Isn’t Skydiving The Same Everywhere You Go?

Skydiving’s skydiving, right?

Wherever you go, you’ll ride up in the airplane, jump out at the top and finish off with a parachute ride back to earth.

But while some people think skydiving is the same everywhere you go, we suggest otherwise…

Your choice of skydiving center has a huge effect on the experience you have! From the people you jump with to the airplane they use to the views you’ll get, there are so many things that make every skydiving center unique.

Here, we’ll explain what makes Skydive Orange unique, and our top tips on what to look out for when you’re planning your jump.

The view of a lifetime

The view you get on a skydive is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s a view few people will ever experience in their lives – unless they’ve made a skydive too.

Why waste that magical view on a plain or boring vista? Instead, choose a place (like Skydive Orange) that boasts incredible landscapes, beautiful forests and some of Virginia’s stunning parks, too.

It’s pretty cool to see as you’re soaring through the air at 120mph and, once that parachute’s open, you can breathe deep and take in the moment, to remember forever.

No more cabin crew…

There’s no cabin crew or drinks service here… these be skydiving airplanes, don’t you know?!

Skydiving airplanes are completely different to the commercial aircraft you’re used to. Not only is the process of boarding completely different (swap out your usual baggage drops and check in desks for high-fiving strangers and excited whoops!), the ride to altitude is like nothing you’ve experience, either!

Depending on the place you visit, you could be in any one of a range of skydiving approved aircraft. Some have benches to sit on (like ours here at Orange). Others, you sit on the floor.

Some places have a real small airplane, like a Cessna 182, which only carries four people and takes about 20-25 minutes to reach an exit altitude around 10,000 feet. Here at Skydive Orange, we have a Twin Otter, which is one of the larger skydiving aircraft, that gets us up in around 15 minutes.

Ready, set, jump!

Imagine it now. You’re sat or standing in the door of the airplane, looking down at the ground below and thinking ‘this is it’. Your heart will be thumping, your adrenaline will be pumping… and then boom, you’re in freefall!

The amount of time you get to spend falling free through the air depends on the exit altitude. This is the height from which you jump, and it differs from center to center.

But freefall is possibly the most awesome part of the skydive – so we say, do it for as long as possible!

Here at Skydive Orange, we go to 13,500 feet as standard. This means you’ll be in freefall for around 55 seconds. That’s the highest standard exit altitude of any Virginia skydiving center.

That’s not all though… We also offer a tandem HALO jump. This is pretty unique to us and means that you’ll exit from a much higher than standard height. Our HALO jumps go from an altitude of 17,500 feet – that’s more than 3 miles above the ground!

On a HALO jump, you’ll be in freefall for more than 80 seconds. That’s 35% longer than a standard skydive!

It’s all about the people

At the end of the day, any experience – whether it’s your first skydive, a meal at a restaurant, a day at the park – can be made even better by the people you share it with.

Skydivers are, in our opinion, some of the greatest people you’ll ever meet! Everyone who jumps does it because they truly love it. It’s fun, it’s exciting and when you make a jump too, you’ll become part of an awesome, global community of amazing people.

At Skydive Orange, we’re very proud of our team of staff, all of whom are USPA (United States Parachute Association) qualified and very experienced in delivering the best possible skydiving services. We’re also proud of the regular jumpers we welcome here all the time, people who are so passionate about their sport and who help each other and have some great friendships.

So what are you waiting for? Join us for a skydive to find out what makes us the best skydiving center around!