Skydiving in the St. Louis Area    http://www.skydivestlouisarea.com

If you have any questions before or after you receive information from a skydiving operation feel free to contact Gary Peek at peek@pcprg.com, or by phone at (636) 946-5272 or (800) 435-1975.

Links to sections further down on this page:

• General information (some things you might not realize)
• The various training methods (Static Line, "AFF", Tandem)
• How to find the best place to learn to skydive
• What to do
• What not to do

• Skydiving is not "safe"!

  And don't let anyone tell you that it is.

  However, like many activities that are considered "high-risk", its risks are well known and for the most part, controllable. Skydiving, like all high-risk activities, requires care, knowledge, common sense, and the proper attitude. If these requirements are met, skydiving can be done quite successfully. If you cannot meet these requirements, don't skydive. Parachutes are simple mechnical devices and are inherently very reliable. The human beings that use them need to be equally reliable.

• Skydiving is a year-round sport

  Sure it's cold in the winter, but so is anything outdoors in the winter. Many people think that it is much colder at the higher altitudes, but this is not neccessarily true. The steady decrease in temperature as you go higher in altitude is most pronounced in the summer, where it is pleasantly cool up high. But in the winter it might only be 5-10 degrees colder. Most airplanes are heated, and we promise you that you won't even notice the cold in freefall! Land, warm up inside, then do it again!

• There are age requirements and weight limits (sorry)

  Hopefully common sense should prevail here.

  Legally it is very risky for any skydiving operation to allow a minor ("younger than the age of legal majority" in that state) to skydive. And, parents cannot sign-away the rights of their children. So basically that means you must be at least 18 years old. No, you won't be able to talk them into letting you jump if you are not at least 18.

  It's been said that Americans are getting fatter, and that means that fewer of them are going to be able to make a parachute jump of any kind. The more weight under a parachute, the faster its descent, so at some weight, the risk of injury outweighs the benefit of allowing someone heavy (or very out of shape) to jump.

  The different training methods and parachute systems have different weight limitations, so you will need to contact the skydiving operations to determine what their limitations are. (These limitations may be different for different operations, so it won't do any good to try to argue with them over what another operation is willing to do.)

• Aviation and skydiving are affected by the weather

  Hopefully another common sense issue.

  Things that could keep you from jumping are:

  • Clouds at an altitude at or below where you would be jumping. (This altitude will depend on the type of jump)
  • High winds. (This will depend on the type of jump)

  Note: The weather is different at the airport than at your home! Maybe better, maybe worse. There are no guarantees about the weather.

Tandem jumps have, for the most part, become carnival rides, with little if any instruction. (Even very good Tandem instructors are usually limited in how much instruction they can give you due to time constraints placed on them by a schedule created to run as many Tandem students through the system as possible.)

Tandem students are often treated as second-class students, often not even called "students" but instead called "passengers" like they are cargo, and are often not afforded even the most basic treatment as students, like not being given skydiving instruction, being told to assume a passive role as a "rider", and even not being given normal student equipment like jumpsuits and head protection.

Not all skydiving centers and clubs offer instruction in all of the training methods, and this could be for any number of reasons. The availability of instructors and equipment, (or the unwillingness of instructors to teach in a less profitable instructional method), the type of aircraft, the profit margin on a particular method of instruction, etc. None of the instructional methods are substantially safer or better than any of the others. It depends mostly on how they are applied and how well they suit a particular student.

Do not believe any statement that indicates that one method of instruction is obsolete or inferior!

Pick a method of instruction that fits you and your resources, not a method that you have been talked into (or out of), by your friends or by the skydiving center.

Keep in mind that if you do a Tandem jump, subsequent jumps will cost nearly as much as the first one. Doing a Static Line or AFF jump will allow you to more easily afford to jump again, probably the same day!

Skydiving training will include any or all of the following, depending on the training method, the instructor, the aircraft, and optional charges:

• Equipment and aircraft procedures
• Exiting the aircraft
• Freefall manuvers
• Pulling the ripcord
• Emergency procedures
• Steering the parachute
• Landing the parachute
• Debrief and logbook
• Viewing video of the jump

Training method descriptions

• The Static Line method of training consists of a first jump course or Ground School. This course begins early in the day, and teaches you all about your parachute including how to steer it, land it, and what to do in the rare event of some type of problem with it. You will exit at about 3500 feet and the parachute will be deployed as you fall away from the airplane. You will be given parachute steering advice from an instructor on the ground with a radio. You will be debriefed by your instructor and your performance will be critiqued and recorded in a logbook, which you must bring for your subsequent jumps. You will also be given a first jump certificate. This method is the least instructor and aircraft intensive, therefore subsequent jumps are the least expensive of all the instructional methods.

• The AFF method (AFF means Accelerated Free Fall, accelerated means accelerated learning) consists of a first jump course or Ground School. This course begins early in the day, and teaches you all about your parachute including how to steer it, land it, and what to do in the rare event of some type of problem with it. You will exit anywhere from 10,000 to 14,000 feet (depending on the aircraft available), and will be accompanied by one or two instructors that will be holding on to you. During the freefall they will be helping you learn to relax, (and on subsequent jumps to manuver your body and learn to skydive by yourself.) You will freefall down to about 5000 feet and will pull your ripcord, at which point your instructor(s) will let go of you to continue your jump by yourself. At this point your jump will become just like a Static Line jump. You will be given parachute steering advice from an instructor on the ground with a radio. You will be debriefed by your instructor and your performance will be critiqued and recorded in a logbook, which you must bring for your subsequent jumps. You will also be given a first jump certificate. This method is instructor intensive and might involve larger aircraft, therefore it is usually the most expensive method for most of the jumps. However, the learning can indeed be "accelerated" because of the amount of freefall time and the presense of an instructor in freefall.

• The Tandem method is where you and your instructor are both attached to the same parachute system and complete the entire jump together. Because the instructor is there to handle any problems that might occur with the parachute, you need not be trained very much in this area, (which is the bulk of the training in the Static Line and AFF first jump course). This means that Tandem training can be done in a short time. You will exit anywhere from 10,000 to 14,000 feet (depending on the aircraft available) and pull the ripcord at about 6000 feet.

  The amount of training that you actually receive for a Tandem skydive can vary widely among different skydiving operations, and even among different instructors. Two entirely different philosophies exist on Tandem jump training:

  • Some skydiving operations and Tandem instructors believe that few Tandem students will ever make another jump, and therefore train them very little, providing essentially a passive skydive "ride". They are probably given a first jump certificate but not a logbook.

  • Other operations and instructors treat Tandem students like students in any other training method, and teach them to skydive, doing everything that a Static Line or AFF student does. They are given a first jump certificate and a logbook which is filled out by the instructor, and then debriefed in detail on the jump by the instructor.

  You may want to ask instructors and skydiving operations you contact which of these attitudes they have!

  
  

• Hybrid Tandem/AFF training is often available for those Tandem students who have been trained to perform a number of manuvers during several Tandem jumps, and have successfully performed these manuvers. They can then enter the AFF progression at an advanced position after having completed a Ground School.

Commercial skydiving centers now market their services like most other businesses, including all of the things that businesses do to convince potential customers to choose their business over a "competitors" business. This means that you may need to interpret the information you are given to distinguish the "marketing" of the product from the actual product.

The best skydiving center for you may not be the one with the slickest looking web site or brochure.

You have the right (and we suggest that you exercise it) to ask any skydiving operation to prove any claims it makes if they refer to their products, services, or training as superior.

The following are some of the things to consider when choosing a place to learn how to skydive.

• If you have a lot of questions that you want answered over the phone it would be best to call on weekdays or after sunset. On weekend days when the weather is good, skydiving operations are busy.

• Do not expect a "deal"! Skydiving may seem expensive because it involves aviation, which is expensive. Commercial skydiving centers and skydiving clubs alike make very little profit and cannot afford to give discounts.

• Safety is very seldom an issue in determining the best place to skydive. Most skydiving centers and skydiving clubs are very contientious about safety, and most instructors will train you like they would one of their family members. They want you to be safe and have a good experience. "Marketing" techniques used by some skydiving businesses might lead you to believe otherwise, so if you have concerns about safety, keep asking questions until you are satisfied that you are getting accurate information.

• Which training methods are available at the skydiving operation. Not all skydiving centers and clubs offer instruction in all of the training methods, and this could be for any number of reasons. The availability of instructors and equipment, the type of aircraft, the profit margin on a particular method of instruction, etc. None of the instructional methods are substantially safer than any of the others. It depends mostly on how they are applied and how well they suit a particular student.

• Plan to spend the whole day.

  (And to go along with this we suggest going through the complete first jump course instead of doing a Tandem jump and leaving.)

  This is one of the best pieces of advice we can give to people planning to skydive. Skydiving has been a life-changing experience for many of us, and we hope that it will be the same for you. But many people treat it as just another activity that there are attempting to squeeze into their busy day.

  Many people make their jump and seem to hurry off to do other things. But experienced skydivers always wonder, "What other things? What else could be as exciting or interesting as skydiving?"

  Hang out with us. Make another jump. And when jumping is over for the day, sit down and talk to us over a beer. Skydivers come from all walks of life and are an interesting group.

• Make sure you know how to get there.

  If you get your directions wrong you may drive for hours in the wrong direction, and be very late. This may result in your not getting to jump at all, and it will be entirely your fault. Take a map.

• Don't wait for your friends (or family members).

  This is by far the very best way we know of to totally kill your chance of ever making that parachute jump. If you want to learn to skydive with a group, then fine. But give them one chance to get there with you, then go without them! Many people are enthusiastic about the idea at first, but few actually follow through. (This is especially true if the idea is brought up at a bar!)

  Want to skydive? Then just do it. So you think you'll feel uncomfortable in a strange place without your friends? You'll find new friends there. Instructor friends and fellow jumper friends. People that are eager to see you learn how to skydive and fulfill your dream.

• Unless they will be joining you during your skydiving instruction and jump, do not tell your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, father, etc.! This is the second best way we know of to ruin your chance of ever making that parachute jump. If they think it is a crazy idea or are scared for you, you will be pressured to put this crazy idea out of your mind. And you will. Believe us, we've seen it happen hundreds of times! (Tell them after your jump. And show them the video.)

• Do not pick a particular method of skydiving instruction solely on the recommendation of someone else who has jumped, or as a result of "marketing". Research all of the methods available at the skydiving centers and clubs in your area, and make your decision based on what you know about these training methods and what you can afford. It is entirely possible that out of a group of friends that will be jumping, that some would be better served by being taught how to jump by different training methods.

• Do not expect a "deal"! Skydiving may seem expensive because it involves aviation, which is expensive. Commercial skydiving centers and skydiving clubs alike make very little profit and cannot afford to give discounts. Think about it. Do you really want "Discount skydiving instruction"?