5 Fascinating Things to Know About Skydiving

Did you know that every year, thousands of Americans try skydiving for the first time? Or that the U.S. performs exceptionally well in skydiving competitions across the world? Skydiving is an awesome sport. It’s also something that not many people know a great deal about so here, we’ll share 5 fascinating things you should know before going skydiving.

Skydiving Does Not Feel Like Falling

Skydiving is the sport of throwing yourself from an airplane and freefalling through the sky until you deploy your parachute and glide safely onto land. So you’d be forgiven to think that skydiving feels like falling – after all, that’s what you’re doing, right?

Wrong! Well, yes, you are technically falling, but no, it doesn’t feel like it. Within a few seconds of exit, you’ll reach what’s called your “terminal velocity”. This is where you’ve reached your fastest speed and at this point, you don’t go any faster.

It’s at this point that you stop feeling like you’re falling. Instead, you feel like you’re cushioned on the air, floating and really flying! You’ll feel very stable (providing you maintain the arched body position we’ll teach you in your skydive brief). You’ll be able to look around, move your hands, and wave at your videographer if you’ve opted to have one. You’ll be able to breathe, scream, smile, laugh… the last thing you’ll feel like is falling!

Skydiving Does Not Feel Fast

Something awesome happens to your body when you jump from an airplane. There’s a moment where you experience what we call ‘sensory overload’, which is where everything gets very busy and you can’t really take much in.

But once you settle into freefall, you’ll find all of your senses become alert. As your body starts to engage in its ‘fight or flight’ response, you’ll feel the adrenaline rushing through your body. You become more aware, able to see and feel more. Everything slows down.

Skydiving is very different from the experience people expect. Falling at 120mph through the air, you might think everything feels very quick. But the reality is, you’ll have plenty of time to take in the experience and appreciate the views around you.

Most Skydivers Are Afraid of Heights

Now, this might sound pretty crazy, but most skydivers are afraid of heights. That’s right! Those people who jump out of airplanes for a living – they’re scared of being up high! In fact, that’s the reason many people get into jumping in the first place. It’s about getting over that fear and doing something phenomenal instead.

Are you scared of heights too? Perfect! Come and join us. You’ll see that skydiving doesn’t actually feel that high up, it becomes surreal. You’ll see that you can overcome your fear and that it’s definitely worth doing.

Skydivers Use Automatic Deployment Triggers

Skydiving technology has come a long way since Leonardo Da Vinci designed the very first parachute. Today’s skydiver is equipped with a range of technologies and the latest designs to mitigate as much risk as possible and make the experience as fun as possible.

One of the biggest innovations in modern skydiving is the AAD, or automatic activation device. This is a small device that sits within the skydiver’s pack. It monitors air pressure, which allows it to measure height and also speed. The AAD’s job is to know when we are still in freefall at an altitude when we really shouldn’t be. It exists to automatically deploy our parachute for us in the unlikely event we are, for some reason, unable to do it ourselves.

It Takes a Lot of Skill to Become a Tandem Skydiving Instructor

When you come to make a tandem skydive with us, you’ll be assigned a super friendly instructor who will be your guide throughout the experience. You’ll be attached to your instructor by your harness and he/she will be responsible for managing the equipment and taking you through the jump. All you’ll need to do is maintain the body position we teach you during your skydive brief, and lift your legs for landing as we’ll show you.

This means that you’ll be putting a lot of faith in our tandem instructors. In spite of this, a lot of people don’t realize just how much it takes to become a tandem instructor.

As a USPA (United States Parachute Association) affiliated skydiving center, we adhere to the safety guidelines and are trained to the specifications of the USPA. To become a tandem instructor, a skydiver must have completed a set number of skydives by themselves, and to them go through a full training course, practice, and then qualification through tests and exams. It’s not easy, but we think tandem instructing is one of the greatest jobs in the world!

That said, the biggest thing people don’t realize about skydiving is just how awesome it is. So come find out! Book your skydive with us today. We’ll look forward to welcoming you!