When skydiving, do fat people fall faster than skinny people?
Fatties and skinnies can fall at the same rate depending on the arch of a person in free fall. I for one can change my fall rate by either de arching or increasing wind resistance in my limbs. Take for instance this weekend, I am 74KG and was jumping with someone who is 60KG, we both fell at the same rate because I had to de-arch whilst she kept her arch. The reason for different fall rate’s is not about gravity its about wind resistance and relative wind. Also a jump suit makes a big difference in someones fall rate, if I wear a tight fitting suit and have my normal big stable arch on me I fall like a sack of spuds at about 130ml/ph. However if I am in a loose fitting jump suit (which creates drag and wind reisitance) and still have my nice normal big stable arch I fall at about 120ml/ph. When it comes to skydiving, it is nothing is as black and white.
