Why Skydiving Centers Are Far Outside City Limits

If you’re Googling “Skydiving Near Me” you may be surprised to learn that there aren’t many skydiving centers located near the city or even near the suburbs and there’s a good reason for that: space. Ground space and air space. To run an efficient and safe skydiving center, an airport in a rural area is usually best as there’s a). usually more real estate available for skydivers to land and b). there’s less air traffic for skydiving aircraft to compete with. These two factors are key ingredients to running a successful and more safe skydiving center. 

A SAFER SKYDIVING EXPERIENCE: AIRSPACE

Pretty much every city center has at least a regional commercial airport these days, and a regional commercial airport makes the sky overhead really busy for a “splash zone” that extends around it in a circle. For an idea of just how congested and confusing this can be, take a look at the FAA map for the “Special Flight Rules” area around Washington DC. Crazy, huh?!

To skydive safely, the air underneath the plane needs to be traffic-free and visible all the way to the ground. To this end, we need to establish clear airspace away from all other airports, especially major city airports with a lot of big metal tubes pinging around all over the place and complicating the airspace. It’s not just commuter flights full of teddy-clutching grandkids and business people, either: Major city airports have other private and general aviation traffic–including cargo flights and pilot schools–that also gobble up airspace like you wouldn’t believe.

As a rule, the further an airfield is outside busy airspaces, the better it is for safe skydiving.

A SAFER SKYDIVING EXPERIENCE: MORE REAL ESTATE

For skydivers, a spacious landing area is a great luxury. With few obstacles to navigate, minimal airplane traffic, and tons of “outs” (alternate landing areas), our jumpers feel very safe and secure. As a tandem student, it should make you more comfortable, too–that you won’t be looking at imminent trees, buildings, or power lines on your final approach, so you can land stress-free.

SKYDIVING IN THE CITY – NOT QUITE 

If you search for skydiving in the city in any US state, you’ll likely find a dropzone named after the state itself or a largely populated city and the reason has more to do with marketing than it does location. An example of this would be with our friends at the Boston Skydive Company located in Hanson, Massachusetts – 35 minutes south of the city or Skydive St. Louis located in Festus, Missouri a good 40 minutes from downtown St. Louis. This is pretty normal to see in the skydiving industry and the skydiving world. Skydive Orange seems to be an exception; it might be that our founders were more focused on skydiving than marketing! 

THE KEY TAKEAWAY: CLOSER DOESN’T MEAN BEST

As consumers, we live in a world of convenience whereby we like to purchase things at the lowest cost and have them delivered to us in the fastest amount of time. This is what we all want, but it shouldn’t be when it comes to skydiving! Cheapest and closest isn’t necessarily best! You may be surprised to learn that the majority of our guests (both licensed skydivers and first-time jumpers) come from Washington, DC. We are about 90 minutes away from the capital, but those in the know recognize that our aircraft support, clean airspace, spacious landing area, and strong reputation make Skydive Orange an ideal place to skydive. We hope this article has offered you some insights on what to know before making your first skydive! The more you know in advance, the better your skydiving experience will be!