You may be wondering about the chances of dying skydiving. Ew. Morbid, huh?
Sure, skydiving carries a risk of death. Absolutely! However: While that risk exists, it needs to be taken in context. Let’s sit a spell and contrast it with a few key facts, as well as the carefully collected safety statistics for tandem skydiving and understand the chances of dying skydiving. The deeper truth will out.
Skydivers most definitely, without a doubt want to live.
…and this, of course, includes your tandem instructor. Dying while taking you on a skydive would completely ruin his/her dinner plans, and s/he is not about to let that happen.
How did the myth get started that skydivers have a death wish? That we’re reckless? We’d like to blame it on poorly-written television and movies, but it might be a little more along the lines of perspective. What do we mean? Well: When folks who don’t understand the true risks of skydiving see a dropzone full of laughing, joking, happy skydivers throwing themselves continuously out of airplanes, the newbies might get the idea that the skydivers don’t care about the risk of death. Why else would they be so blasé? Well: Nothing could be further from the truth.
Skydivers Love Life!
As a matter of fact, skydivers love life so much that we eagerly chase it down. We dig into life with gusto, like Winnie the Pooh into his jar of honey, our arm in there up to the elbow. We’re smiling at the dropzone because we understand that the statistical risk of dying (and, for that matter, the statistical risk of injury while skydiving) pales in comparison to the return on the investment of jumping out of that plane.
Risks in Skydiving
Speaking of investment: let’s look at the question of skydiving risk in the same way as we would look at a question of financial risk. Everyone understands that, in order to make a significant gain from an investment, you have to risk some capital. Otherwise, there’s no return. With us still? Good. Looked at from that perspective, you can see that the calculated, intelligent acceptance of measured risks is the only way to get a real return. If those risks are minimal but the return is significant, that’s an obvious good choice to put your money. Right?
By that figuring, skydiving is a downright brilliant investment. As a matter of fact, the risk of dying skydiving is not only more manageable than ever before in history, with modern equipment, better training, and stringent aviation safety requirements on our side, your risk of dying skydiving is significantly statistically less than your risk of dying as you drive to and from the dropzone. You can check out the carefully-gathered statistics for yourself. Truth.
And what are the returns on that investment? Immense. When you skydive for the first time, you can expect to ride a wave of joy, empowerment and megawatt excitement from the moment you step out the door of that plane–and it often lasts for weeks! Life’s challenges suddenly seem surmountable. Big changes come much more easily; stagnant lives come unstuck. And, if you spend a little more time at the dropzone (perhaps, say, in learning to skydive solo?), you’ll unquestionably end up making friends for life. You can ask any skydiver to confirm that statement. They will.
If you’re worried about the chances of dying skydiving, don’t worry–you’re not alone. You do, however, owe it to yourself to look at the skydiving safety statistics and show yourself how much you have to gain by leaping past that fear and out the door of a plane. Whatcha waiting for? Come and skydive with us in northern California!
