Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the sport of jumping from enough height to deploy a fabric parachute and land safely. The history of parachuting appears to start with Andre-Jacques Garnerin who made successful parachute jumps from a hot-air balloon in 1797. The military developed parachuting technology first as a way to save aircrews from emergencies aboard balloons and aircraft in flight, later as a way of delivering soldiers to the battlefield.

Early competitions date back to the 1930s, and it became an international sport in 1951. Sport Parachuting is performed as a recreational activity and a competitive sport, as well as for the deployment of military personnel Airborne forces and occasionally forest firefighters. In the early days, a trained skydiver (or jumper) and a group of associates met at an isolated airport, sometimes referred to as a "drop zone." (DZ) A fixed base operator at that airport usually operates one or more aircraft, and takes groups of skydivers up for a fee.

It was common for an individual jumper to go up in a Cessna light aircraft such as C-172 or C-182. These days, it is common for busier DZs near populated areas to use multiple, larger aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan C208, De Havilland Twin Otter DHC6 or Short Skyvan.

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