Skydiving, anyone done it?

Rebel Lord

Rebel Lord

Line Up and Wait
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Rebel Lord
im concidering going and getting skydive training and getting what ever certification or liscense I need to solo jump.

Anyone have any insight on skydiving in general?
 
I love it, great sport, great community.

I'd recommend doing AFF and also getting a little tunnel time if there is one near to you.


Here's the "POA" of jumping, also good source of DZ reviews.
http://www.dropzone.com
 
James331 said:
I love it, great sport, great community.

I'd recommend doing AFF and also getting a little tunnel time if there is one near to you.


Here's the "POA" of jumping, also good source of DZ reviews.
http://www.dropzone.com
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Ya there is a free fall tunnel about 45 minutes away, is that pretty effective for getting basic positions down?
 
Rebel Lord said:
Ya there is a free fall tunnel about 45 minutes away, is that pretty effective for getting basic positions down?
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Just a better bang for your buck for learning how to fly your body, just like aviation though, it's all about the instructor.
 
400+ but many years ago. It's a blast. A lot more fun than flying airplanes.
 
never done it. might do it at some point.
 
I did it once when I was young because I wanted to know what it felt like to leave an airplane at altitude. Every bit the rush I expected and more. I didn't make it a habit because I have low risk tolerance in general. But high curiosity about things.

It was solo but on a static line so no real flying in the air but that didn't lessen the thing for me.

2nd PS edit: That experience has something to do with my handle.
 
Over 17 years and 3500+ jumps. I was an instructor, both AFF and Tandem, at Skydive Dallas since 2005. Skydiving and the skydiving community are great. Its a blast and there is always something more to learn. Its isnt cheap, although it isnt aviation expensive. Biggest problem with new skydivers is trying to do things too soon. The new guy in AFF class wants to wingsuit BASE jump. Well buddy, I got news for you. You cant hold a stable body position in freefall yet, so I think maybe do that first.

Skydiving in general is pretty safe statistically. However when something goes wrong it can go wrong quickly and there is rarely a 'minor' injury in a skydiving accident. Ask me how I know...

Do it, youll love it. As James said a tunnel is GREAT training. Skydivers have been using tunnels for YEARS. Well before they became a thing.

Anyway, got more questions, post em or hit me up private.
 
JCranford said:
Over 17 years and 3500+ jumps. I was an instructor, both AFF and Tandem, at Skydive Dallas since 2005. Skydiving and the skydiving community are great. Its a blast and there is always something more to learn. Its isnt cheap, although it isnt aviation expensive. Biggest problem with new skydivers is trying to do things too soon. The new guy in AFF class wants to wingsuit BASE jump. Well buddy, I got news for you. You cant hold a stable body position in freefall yet, so I think maybe do that first.

Do it, youll love it. As James said a tunnel is GREAT training. Skydivers have been using tunnels for YEARS. Well before they became a thing.

Anyway, got more questions, post em or hit me up private.
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Know any good schools in the Houston area?
 
Rebel Lord said:
Know any good schools in the Houston area?
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Several. Skydive Houston in Waller north of town. Its a smaller operation and had a nice vibe last time I was there. Spaceland south of town near Rosharon. Bigger more 'corporate' dropzone. They just bought Skydive Dallas and are the reason I dont instruct there any more. Good solid operation tho
 
Done it a few times(8 i think).... almost all solo. Fun. even more fun with reserve chute landing :). Worth it though.
 
I did some skydiving when I was in college (many years ago). My favorite description is that is 'the most exciting thing you can do with your clothes on' :cool: Of course you can now find videos of some who do it without clothes ...
 
Got a whopping 8 jumps. Used to be 7 AFF jumps to get solo status. After that, you work on getting the A license. Used to be like 25 jumps to get it.

My advice, don't do the tandem crap. Just sign up for the AFF program (about 2K) and do it on your own. Nothing like free falling by yourself and then the freedom being under canopy.

My first jump was a mess. I was way more nervous on my first jump than I thought. The higher we climbed, the more butterflies. Then standing in the door 13,500 ft up, looking down with the cold air hitting you in the face. :eek: You exit and there's a bit of silence for a few seconds, then as speed builds, it's like a runway freight train. Loud! I had some porpoising issues because my arch sucked. Pulled the rip cord around 3,000 ft or so. I was so nervous, I just chucked the cord. Had to pay $10 for losing it. The canopy opening was pretty jarring and soon as I looked up and saw a good canopy, I said "holy **** I'm alive!" I was too amped to enjoy the scenery, plus I was concentrating on listening to the instructor in my ear on the radio below. Due to my light weight, large canopy and headwind, I wasn't even going to make the DZ. I hear my instructor transmit "dude, you're not going to make it to the X and you're going to dissapear below the hill...you're gonna have to flare on your own." Great.:( landing was uneventful except for not flaring enough, hitting hard, falling on my butt and then getting drug a couple of feet because of the wind. Driving away that day, I honestly thought, there's no way I'm doing that again. I quickly realized that I already charged for 7 jumps and it was non refundable. So, not to waste $1,500 for 1 jump, I returned. Still had porpoising issues (terrifying) on the next 3 jumps but then got the hang of it. My last few jumps were pure awesomeness. Back flips, 360 turns, tracking. An absolute blast. After 7, I was cleared for solo. Never went back though. Had some financial issues that prohibited it. I always tell people, it's something you must do before you die...just don't do the tandem route.
 
1 Tandem. Lots of fun. Now that I'm flying again its a little pricey lol.

 
I made 96 jumps between 1983-1986 and then took what was meant to be a temporary hiatus from it and never jumped again. Now I'm 30 years older and 40 some pounds heavier. I'd love to shed the pounds and jump again. It is a blast.
 
Velocity173 said:
Got a whopping 8 jumps. Used to be 7 AFF jumps to get solo status. After that, you work on getting the A license. Used to be like 25 jumps to get it.

My advice, don't do the tandem crap. Just sign up for the AFF program (about 2K) and do it on your own. Nothing like free falling by yourself and then the freedom being under canopy.
...just don't do the tandem route.
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And sorry, but my advice as an instructor is 'do the tandem crap'. We get WAY better performance out of students who have done a tandem progression than we do first time AFF students. The worst ones are the (macho) guys who start class with "I'm jumping by myself. I dont want some dude strapped to my back'. Pretty common for that guy, no matter HOW well he may have performed on the ground training, to start flailing his arms around and 'lights off, no one is home' at deployment time. Ive had to deploy the canopy for quite a number of those guys. The tandem progression allow you to be 'in the environment' at least a couple of times, thereby avoiding the 'sensory overload' associated with jumping out of a plane for the first time.

Just my opinion based on slightly more than 8 jumps...
 
JCranford said:
And sorry, but my advice as an instructor is 'do the tandem crap'. We get WAY better performance out of students who have done a tandem progression than we do first time AFF students. The worst ones are the (macho) guys who start class with "I'm jumping by myself. I dont want some dude strapped to my back'. Pretty common for that guy, no matter HOW well he may have performed on the ground training, to start flailing his arms around and 'lights off, no one is home' at deployment time. Ive had to deploy the canopy for quite a number of those guys. The tandem progression allow you to be 'in the environment' at least a couple of times, thereby avoiding the 'sensory overload' associated with jumping out of a plane for the first time.

Just my opinion based on slightly more than 8 jumps...
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The instructors I had basically said if I was going to continue to jump on a regular basis to just go ahead and start AFF. So I did. Maybe it was to get more money out of me, I don't know.

There was definitely sensory overload but I think that was all part of the excitement. Being under canopy for the first time was more of a blast than soloing an aircraft for the first time.

I get where you're coming from though. Getting tandem experience would help speed along the solo AFF process. Would allow one to decide if it's even something they'd like to continue.
 
Yeah, the money works out to about the same. Our program allow you to do two tandems and then skip AFF level one. It helped a lot.
 
Tandem kind of eh. Not nearly as much fun as jumping by yourself, but requires almost no training. Show up, give money, 1 hour training and you are good to go. I did it accidentally once, but it was not my first jump. I did 3 military style(no free-fall) jumps before that and months worth of training on everything related to it, including packing my own chute. Incidentally, the only time I(we) had a malfunction was on that single tandem jump.

Jumping solo requires full day of training. And if it's your first time, i suggest doing tandem at least once. Just to get the idea.

I gave up the pursue of skydiving license for the PPL. Couldn't afford both.
 
JCranford said:
Several. Skydive Houston in Waller north of town. Its a smaller operation and had a nice vibe last time I was there. Spaceland south of town near Rosharon. Bigger more 'corporate' dropzone. They just bought Skydive Dallas and are the reason I dont instruct there any more. Good solid operation tho
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I was looking at skydive houston, I'm probably going to do one tandem and see how I feel about the whole thing.
 
Got 100+ when in college. Half of those above 7500'. Back in those days training for solo jump started at 1030 and you were under a static line by 1400! :eek: :) We only had modified round chutes. Para Commanders were the s**t at the time. Great fun and girl magnet supreme but have a painful limp now to show for it.
Ain't nothing free. :cool:
 
LT4247 said:
Got 100+ when in college. Half of those above 7500'. Back in those days training for solo jump started at 1030 and you were under a static line by 1400! :eek: :) We only had modified round chutes. Para Commanders were the s**t at the time. Great fun and girl magnet supreme but have a painful limp now to show for it.
Ain't nothing free. :cool:
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I did seven in college, six static line and one hop n pop. (very short freefall). Once I graduated I never went back. Back then, for a beginning jumper, it was a lot of time on the ground for a few minuted in the air, plus the 1970s style harness hurt like hell. No reason anyone shouldn't go for a tandem, if nothing else it's something to check off the list. If you do get hooked, it's not cheap, a friend of mine's credit cards just about melted down after she got hooked.
 
I like the rush of free fall, but it's noisy and every bit as uncomfortable as you would imagine standing in a 120MPH wind to be.

What I *love* is floating around in near silence under canopy. I could do that for days.
 
rwellner98 said:
I like the rush of free fall, but it's noisy and every bit as uncomfortable as you would imagine standing in a 120MPH wind to be.

What I *love* is floating around in near silence under canopy. I could do that for days.
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You sound like a good candidate for paragliding or hang gliding.
 
Velocity173 said:
soon as I looked up and saw a good canopy, I said "holy **** I'm alive!" ...
I wasn't even going to make the DZ..
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Me too that one jump. I looked up at the canopy and was genuinely shocked that I was still alive. I fully expected to die. I had just stepped off the airplane strut into nothingness.

And I was way off the DZ, the instructor was yelling at me to pull right pull right pull right!!!! I never pulled hard enough, drifted over a wooded area ("you're going into the trees!!") and missed the trees by a few feet, landed in a smooth area between the trees and rows of soybeans. Picked up my chute and had a long walk back to the field. I was never the slightest bit frightened, just amazed the whole time. It was wonderful.
 
SkyDog58 said:
I made 96 jumps between 1983-1986 and then took what was meant to be a temporary hiatus from it and never jumped again. Now I'm 30 years older and 40 some pounds heavier. I'd love to shed the pounds and jump again. It is a blast.
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Why? You just increased your wing loading.
 
It is a bit of a shock if you have years flying airplanes already; the mind is accustomed to the security of the cockpit.
Would have done more but I have to preserve my back.
 
Please excuse the threadjack, but at approximately what age do skydivers age out of the sport? For hang glider pilots, its seems to be in the early sixties. Hang gliding does have a physical component to it, and it seems to become difficult to maintain proficiency for older folks, and they stop.
 
@JCranford --- Often discussed here is cost of obtaining a PPL. Can you layout what it costs to get your jump certificate that's the equivalent of PPL? (instructor, classes, jump planes, equipment, etc...)
 
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