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A View Into the World of Skydiving

Skydiving has always been near and dear to my heart. I have over 400 skydives and I started skydiving when I was 20 years old. My first time skydiving started in Lake Wales, Florida outside of Orlando. I will never forget being in the back of the Twin Otter strapped to my instructor and doing a backflip out of the plane. We saw earth, sky, earth, sky, earth, sky, then earth again. When I felt the wind at my face in freefall, I realized that skydiving was not so scary after all. I started smiling and laughing in freefall. Once we landed, I signed up to go for a 2nd tandem skydive. At the end of my 2nd tandem, and decided to hang out at the dropzone (skydiving center) longer. As people finished skydiving for the day, they went over to a fire pit. Skydivers gathered around the fire and started telling adventure stories and their ‘oh sh&*% moments’. As I sat there listening to the crackling fire and the skydiving adventure stories, I realized I had found a special group of people. One by one the skydivers left the fire and started to retreat into their tents and trailers at the dropzone. I saw that these skydivers lived there. I had found a community… an adventure community and I realized I wanted to be one of them, and so I did. I learned to skydive (which didn’t come naturally). I’ll save my learning to skydive story for another day, but it’s a good one, I promise.

That’s the start of my story, but I wanted to bring someone I highly respect in the skydiving world on the show to talk about her first time skydiving, Melanie Curtis.

World-Renowned Skydiver, Melanie Curtis

 

Melanie Curtis and Jason Moleski, professional and world-renowned skydivers started a new podcast called Trust the Journey. I thought bringing Melanie onto the show would be a great idea because she is a life coach and helps people overcome fear and employ courage. She helps others have a mindset shift between what we are capable of doing and what is possible. Melanie has been skydiving for 23 years and her first skydive still motivates her and essentially changed her for the better. Melanie also runs a group called the VSC (virtual skydiving coach) which helps new skydivers entering the sport.

Melanie Curtis’s First Time Skydiving

Melanie was 18 years old when she went on her first skydive. Aviation was in her family since she was alive. Her dad was a pilot and had an airport at her house (a grass strip by her house). Her dad opened a skydive at the house with his best friend that was in upstate New York. Their dropzone is no longer in operation but it was called Verona Skydiving Center back in the day.

Melanie sat in on the first jump course many times growing up because she grew up around the dropzone. She was so scared to go for the first time and could have jumped when she was 16 (today you need to be 18 to go skydiving in the US), but she took her time to go on her first skydive. One day after Melanie graduated from high school she decided she would go skydiving the very next day. She told herself that, “tomorrow is the day”. The next day she entered her first jump course for her first static line jump and had the intention of making her first skydive after the ground course. She was afraid, but her courage exceeded her fear and she went to that first jump course with the intention of making her first skydive.

The Day Came for Melanie to Jump

Most people who go for their first skydive go on a tandem skydive (which is highly recommended). Melanie did her first skydive 18 years ago and her first skydive was static line and she wasn’t attached to an instructor. Melanie made her first skydive out of a small Cessna. Melanie was sitting behind the pilot’s (her dad) seat facing the tail of the plane, next to the door. They were flying on jump run which is the height where they would exit the airplane. It was time to open the door, and when they opened the door flung open, and she experienced a crazy moment she will never forget. Sitting in an airplane 4,000-5,000 feet above the Earth, with an open door in an airplane and she knew she would be jumping out.

Melanie had to swing her feet outside the door, and she could feel her feet blowing in the wind as she sat in the airplane. She reached out and Melanie put her hand on the airplane strut and her other hand on the strut. The goal was to hang on the strut with both hands then let go. Melanie hopped out and there was no way that she could hold onto the strut. She kicked and screamed and fell away from the airplane kicking and screaming then felt her parachute open for the first time. Guess what though, she LIVED. Her parachute opened, she navigated it down safely and this day transformed her life. When you land and live, something is re-wired in your brain and start to realize anything is possible.

This podcast covers information on how to make amazing experiences happen, so let’s get to logistics.

How Much Does Skydiving Cost?

Most likely your first tandem skydive will cost around $200. It could be more, could be less depending on where you jump, but most dropzones will be in that range. Some dropzones may give you a free jump if you organize a group of people to go skydiving too. We highly recommend you getting the video of your first skydive and this costs around $120-$150. It’s totally worth it and is something you can relive forever.

If you want to get into skydiving, an AFF (accelerated freefall) course may cost you around $1400 for the 7 jump course. After that, you will be paying for coach jumps, which may cost $50-$100 each and skydiving gear rental until you buy your own gear. Buying new skydiving gear may cost around $6,000 or you could buy used for about half that. Once you have an A license at 25 jumps (after you check off all of your required jumps and pass a written test, and pack and jump your own parachute), then you are paying about $25 per jump.

Is Skydiving Scary?

You may be wondering if skydiving is scary, and actually once you are in freefall and under a parachute, skydiving is really fun! It’s normal to be afraid of skydiving and have a fear of what is about to happen, but one of the top things you can do to manage your skydiving fear is to:

1. Research skydiving
2. learn about the sport and educate yourself on skydiving gear (listen to this podcast episode at the top of the page or where you listen to podcasts)
3. Write a list of what else you are afraid about, and start to understand those fears and work to mitigate those fears by learning to breathe and do your best to focus on the positive possibilities instead of your fears.

You will probably feel fear, and it is hard to diffuse fear, but you want to feel ready to enough to make a choice to have the courage to take the next step.

Here’s a video of Melanie’s friend’s first time skydiving and overcoming her fear of skydiving, check it out!

What Does Skydiving Feel Like?

Skydiving does not feel like a roller coaster. Your stomach doesn’t drop when you leave the plane because the plane many times is traveling at 80 knots. Being up at 10K or 13K feet (or lower) is different than being on top of a building and you could easily have a fear of heights and be fine on a skydive. Your perception of the world and height is different when you are really high up. When you jump out of the plane, you will feel a lot of wind. You won’t be able to have a conversation in freefall (unlike the movies) and many tandem skydives last a minute long. Most likely, your first skydive will be tandem, and you will be attached to an instructor, and you will be free to look around at the beautiful world below you while feeling the wind hit your face. All you can do at this point is smile, because the feeling is absolutely amazing.

What if the Parachute Doesn’t Open?

So many people have a fear of ‘what if the parachute doesn’t open’. Most of the time the parachute opens, but if the parachute doesn’t open properly, then your instructor will make a decision on how to handle the situation. Every tandem skydiving parachute rig has 2 parachutes and your instructor might decide to cut the parachute away. By cutaway, I mean they will pull a handle that will release the parachute and pull the handle which will deploy a reserve parachute. A reserve parachute is packed every xX days by a professional skydiving rigger and this is a beautiful pack job. Your main parachute only takes about 10 minutes to pack, whereas a reserve parachute takes at least an hour and is inspected and packed beautifully. If there is one thing you can feel really good about, it is a reserve parachute.

What if Your Skydiving Instructor is Unconscious or Dies on a Skydive?

In the very unlikely event that your tandem skydiving instructor dies in freefall, you could pull the handle to deploy the parachute. But if a parachute isn’t pulled, every tandem skydiving parachute system has an AAD (automatic activation device). This will start the deployment of the reserve parachute at 1,900 feet on tandem parachutes if a speed of 78 MPH is reached.

Where Should You Go Skydiving in the US?

Melanie skydives at Skydive Cross Keys and Melanie offers a retreat to help people transform and have breakthroughs in their life which costs about $600 which includes the tandem skydive. But if you are looking for some cool places around the US for you first skydive check out the following list.

Skydiving in Florida

• Skydive Sebastian – Incredible views of the ocean and the vibe at this dropzone is hard to beat
• Skydive City Z-Hills – Skydive Z-Hills feels like you stepped back in time to another world. This has always been a special dropzone and is where I made my first night skydive!
• Skydive Deland – An hour outside of Orlando, this dropzone is considered the capital of skydiving. Some of the top skydiving manufacturers are in Deland and Skydive Deland is a very professionally run dropzone.

Skydiving in the Northeast (US)

• Skydive Cross Keys – Very professional dropzone with a great vibe
• Jumptown – The first commercial dropzone in the US and is located in Orange, Massachusetts and has top-notch instruction. Great to go for a tandem skydive and they host an AFF (accelerated freefall) Camp so you can learn to skydive.

Skydiving on the US West Coast

• Skydive Oregon – Excellent mountain views and open in the Summer and early Fall
• Skydive California in Northen California – Highly rated dropzone, with the nicest people you will ever meet
• Skydive Elsinore – Melanie on this skydiving episode had the nickname ‘Melsinore’ and this is a dropzone you just have an instant good feeling when you get there.

There are many more amazing dropzones in the US, but these are a few highlights. When making a decision to jump somewhere, just know that dropzones are not in the middle of a busy city, skydivers need space to land which is why you won’t find one in the metro area (usually).

The Most Unique and Amazing Skydiving Experience in the World

Skydiving Everest… yes I said skydiving Everest. You could skydive next to Mount Everest. This is not your normal skydive (and costs more than your traditional skydive), but we will do an episode on this in the future with Tom Noonan (if he agrees, Tom, please say yes) and we will give you costs, logistics, etc in the future.

The coast of Finland is actually a beautiful place to skydive and you could check out skydiving the palm at Skydive Dubai.

What are Skydiving Requirements?

• Skydiving Age Limit: In the United States and many places around the world, you need to be 18 years old to skydive.
• Skydiving Weight Limit: You need to be under 220 lbs. The weight requirement may be different by the dropzone, so check with your skydiving center of choice.
• Medically cleared to skydive: If you have medical conditions, check with your doctor if you are cleared to skydive

Can you Skydive with a Cold?

If you are having problems with your sinuses and have a cold, we recommend you wait to make your skydive. The planes you are in are not pressurized and keeping your ears is a nice thing.

If you have other skydiving questions feel free to reach out to me or write your question on Experiences You Should Have Facebook page.

 

Maybe you’re interested in all things diving, if so, listen to this episode on learning how to Scuba dive and why you should go scuba diving in Kona with the manta rays!