Experience/Advice with skydiving centers?

[Daradon]

Hey CP,

A group of about 6 of us have decided to take the plunge this summer and go skydiving. I have been looking up some of the centers around the city but I was wondering if anyone here had any advice or recommendations that would steer us towards a good one (or away from a bad one).

Also any advice for first timers would be good too. We have all decided we are going to play it safe and do the tandem jump for the first time. I know they strongly recommend that, even though it's not a prerequisite.

Thanks!

[Cowperson]

A guy named Slug told me to let go of an airplane strut about 3,500 feet above Drumheller and I did.

No complaints. Seemed to be a thorough course.

That's all I've got.

Cowperson

[bc-chris]

this might sound weird/pessimistic.... but make sure you have life insurance BEFORE you jump... but it's not what you think.

my wife and i both did tandem jumps while we were dating. once we got married and bought a place we decided we better get life insurance.... we wanted to make sure that if something happened to either of us the survivor could take a couple years off work AND have enough to pay off our mortgage.

one of the questions we were asked was if we had ever tried skydiving. we answered honestly and the extra paperwork we had to fill out was ridiculous. we were deemed 'high risk takers' so we have higher premiums - sorta silly for a one time thing for my wife and a two time thing for me.

so yea - all that to say - have life insurance before you jump!

as for other advise.... don't forget to pull the cord!!!

[DownhillGoat]

I went in Vulcan. Would highly recommend.

[Daradon]

Heh, well I can't get life insurance anyway, cause of my heart condition. Shoot, I even sold it at one point and couldn't get it for myself.

Life is weird.

But I'll pass that on to the others.

Anyone else have any experience?

[squiggs96]

I thought this was going to be a thread about Kesler, Sedin and company.

[Ryan Coke]

Don't go to the place in Beiseker. They kill someone every few years, change their name, and keep operating. I know people that have worked there.....bad deal. I think it was a buck a chute to pack it.....the faster you pack the more you make, and there isn't a lot of money in it.

Actually I used to want to try it, but the more I learned about how many of them operate has moved me away from the activity.

It's not that it think the activity is particularly dangerous with a professional outfit, the hard part is finding a reputable place to do it.

Good luck.

[Sr. Mints]

One question I've been wondering which may be useful to you, Daradon, is how come sometimes when a person jumps they're strapped in front of another person (presumable someone experienced?) and sometimes they're skydiving solo?

Personally, I'd rather go solo.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

One question I've been wondering which may be useful to you, Daradon, is how come sometimes when a person jumps they're strapped in front of another person (presumable someone experienced?) and sometimes they're skydiving solo?

Personally, I'd rather go solo.

Those are tandem jumps. It's a good way to go for your first time. Both for the landing, which takes some practice, and for the part that worries me the most, getting the nerve up to actually leave the plane.

They highly recommend that for your first jump, but there is no regulation that forces it. I did talk to a guy once who decided to forgo the tandem jump for his first leap, and he said if he were to do it again, he would do it the other way around. Which is saying something if you still have that attitude afterwards I'm thinking. I would think, that even if I did jump that way the first time, I would say, 'yeah it was scary, but it was totally worth it in the end to do it myself'.

Course you can tandem as much as you want, but it's nothing something that I think I would repeat. Could be some people do though.

There is something soul stirring about Cowperson's example though, I must say.

So Vulcan good, Beiseker bad? That's interesting cause we were leaning Beiseker. Close, seemed to have the more professional website. I know that doesn't count for much, but that's why I started the thread.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

this might sound weird/pessimistic.... but make sure you have life insurance BEFORE you jump... but it's not what you think.

my wife and i both did tandem jumps while we were dating. once we got married and bought a place we decided we better get life insurance.... we wanted to make sure that if something happened to either of us the survivor could take a couple years off work AND have enough to pay off our mortgage.

one of the questions we were asked was if we had ever tried skydiving. we answered honestly and the extra paperwork we had to fill out was ridiculous. we were deemed 'high risk takers' so we have higher premiums - sorta silly for a one time thing for my wife and a two time thing for me.

so yea - all that to say - have life insurance before you jump!

as for other advise.... don't forget to pull the cord!!!

Why the eff did you do that? I mean if you were on the Alberta Provincial Skydiving team I guess you have to fess up but one jump?
Thats like the 'have you ever smoked Marijuana?' question, unless your Cheech Marin you just say no.

Other than that all I have to add is this is probably not an area to cheap out on, spend the extra for a good school.

[Resolute 14]

Beiseker does have a bad repuation.

I jumped last year through Skydive Big Sky in Innisfail. I'm still here, so no complaints.

[East Coast Flame]

I went to Beiseker about 4 years ago. Didn't die, so I guess I would recommend it.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Those are tandem jumps. It's a good way to go for your first time. Both for the landing, which takes some practice, and for the part that worries me the most, getting the nerve up to actually leave the plane.

They highly recommend that for your first jump, but there is no regulation that forces it. I did talk to a guy once who decided to forgo the tandem jump for his first leap, and he said if he were to do it again, he would do it the other way around. Which is saying something if you still have that attitude afterwards I'm thinking. I would think, that even if I did jump that way the first time, I would say, 'yeah it was scary, but it was totally worth it in the end to do it myself'.

Course you can tandem as much as you want, but it's nothing something that I think I would repeat. Could be some people do though.

There is something soul stirring about Cowperson's example though, I must say.

.

My experience went like this:

I was the last of three to go . . . . we circle once, one person goes out on the wing and lets go, another circle, second goes. . . . . . . so I've got lots of time to think about it.

Finally, its my turn. Late on a September day, the sun is lower and its warm. It's nice.

I grab the strut at 3,500 feet, about 500 feet higher than the other two, and leverage myself out, putting my feet onto the steps under the wing, the wind whipping me ferociously. Nothing but air below my Reeboks.

My pulse is hovering near zero. This is not bothering me at all. Seriously.

I finish enjoying the moment and look back in the plane and Slug, holding my ripchord, seems to be saying something over the roar of the engine which I finally interpret as "Let go of the plane dumbass!!!"

So I let go of the plane, doing a beautiful, inspiring butterfly as we'd been taught, looking up and watching the aircraft sail away without me. An incredible moment.

The chute snaps open and something that isn't supposed to happen does happen . . . . my feet go almost vertical. The chute AND my feet are above my head. My heart rate goes from near zero to 1,000 beats in a split second.

Finally, after a hovering, uncertain moment when it looks like my torso might do a complete revolution to who-knows-what-consequences, my feet drop back down to where they should be.

Sweet. My pulse goes back down to near zero.

A radio in my ear has a guy on the ground telling me to try some turns. So I pull on the control cords and get a little loop going and then, with the pulse back near zero, I get a little aggressive and start swinging in a circle even harder. . . . . . then I look over and see the far end of my chute starting to collapse as it loses lift.

My heartrate goes from near zero to 1,000 beats again in a split second.

I ease off on the aggression and the chute fills up again. Pulse goes back down to near zero.

Finally, the guy on the ground guides me into the landing glide path. This is a little concerning as I seem to be hovering over a veritable forest of high tension power lines which are between me and my final destination. Maybe the guy on the ground is mad at me. But there's no way to ask. Its one-way communication.

Finally I glide in for a landing that ended up scraping along on my butt as an inglorious ending.

I got a certificate signed by Slug and a hearty handshake from same.

Honestly, I found it a little boring for the most part and haven't felt the need to go back.

Scratch that off the bucket list.

Cowperson

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Why the eff did you do that? I mean if you were on the Alberta Provincial Skydiving team I guess you have to fess up but one jump?
Thats like the 'have you ever smoked Marijuana?' question, unless your Cheech Marin you just say no.

Maybe, because if one did die, and they look into the history of the person and find out they did skydive, the insurance company wouldn't pay. It's like getting insurance in Alberta, but living in BC. Yes it is cheaper, but if you total your car, you likely aren't going to get paid for it. All the money you were paying for premiums has been wasted and you have fraudulently signed a document. Is it worth it to save a few bucks now? Not for me.

The question was have you ever tried skydiving. If you have, then you check yes. It's likely they aren't solely worried about the person jumping out of a plane again, but what that person sees an acceptable risk. Someone who jumps out of a plane is more likely to bungee jump, parasail, hang glide, participate in extreme activities etc. than a person who doesn't, and thus is more likely to die at a younger age. It's the same reason why a sports car costs more than a station wagon.

[Zevo]

My experience was very similar to Cowpersons. Grab the strut under the wing, step out on the ledge, step off the ledge, let go. That first step on the ledge was a bitch as the wind from the prop wants to blow your foot off.

In the training they told us most peoples adreneline rush is so strong the first time they jump that you kind of temporarily black out. Not pass out but just forget everything they tell you to do the first few seconds. Well I remember hanging from the wing and letting go...the next thing I remember is floating peacefully in the air. If my chute didn't open, not sure I would have recovered.

I jumped 20+ years ago out of beiseker and what Ryan Coke says was pretty much true back then. People were packing chutes and getting credit for future jumps for it. Not trained people but guys like you and me who had jumped a few times and wanted to jump more.

Don't go hungover. I was severely hung over and the ground training was horrid. We had to practice looking up, arching and counting to 3 in preperation for when you let go of the wing...I could barely do it without getting dizzy and almost falling over. We spent about 5 hrs in the sun doing little exercises and waiting for other groups to go. That part wasn't fun, mostly because of the hangover.

The jump itself was a blast and a few in our group thought we might like to do it again. Not long after a young woman plunged to her death out of Bieseker as her chute got tangled and didn't fully open.

As much as I loved the experience I would do a tandem jump. I do beleive you get to freefall a bit too which you don't get when you hang from the wing...although climbing out the door at 5000 ft and hanging from the wing was pretty cool.

[Brewmaster]

The way I understand it, if you're jumping by yourself for the first time you have to open the chute as soon as you leave the plane. If you go tandem, you get to freefall for 30 seconds or a minute before the instructor pulls the chute.

When I went it was from 15,000 ft (tandem) and got to freefall for about a minute over the mountains in New Zealand. Definitely recommend doing this!

[Zevo]

Ya, that's my understanding too. When we went, the instructor is hanging out the door, holding on to your deployment chute(or what ever it's called) and when you let go your chute gets pulled. No freefalling involved.

[MillerTime GFG]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

I went in Vulcan. Would highly recommend.

I also went in Vulcan 2 summers ago...it was awesome, instructor was good...although I'm pretty sure he's from the Shire...felt like I had a midget strapped to my back.

[Eric Vail]

I've never jumped from a plane. All I know is that Beiseker place has been in the news a lot over the years and never for good reasons.

I wouldn't go there.

[Reaper]

Now I want to go tandem skydiving with an instructor smaller than me so it can look like my backpack is pulling the chute and doing all the work for me.