How hard could skydiving be? You just fall out of an airplane, pull a parachute, and land, right? In a nutshell – yes! Skydiving is a very accessible sport for most ages and sizes. So if you’ve been dreaming of skydiving or obsessively watching skydiving YouTube videos, then it’s time to turn those dreams into reality! 

BEGIN WITH A TANDEM SKYDIVE

Tandem skydiving was invented in the early 80s allowing curious adventure seekers to experience skydiving without the long training and responsibility of a solo skydive. In fact, it’s tandem skydiving that helped popularize the sport of skydiving to what it is today and is an incredible way to dip your toe to see if pursuing the sport is for you!

What you experience in tandem is the gateway to what it would be like to learn how to solo skydive. Here are a few of the things that you’ll get a sense of:

The Ride Up to Altitude and the Door Opening

Not many people have had the chance to be in planes smaller than commercial airlines, nor be in a plane without traditional seats, then the door opening at 13,000 feet above the ground! 

Jumping Out & Freefalling

Just like Will Smith recalling his experience of skydiving, your instincts are hyper-alert and your mind is trying to tell you that jumping out is crazy! However, once you convince yourself to step on the other side of fear, an amazing, blissful and sometimes spiritual experience happens!

Floating Under the Parachute

Descending under the parachute is an incredibly peaceful experience. It’s the moment when everything about the skydive slows down and you start to take it all in, including the views! 

Is Learning How to Skydive For Me?

When everything is new, it can be overwhelming. A tandem skydive will give you the whole perspective of what to expect, the etiquette, the basics of body position, locating the dropzone from the parachute, and what it’s like to be in a skydiving plane all the way to landing.

If you’ve done a tandem or already want to know what’s next, then it’s time to learn how to solo skydive. 

HOW TO SOLO SKYDIVE

At Skydive California, we train what’s called the Accelerated Freefall Program (aka AFF or AFF skydiving) that follows our industry standards set by the United States Parachute Association (USPA). This program includes learning how to check your equipment, experience exiting from multiple positions in the door, practice freefall maneuvers such as turns, forward movement, flips, and tracking, as well as how to pull, steer and land your parachute. Last but not least, you’ll also have an in-depth understanding of how to identify and address emergencies. 

The solo skydiving program is self-paced and while some others need extra time to learn a skill, others crush it and move right through the program. So does that mean skydiving is hard to learn? You’ll be happy to hear the key to progress is to stay current, do multiple jumps in a day, and have the goal in sight of earning your first basic license in the sport. 

In short, we do suggest a tandem skydive before learning to skydive solo, but you will be jumping solo in this program with provided equipment with an experienced freefall instructor! 

TRY INDOOR SKYDIVING

Indoor skydiving is the newest trend for skydivers that is an excellent way to enhance your skydiving skills at any level of your skydiving journey. Although you cannot practice exiting from a plane, or flying your parachute, it’s still a great way to refine your freefall techniques! 

LEARNING TO SKYDIVE IS AN INVESTMENT

We’ll make no bones about it folks – skydiving is an expensive sport. Although skydiving is a very accessible sport, to be a mindful and safe skydiver, it requires a level of commitment of not only time but financially. There are a lot of upfront costs such as: 

• Solo training program
• Earning your A-license
• Purchasing Equipment 
• Renting Gear & Jump Tickets

However, we offer discounted packages or pay-per-jump to help you budget your finances while you embark on this sport. Yet, we say investment because the sport of skydiving is incredibly rewarding. It opens the doors to new possibilities such as traveling to an exotic location to jump on a beach, to meeting like-minded people who become lifelong friends from around the world, progressing to the point of earning all your licenses, learning a new discipline, perhaps becoming an instructor or a competitor at a national level – there are so many opportunities in this sport and more things are being created! 

So, yes, it’s expensive. And yes, skydiving is an investment. And yes, skydiving is an incredible lifestyle that’s totally worth it! 

ARE YOU READY?

Are you ready to turn those dreams into reality and discover for yourself how easy it is to learn to skydive? Then give us a call or click and we’ll be happy to help you discover this incredible sport!