Author: Kim
As Confucius said: “Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” If you’re madly passionate about skydiving you’re probably pondering the possibilities of working as a skydiver. But just how much money can skydivers make? The job ‘skydiver’ as in a performance artist, is only for the fortunate few. Very few skydivers are skilled and talented enough to get paid to perform skydiving alone. But there are many jobs and paid tasks within the skydiving community, from packers and photographers to pilots and instructors. Let’s take a look and the types of skydiving jobs…
Skydiving isn’t a cheap hobby. Taking introduction courses, buying your first pieces of equipment, and the cost of your first 25-50 jump tickets, can add up to $10,000+ over a couple of years. To start wingsuiting, you will need to be an accomplished skydiver already, so how much does wingsuit flying cost? Similar to skydiving, you’re going to want to invest in a detailed beginner’s course before you jump. You can hire a wingsuit and equipment to get you started, but soon enough, you’ll want the comfort and convenience of having your own gear. Let’s look at how much wingsuit…
One of the most extreme of extreme sports, the majority of skydivers would never even dream of doing a base jump. However, some sports jumpers just have that fearless quality, and the thrills and dangers of base jumping calls to them. With base jumping growing in popularity over the last decade, it’s now possible to consider taking on base jumping as a profession. So how do you become a professional base jumper? It’s not something the average person or even the average skydiver can consider. But if you have a genuine talent and passion for the sport, it is now…
It’s definitely a subjective question, asking, ‘who is the best base jumper?’ Depending on who you ask, you are likely to get many different answers. What you value and regard as being true ‘greatness’ may be different from what others consider great. But base jumping is a sport that has produced a lot of outstanding athletes and iconic characters. Some may call the best base jumper the person who has completed the most insanely daring jumps. Some will refer to the record books for great ones. Others may admire those who travel the furthest and widest and taken on ambassadorial…
You’ve probably seen a wingsuit flyer soaring through the air at an almost horizontal angle and been impressed by the speed. Wingsuit flying is a totally different experience from skydiving or base jumping freefall. So how fast do you go in a wingsuit? There’s a lot of physics involved, but professional wingsuiters can pick up some incredible speeds and travel remarkable differences. As wingsuit technology improves, so do the speeds and distances the average wingsuiter can travel. Let’s take a look at how fast an average wingsuit pilot will travel and what the top-end speeds professionals reach. We will also…
Whether you are new to skydiving or certified and looking to get into base jumping, it’s essential to understand what a base rig is. There are some apparent similarities between skydiving and base jumping equipment, but there are also some critical differences. While you won’t need to go into your first base jumping lesson knowing all the equipment and base jumping gear and what it does. It’s good to have an idea of what a fundamental base jumping rig is in advance. Let’s look at a typical base rig. We can look at what the critical pieces of equipment are…
Before getting into base jumping, it’s vital to understand the costs involved. From taking your beginner’s skydiving course to solo base jumping off the Perrine Bridge, you are going to incur a lot of fees and expenses. So just how much does base jumping cost? If you are preparing to learn base jumping, you will already be an experienced skydiver and have invested some serious money into the sport (your spending will only continue as you get into base jumping). However, if you are new to the sport, it’s essential to be aware of the financial commitment you need to…
What equipment do you need for base jumping? Being an extreme twist on regular skydiving, you may think base jumpers use the same equipment skydivers do. But that’s certainly not the case. With the typical low altitudes and proximity to dangerous objects, base jumping relies on specific equipment. While some base jumping equipment will be similar to skydiving gear, understanding base jumping equipment requires a lot of additional education and experience. And while base jumping equipment can be rented, if you want to become a serious and regular base jumper, you’ll want to build your own base jumping rig. Let’s…
Every skydiving student has had that worrying thought, ‘what happens if your parachute doesn’t open?’ It can quickly fill you with dread and fear, thinking of the permutations. Let’s be honest, while it can and does happen, it is incredibly rare, and you have more chance of having a severe car accident on the way to the jump spot than having a serious skydiving accident. With that said, skydiving is about fear and courage, and knowing it’s a rare occurrence doesn’t stop the thoughts running through your mind and getting your heart pounding! In fact, it’s good to consider these…
What is skydiving swooping? Swooping is a very curious sport to watch. Unlike other skydiving sports and competitions, it all takes place just above the ground. It can look deceptively safe and low risk when done by a professional, but it’s certainly not. Skydive swooping is an extreme sport performed by trained professionals. Swooping is essentially the art of speeding a parachute towards the ground and swooping back up to gain level flight above the ground. It’s a great spectator sport to watch in person, as it’s all happens at ground level and is usually over lakes or small bodies…