What are the costs involved in skydiving?

Question

I've wanted to get into skydiving for a long time, and I'm planning on finally doing a tandem jump a few weeks from now.

Assuming I enjoy that, I'd like to get licensed. The licensing prices are very simple and listed on everyone's sites, but I'm having a hard time finding information on pricing for things like parachutes and other necessary gear. I know that most licensed jumpers have their own chutes, but is it possible to just rent on a per jump basis for a while? What would renting cost?

If renting isn't possible, how much would it cost to buy all of the necessary gear?

Answer 1

What are you planning on doing in skydiving?

If you are looking to just make one tandem jump then you are looking at about $200 for the jump and $50 to $100 for video. The prices are different at different dropzones and you will have to find out from them for the actual cost.  There is very little training that you go through for a tandem jump.  The reason is that the tandem master is a high trained and experienced skydiver who is in control during the skydiving and parachute piloting.  Your training to make a tandem jump is brief and covers mostly your body position on exit and what to do when landing the parachute.

If you are going into a student training program each training method has different costs. Static line is usally the cheapest, Instructor Aided Deployment would be next and then Accelerated Free Fall, but that's just my thought I don't know for sure. When I did my student training I went through AFF in August of 2005 and spent about $1500 for the jumps and training.

Buying gear is expensive. New skydivers should by used gear and there are a lot of reasons for this. Plan on spending about $5000 or more for a container, reserve canopy, main canopy, AAD, helmet and altimeter.  DO NOT BUY GEAR UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED YOUR STUDENT TRAINING.  The dropzone will have student gear and likely rental gear as well.  This is for your safety.

Once you have earned your license and have your own gear each jump will cost between $18 and $27 dollars depending on the dorpzone and a few other things.

I figure I spent about $10000 in my very first year of jumping so that I could be all the gear and training, jumps, food, travel... etc. I figure that I spend about $5000 a year right now on jumps and other costs related right now.

The cool thing about skydiving is that if it is something that you really love then the cost isn't anything important and you will find a way to make it work. I started skydiving when I was a graduate student living off of a $800 a month stipend.

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.

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 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!

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.

The length of a skydive depends on the type of skydive. a low altitude jump I may have 5 to 20 seconds of free fall. Full altitude I can have 45 to 60 seconds of free fall. If I’m free flying then less free fall because the speeds are higher. If I'm on my belly then more time because the speeds are lower. The canopy flight time depends on how you fly and the type of canopy. It can be anywhere from less than 60 seconds under canopy to 5 or 6 minutes for a normal jump.

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 mor