Skydiving: Why It’s Different Than What You Think

Skydiving: the poorly planned past time of risk-takers and adrenaline seekers. Right? Not so much. Sometimes, people mistakenly believe all sorts of things because they’ve heard it so often they believe it must be true. For instance, you, dear reader, might even believe Napoleon Bonaparte, that indisputable, aggressive conqueror, was a man in miniature, a fellow of diminutive height. Yet, get ready to have your mind blown, he wasn’t. In fact, Napoleon probably strode about at a height right around 5’ 7”. So much for the Napoleon complex, huh?

The point is that, unfortunately, misconceptions about all sorts of things abound and are taken to be incontestable truths. We see it in skydiving all the time, and it’s downright dispiriting. We hate to see misconceptions surrounding skydiving keeping people from fully enjoying all that this wondrous sport has to offer.

We’re here to set the record straight. Hopefully, we can show you why skydiving is different than you might think.

Misconception #1: I’ll Look Ridiculous With Someone Strapped to My Back

We encounter this worry quite often. You might imagine being strapped to another human being for your first tandem skydive will be a bit awkward. If you’re exceptionally small, or particularly tall, you might worry that the whole thing will look downright comical. Thankfully, you’re wrong! 

The tandem skydiving mechanism operates much like any other “tandem” vehicle (think the bike with two seats, two sets of pedals, and two handlebars). The idea is to be in sync. However, you aren’t fully connected to your instructor until you are in the aircraft on your way to altitude. There’s no awkward sauntering up to the plane, embarrassed while onlookers behold you being loaded into the plane hanging limp like a little tike in a sarong. No, you stride right up with your instructor beside you. Once seated, your instructor will connect themselves to you and tighten the connection to an appropriate length. When it’s time to exit, you climb to the door and fly as one! 

Misconception #2: Skydiving Is Just Falling From An Airplane

Well, that’s only partially correct. Yes, it is true that to skydive you must fall from an airplane, but skydiving is so much more than just falling! Skydiving is as close to true human flight as you can ever get. By utilizing different parts of your body, you can turn right or left, move forwards or backwards, accelerate and decelerate (that’s right you can literally control your fall rate!). If you choose to pursue solo skydiving, you’ll learn an entire host of ways to effectively fly, not just fall. There are even some people in skydiving that dance: we’re talking a 10,000 ft ballet complete with arabesques, acrobatic maneuvers, and pointed toes. In the biz, it’s called freestyle skydiving. If that’s just falling, we’ve really got to review our definition!

Misconception #3: There’s No Way I Could Ever Be Brave Enough to Skydive

After a couple of months of being cooped up in self-isolation, the world has slowly begun to unfurl. During our stasis, it’s possible we’ve begun to think the confines of our home are real immutable boundaries. We’ve taken limits and physically manifested them. Now is the time to get outside of your mental partitions.

To evolve, you’ve got to be challenged. To grow, you have to be uncomfortable. Truly, it is only you, who can set your own limitations. Sure, skydiving might not be for everyone. But, why exactly is it that you believe you can’t? It might be time to examine why you’re holding yourself back. Who knows, after you break through with that first tandem skydive, you might realize there’s a whole, big, wide world out there to discover and conquer. Go get em’ you little Napoleon, you!

Really though, if you’re interested in spreading your wings and exploring new things. Give us a call at Skydive Orange. We’re happy to introduce you to the wild, blue yonder!