Skydiving. Do you have to go on a course?

Question

Or can you do the tandem skydive for a one off fee?

Answer 1

You can make a tandem skydive as a one time thrill ride.  More often than not that is what happens when people come to the dropzone to skydive.  if you want to become a skydiver, jump with your own parachute system and earn your license then there is a good deal of training you need to go through.

There are a few websites you need to check out to get good info on skydiving.

http://www.uspa.org is the website of the United States Parachute Association, the governing body for sport parachuting in the United States.  There is a list of member dropzones on the website along with all sorts of great info on the sport.

The official site for the British Parachute Association is: http://www.bpa.org.uk/links.htm

The official site for the Canadian Parachute Association is: http://www.cspa.ca/

The official site for the Australian Parachute Federation is: http://www.apf.asn.au/

http://www.dropzone.com is another great resource for everything about skydiving, including dropzones in the United States and the rest of the world, and some BASE too.

http://www.bigairsportz.com is the web site for Brian Germain, one of the best people on the planet to get information on canopy flight from.

http://www.skydiveradio.com is just fun and a good place to feel like you’re at the drop zone when you can’t physically be there.

http://www.azarsenal.com/ is the website for the top vertical relative work team right now.  Arizona Arsenal won the 2007 USA Nationals.

If you’re not sure about skydiving, or you are too young to jump right now, but want to fly you should look at the vertical wind tunnels.  http://www.skyventure.com/ is the website for skyventure which operates many tunnels in the United States, Europe and Asia.  I love flying in the tunnel.  I don’t do it very much, I’d rather spend my money on skydives, but it is a great place to learn, work on my flying skills and just have a lot of fun!

What type of skydive should you do?  Tandem or student training…?  While, if this jump is just a one time thing, a “check it off your life’s to do list,” then go for the tandem jump.  If you know you want to get into the sport then I would suggest that you start with the tandem just so you have been in the air once before you start student training.  But if you know that you will be jumping as a hobby, the going right into the student training would be a good idea too.

The different in first jump courses is quite a bit.  For a tandem you need very little training, five to 20 minutes depending on the dropzone and a few other factors.  Student training will start with about 8 to 10 hours of ground training before your jump.  Either way you will be jumping with professional, rated skydivers who have been trained to teach and fly with new jumpers.  You will not be able to jump solo until you’ve been cleared by going through a training program.

Make sure that you contact the drop zone you want to jump at directly.  There are a few scams out there, one of which is 1800skyride.  They will take your money and send you to any dropzone they want too but only about three dz’s in the country except skyride tickets.  So please, please, please contact the dropzone directly.

What does skydiving feel like?  -- Freedom. For 45 to 60 seconds there is nothing but me, the air and my friends. Flying your body in the sky is the greatest feeling I have ever experienced. Flying and landing a parachute is a lot of fun too. I'd say it is kinda like driving a race car and landing an airplane all at once.  For me I find relaxation in free fall.

My first jump was a tandem and I don't remember being in the door, but I remember the rush and how i felt like i was floating during free fall. My first jump as a student I remember climbing out of the plane and getting the shake from my instructors telling me they are ready. I thought, "What the F am I doing?" then I just took a deep breath and gave the exit count. Letting go of the plane and starting the dive flow. What a rush! It was so much fun to fly my own body!

Now when I jump I think about the next point to turn. I think about flying faster in a track. I watch my friends’ body position and try to help them get in a better position with hand signals or I get coaching from someone else and work on my body position. Under canopy I think about my set up points and how and where to enter the landing pattern and where I want to land. But more than anything I think about how much fun and wonderful this sport is.

The tandem is a great jump.  I’d get video too.  I made one tandem in June of 2005.  If you are looking at skydiving as a one time thing, something to check off your life’s to do list then go right for a tandem.  If you know you want to be a skydiver right now then go for a tandem or start student training.  Either is great.  I started skydiving by going for a tandem, thinking it was a one time thing and loved it so much that I have made it a major part of my life.  In Aug

Answer 2

Try these links: if you are doing it for charity it's different than if you are just 'doing it', and no reasonable pilot is going to take you up and let you just jump out of his/her 'plane with NO instruction.

http://www.skylineparachuting.co.uk/char...

http://www.ukskydiving.com/?gclid=COOag8...