The Bucket List: Skydiving
“If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving ain’t for you.
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WATCH THIS
INTRO TO FLIGHT
Humans have been dreaming of flight for thousands of years and to this day, nothing has changed. We still dream about flying, cruising through the air with gravity having no effect on us whatsoever as we move with our mind easily through the air. If only that were feasible....
Skydiving is the closest thing we can do to get that feeling (aside from flying ourselves), but truly, there's nothing like feeling the wind on your face as you plummet through the air at 120 mile per hour. If you have gone skydiving, you know what it feels like, and probably want to do it again, and if you haven't add it to your bucket list, like ASAP. There is just nothing like it in the whole world.
GETTING LICENSED...IF YOU WANT
Take the plunge...photo by @camking747
If you are an adrenaline junkie, you can even get licensed and become a skydiver yourself. Aside from the steep price of about $300+ and 6-8 hour intro course BEFORE your first jump (known as AFF) you can become a licensed jumper after only 25 jumps and passing the first seven levels. After that, you can jump at over 300 different dropzones in the US alone! There are also THOUSANDS of over dropzones around the world you can jump at....just imagine jumping in places like Africa or Switzerland, or Australia...now that would be something.
Plus, you can buy your own gear, kickass jumpsuit, fly with friends from all around the world and tell your friends you are basically a superhero.
If you want to get started, or simply learn more about becoming a licensed jumper, read here!
NO THANKS, I'LL JUST GO TANDEM
If you want to go skydiving, but don't feel like becoming an overnight daredevil, read here for where to find the closes U.S. dropzone and read their safety ratings, reviews, and more information. It takes a lot just to decide to chuck yourself out of a perfectly good airplane (fun fact: there is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane!) so if you are already halfway there, just make the jump!
Just make sure to bring some friends along for the ride, too. And make sure to get the video. You can't just huck yourself out of the airplane by yourself, now, can you?
Watch below for a typical tandem jump from Skydive New England up in Maine, USA.
overall
Skydiving is actually pretty safe. You'd be surprised. Most of the fatalities are completely sensationalized by the media (because they are so rare) and are typically experienced jumpers only with thousands of jumps who made an error on their procedures or misjudged a landing on a smaller canopy. Things happen, and while fatalities are terrible, most instructors and experienced jumpers know the risks (which again - are small).
And if you need statistics....According to the United States Parachuting Association, there are an estimated 3 million jumps per year, and the fatality count is only 21 (for 2010). That's a 0.0007% chance of dying from a skydive, compared to a 0.0167% chance of dying in a car accident (based on driving 10,000 miles).
If you want to read more on the stats check here.
One last thing....if you could go skydiving anywhere in the world, where would it be, and WHY?
Comment down below on the blog and let us know!