If you have any questions or feel like writing a beginners guide to sky-diving - this is the place!
Reply to this Hi Ali,
Did 2 jumps, both of them in Australia. The last one was fun....16 months ago...was there with a good friend of mine...in Sydney for four days. He thought he wouldn't make it because he was 3kg over the limit...but they took him.
We were both just out from party time, still dress...in shoes to party and not to jump!
Next stop, not for tomorrow, but I want one day to to my solo licence...seems South Africa is the cheapest to go....should I wait that my kids get a little older?
Peter
Reply to this Hi Peter,
I highly recommend doing the AFF (Accelerated Free Fall) course over the Static Line one. AFF will cost a bit more, but you'll be jumping from altitude from jump one, and jumping with jump masters means you will get used to having other skydivers around you quicker.
Btw, if your jumps were tandem, you ain't seen nothin' yet ;-)
Reply to this The kids should be able to do a tandem now. General rule (depending on drop zone of course) is that if a kid is big enough for the harness they can go up - you just have to sign on their behalf.
Reply to this Woah - kids can skydive?! In which country? I did a tandem skydive in England which was fantastic... but I had to prove I was fit and healthy and over 18. I had a friend in Russia who had extra regulations to deal with - she wasn't alowed to skydive unless she was over 7 stone in weight.
Reply to this Hi Jo,
I've got the same info as you gave me. And I'm sure you are right...going tandem is an easy task...on my second jump, I was thinking...next time I may be on my own...that should be scary.
What I meant by saying I wait the kids to be older...is that I don't want to take the risk to have an accident while being a parent of younger kids.
Spoke with few people for kids skydiving, and it's as you say all about height and weight...14 years old tandem skydive...I would have no problems for my son.
Reply to this It wasn't just that you don't have anything to do on a tandem jump other than be a passenger, so therefore a jump course is more daunting - once you accept the extra adrenalin it is way more exciting :-)
Valid point about the kids.
Reply to this My tip is wear jeans. I was wearing regular black pants and the fabric was too thin so the harness cut into my thighs rather painfully.
Reply to this If you wear non-laceup shoes they will (or should!) make you take them off.
Reply to this I wnet up to 14,000ft on a tandem dive...it's a full minute of free diving and great fun....but curious to know how high you can go in general...
Reply to this I did one in Taupo and that was from 15000ft, that was pretty cool but over so fast. did you find that when the tandem master opened the chute you got the wedgie of a lifetime. its been about 3 weeks and i still find myself hobbling sometimes!
Reply to this I've jumped from around 13,500ft.
With a tandem they throw out a smaller chute as soon as they're clear. 2 people would fall way too fast otherwise - and that wedgie would be a lot worse ;-)
Average fall rate for a single jumper is 170/180 kph.
Tandems are usually 12-15,000 but single jumpers really depends on the aircraft. I think from 20,000 you may need oxygen on the way up.
Reply to this I went with one of my brothers, and we went up to 12500. The place we went to jump was located in Illinois at the time. The particular plane we jumped from was an older model, kind of ragged around the edges, but I figured, I had a parachute so if things went wrong, I was planning on jumping for it anyway. Everything went fine, but about two weeks after we went, the plane crashed and killed everyone on board. Pilot, jump masters, students. At the time I was told that below a certain altitude if there are mechanical problems with the plane it is the pilot's call whether or not people jump, above a certain altitude it is the jump master's call. Not sure about the veracity of that statement or if it varies from country to country. The news was the pilot radioed in and thought he could pull it off and told them not to jump.
We went tandem and at the time (early 90's) they deployed a drogue chute but you still reach about 120 mph or roughly 190 kph. This is so people who pay to have someone video the jump and the payee who has another person strapped to his or her back will still fall at the same speed.
Reply to this Yay! I'm on my way to becoming a fully qualified sky diver!
Reply to this Hi Heart,
Welcome to TravelBlog.
Congrats on taking up the sport. Which course are you doing?
Reply to this These days I am going to skydive for the first time in my life. I mean I'm starting the course, heh. I am sure it will be great!
Reply to this Is it just me, or was anyone else disappointed with skydiving? Besides the general anxiety associated with getting in a tiny plane and looking out the door wondering why you're about to voluntarily jump out a plane, the actual "fall" felt just like floating and was rather un-eventful. I wouldn't recommend skydiving, but that's just my opinion. =\
Reply to this Sky Diving is definitely on my to do list! I have bungy jumped before but have yet to off jumped out of a plane. I have heard that you don't remember much of it because you’re so pumped with adrenalin? 15 000ft should do the job for me.
Reply to this I'd love to jump out of a plane, although I tend to not do too well with heights. Nevertheless I think I'd enjoy it, unless the shoot doesn't open, in which case I'd go out with a bang. Maybe I'll go diving in Thailand or something.
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