Why Humor in Skydiving is Important

Humor in skydiving? No way … Right?… Wrong.

You might be tempted to believe that skydivers are all death-defying daredevils, hardened and severe. But, if you strolled up to the hangar at Skydive Orange, you’d be downright flabbergasted! 

You’d see wide-eyed teens (18 and up to skydive of course!); folks with manes of mature, experience-earned gray; individuals spanning all careers (bankers, baristas, doctors, arborists); and they’d all have one thing in common: they’d be grinning with free-spirited abandon from ear to ear!

While we most definitely take skydiving safety seriously, we certainly don’t take ourselves seriously at all! Skydivers are a lively bunch, and part of living our lives to the fullest includes having a sense of humor in skydiving. From helping nervous students enjoy the journey and overcome their anxiety, to keeping the mood light on the dropzone for all to enjoy, humor in skydiving is essential.

Fun-Loving Community

In the skydiving community, humor is one of the pivotal ways in which we bond with each other. 

Skydiving is intended to be fun, but at the beginning of a student’s skydiving journey, there can be quite a learning curve. We use skydiving humor to help students and new skydivers relax. From fist bumps and jokes in the aircraft to silly faces in freefall, we do what we can to help keep the positive vibes flowing. 

Fear is a mental block, and we’ve discovered that with a little skydiving humor, fear melts away.

Most find that hard-to-master skydiving maneuver to be far more manageable once the mental block of fear is removed.

Now, there are times when we’re a serious bunch — like when we’re practicing our emergency procedures or receiving a briefing from the safety and training advisor — but generally speaking, we’re pretty silly. After all, we are at the dropzone to enjoy ourselves!

Boogie Time

A boogie is essentially a great, big skydiving festival. Folks come from all around to join together, celebrating this awesome sport and the phenomenal community we have.

At Skydive Orange, we host the Big O Boogie. It’s a weekend filled to the brim with smiles, endless hugs, revelry, and, of course, skydiving. During the day, we jump to our hearts’ content, often participating in some pretty silly shenanigans. There are jumps where we fly through hula hoops or piece together a Mr/s. Potato Head, and some specialty jumps where we ride a bucking inflatable out of the back of a tailgate aircraft. It’s a wild time, and the fun doesn’t stop once the sun goes down. After hours, there are large get-togethers with music, costume contests, and lots of dancing.

Skydiving Jokes

Tandem instructors seemingly come equipped with an endless ream of extreme ‘dad jokes’ and skydiving puns. Why? Because skydiving jokes help break the tension for first-time, nervous skydivers. Here’s a classic example:

Student: Do you like your job?

Instructor: It has its ups and downs.

Look, skydiving is fun, but for just about all of us, our first jump was colored with a touch of distress. It is jumping from an aircraft in flight after all!

The instructor will often joke that it’s their first time (it’s not), or how if they do well this time they’ll be allowed to go solo next (yeah right). It’s all a ruse to chill you out. Becoming a tandem skydiving instructor takes years of skydiving, very specific training, and several certifications.

Skydiving Memes

We love a funny skydiving meme … we’ll just leave these here …

Interesting Skydiving Traditions

Like any niche group, we really enjoy our skydiving traditions. Like humor in skydiving, our skydiving traditions help to bond our community together. 

• The A-License Stamp

One of the first skydiving traditions most newly licensed skydivers will experience is receiving the “A” license stamp on their forehead. This act signifies, quite obviously, to the rest of the dropzone that this individual has earned their A License. The act of stamping the newly licensed skydiver is also often followed by a group picture.

• Getting “Pied”

Skydivers have a funny way of celebrating monumental jump numbers. It involves a pie tin, whipped cream, and secrecy. Shortly after a skydiver lands from a jump, generally ending in 00 (100, 200, 300…), they’ve got to be on the lookout. Though, they may never see it coming! Someone is likely lying in wait to press a whip cream pie to their face! It’s all done in good fun, but it’s a sticky situation for sure!

• Beverage Tax

The adult beverage tax is a skydiving tradition used by jumpers to garner supplies for the dropzone refrigerator for after-hours/end-of-day consumption. It works like this: typically if you declare that you’ve completed something for the first time, you owe adult beverages. However, at many dropzones that support their sober participants, any kind of drink will do. 

For example, let’s say you make your first jump from a helicopter, and during the course of the day you say out loud, “That was my FIRST time making a helicopter jump!” Oops!! If someone overhears you talking about your first time, they can invoke the beverage tax, often known as the beer fine. And, you’ve gotta pay up! Most will do so joyfully because the payment is enjoyed by all after the jumping day concludes. 

Ready to join our jubilant, jumping crew? Schedule a skydive with Skydive Orange today! Blue skies!