# Which would frighten you MORE: Bungee Jumping or Sky Diving? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407 "2009-05-05T12:50:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/41 "2009-05-09T07:45:10Z")
Never done either, but could probably be convinced to do both. I’m a little surprised by some of the responses because my initial feeling would be that skydiving is scarier, due to not just the lower height of bungee jumping but the fact that you are physically tethered. In skydiving, you’re jumping out of a friggin’ plane with nothing connected to you from above or below. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/42 "2009-05-09T08:50:40Z")
Since I have bad knees, sky diving is absolutely out, if I ever want to walk again. But bungee jumping? I’d probably die of a heart attack before leaving the platform, so it’s a moot point. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/43 "2009-05-09T09:22:51Z")
Wouldn’t do either. And even though I like the idea of drifting under a parachute hundreds of feet in the air, I know that every year a finite number of 'chutes don’t open and the jumper(s) die. So I went parasailing off the back of a boat over the ocean. Chute doesn’t open you don’t go up. Great fun. I also explained all this to a guy at work who had been given a tandem jump as a birthday gift. He shrugged off my concerns. On Monday when he brought in the video of his jump (filmed one handed by his “instructor”) you could clearly see the chute deploy above them and twist about like a flame. They had to release it and use the reserve chute and ended up in a school instead of the open field they were meant to land in. Much of this was not all that visible as the instructor was a little busy. The guy from work had no idea anything had gone wrong until after the event. He never went skydiving again. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/44 "2009-05-10T01:31:27Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > …you could clearly see the chute deploy above them and twist about like a flame. IIRC, this is called a “streamer” (also known as a “screamer”). :eek: ---
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/45 "2009-05-10T06:41:06Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Since I have bad knees, sky diving is absolutely out, if I ever want to walk again. But bungee jumping? I’d probably die of a heart attack before leaving the platform, so it’s a moot point. You don’t have to land on your feet.. you can land on your butt too. Kinda fun, actually, especially if the grass is moist. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/46 "2009-05-10T12:12:33Z")
I could sky dive if I had too, but I couldn’t image the set of circumstances that would make it mandatory. Bungee jumping, no way. I’d die first. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/47 "2009-05-11T17:44:14Z")
> [@EpicNonsense](#): > > You don’t have to land on your feet.. you can land on your butt too. Kinda fun, actually, especially if the grass is moist. You can also do the “banana landing” (I have no idea if this is what it was actually called or if it was just the term I mentally tagged it with) where you swing your legs to the side as you land so the impact “rolls up” along your side from your ankles to your hips. (This is the one I went with, since I flared a little bit early and was coming down too fast for me to be comfortable doing a standing landing with my crappy ankles, knees, and hips.) ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/48 "2009-05-11T20:27:13Z")
I don’t want to do either of them. They both sound really scary. I don’t like adrenaline rushes for their own sake! ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/49 "2009-05-12T20:43:18Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Freefall is “flying”. Bungee jumping is “falling”. Yup. I’ve done both (tandem a couple of times, multiple bungee jumps off of bridges) and that was my impression. I’m deathly afraid of heights. Yeah, I know, but hey, “face your fears” and all that jazz, right? Freefall in a skydive _isn’t_ scary; it’s unreal. Much like trying to visualize the scale of a trillion dollars, you don’t sense much danger even hanging out the door of the airplane. By far, the scariest part of skydiving for me was ironically AFTER our chute opened. . . and then I had plenty of quiet time to stare 3,000 feet underneath my shoes. THAT freaked me out far more than freefall, which is as amazing as everyone imagines. With bungee jumping, however, it’s _already_ quiet, and you can see the ground/water, and you get ground rush _immediately_. That’s not the thrill of doing something incredible-- that’s the thrill of _not dying_. Still, I’m glad I’ve done both, just so I can say that I did. ---
**Author:** ![jumpman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jumpman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jumpman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/50 "2011-10-01T09:14:50Z")
Bungee jumpih is a lot scarier than Sky diving. I own a bungee jumping buissiness and I still getmore scaredthan I ever been scared skydiving. And I’ve only went skydiving 2 X’s and I have several hundred bungee jumps.skydiving got no ground rush plus your all ready hauling ass moving when you go out the door. when you bungee you start from a dead stop and accelerate…then watch the.rocks zoom right up close to your head.Skydiving was a long awesome experience…but Bungee is way more intense ans SCARY ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/51 "2011-10-01T10:24:32Z")
Static line jump. Brilliant, though a painful landing. Bungee, they wouldn’t let me wear my glasses (not an issue with the skydiving) so I couldn’t really see anything, which made the whole experience scary yet underwhelming. Never felt the need to do either one again but if I had to choose, I’d skydive again. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/52 "2011-10-01T11:29:57Z")
Bungee jumping for sure. Because of the jerk, the whiplash-snap to your back and neck. Skydiving, on the other hand, looks like more of a floating thing. And the prep time spent getting ready for it? I know how to jump—let the person who packs my parachute take the prep time, be REALLY prepared. Instead of a little white square saying “Inspector 162” or whatever, I want to unfurl an entire legal document, in Latin, that says, “I packed this parachute and am sure I did it right. And there were no defects.” THAT’S when I’ll jump. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/53 "2011-10-01T11:47:10Z")
I know I could never bring myself to bungee jump, but I’m pretty sure I could skydive. With bungee jumping, you’re a tangible distance above the ground/river/whatever - you can see exactly what you’re going to hit. Above a certain height, though, the height becomes almost abstract and somehow less of a worry. Plus, I don’t fancy the bouncing and dangling upside down bit. It’s weird, my wife says she wouldn’t mind bungee jumping and yet she has a “fear of heights” on moderately steep ski slopes. Whereas I will happily ski down just about anything and feel no “fear of heights” because _I’m already on the ground_. I’ve tried to explain this to her but she doesn’t understand… ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/54 "2011-10-01T13:50:02Z")
Bungee jumping. Because I’ve done parachuting. There’s no sense of vertigo under the canopy, probably because you have no vertical reference points, it’s all spread out like a map. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/55 "2011-10-01T14:26:45Z")
Barring an angry person with a gun to my head, there’s no way I’ll ever bungee jump. I’d consider sky diving. It’s senseless but being up in a plane doesn’t feel as high to me as being way up on a scaffold, I think after a point my brain loses its sense of scale. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/56 "2011-10-08T07:09:24Z")
I’d like to do both. I’m imagining that skydiving would be less scary, because it’d probably be a tandem jump, and I’ve been a passenger on tandem parapente jump before. The freefall and greater height seem attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Kilmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@Kilmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilmore)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/57 "2011-10-08T07:32:58Z")
I’m fat and I’d probably bounce more bungee jumping, so I think I’d rather go skydiving. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/58 "2011-10-08T09:21:11Z")
I’ve done both (more than once) and I agree with those saying that skydiving is flying and bungy jumping is falling. When skydiving, I was just enjoying the exhiliration during the free fall. No fear - the ground just seemed too far away to worry about yet. And once the chute deployed, it was just so peaceful and I was enjoying the view. When bungy jumping, my brain was screaming at me, sure I was about to die as I fell. There was no sudden whiplash as the cord caught - it was more like elastic stretching, then contracting. Quite gentle, then I was zooming backwards and then back down again, heading to the water and laughing my arse off - half in enjoyment and half in relief. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/59 "2011-10-08T12:31:53Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > There is a reserve parachute. There is not a reserve bungee. ^ This. I’ll skydive long before I bungee. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407/60 "2011-10-08T14:44:24Z")
I’ve done both; it’s way, way harder to step off a platform than it is to step out of a plane. I not particularly interested in bungee jumping again, but I’d happily skydive again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-would-frighten-you-more-bungee-jumping-or-sky-diving/495407.md?page=4)