes (read heart attack or stroke) while participating.

I have searched online for this information, but I don't think anyone has put it all together.

It does always lead to an interesting conversation!

 

[MSilvia]

I think that gets mitigated though since the more experienced you get the more difficult diving you tend to take on. Obviously an experienced diver doing a beginners dive is probably very safe, but in reality that experienced diver is probably doing a decompression dive inside a cave somewhere

Skydiving does have many inexperienced people try it, but I believe the vast majority of operations force it to be done tandem so it's always an experienced diver in control.

You're comparing experienced divers to novice skydivers. New untrained skydivers often have to jump tandem, just as new untrained divers often have to dive under the guidance of an instructor. Experienced divers might take up cave diving, or deep wrecks, but it's not that much different from experienced skydivers using smaller chutes, doing HALO jumps, etc.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

About the only thing I can garner from the info in this thread and my own experiences in both leaving aircraft mid-flight and sucking air from a can underwater is that:
1. People who do these activities really like doing them.
2. For activities that outsiders deem "risky" activities or "extreme" sports, the numbers (accident statistics in general) seem to indicate that they are in fact pretty safe activities.
3. Why the need for the comparison?