Can You Learn to Skydive in a Week?

The first taste of flight often lights a fire. If you’ve got ambitions to be on the fast track to learn to skydive, you are in good company. So, what is the timeline like? Can you learn to skydive in a week?

The reality is twofold: both yes and no. The requirements for receiving a skydiving license are pretty straightforward: demonstrate proficiency in required freefall maneuvers, complete 25 jumps, learn to pack a parachute, and pass both a written and oral exam. When you lay it out in black and white, how to get your skydiving license sounds like a piece of cake. While the breakdown of achieving a skydiving license is easily digestible, learning to skydive isn’t a cut-and-dry, one-size-fits-all process. There is a myriad of factors to take into account when determining your personal skydiving certification timeline.

We’ve found it’s best to go into skydiving training with realistic expectations. While it is not impossible to achieve, learning to skydive in a week is a lofty goal. Below we will highlight the elements that will affect if you are able to learn to skydive in a week.

Starting something new means being prepared to not be great at it right off the bat. Look, the fact is we weren’t built with wings, so learning to fly not only takes us out of our comfort zones but, also, mechanically is quite different than the bipedal locomotion we’ve utilized our entire lives!

In order to learn to skydive in a week, you have to be willing to fumble and eager to bounce back. It’s easy to be dedicated to something before you begin to struggle. But if you don’t get it right away, are you willing to keep trying?

Weather restrictions for skydiving students are even more stringent than weather restrictions for tandem skydiving students. Conditions that may allow for tandem skydiving students and licensed skydivers to jump may not be conducive for safe jump operations when it comes to a student learning to skydive. Situational awareness stems from experience, and so, the margin of error for students skydiving solo is incredibly small.

Aside from the mental fortitude, it takes to tackle the challenge of skydiving certification, you’ll also have to practice a bit of patience. Weather-wise, it is rare that everything lines up for someone to knock out their A license in a week. To earn your skydiving license, you will need to be prepared to invest your time. Often, achieving skydiving certification means spending full days at the dropzone waiting on conditions to be right to snag one or two jumps.

Just as learning to skydive will require an investment of your time, being able to learn to skydive as quickly as possible will require a financial commitment as well. To avoid lapses in your progression, it may be beneficial to pay for multiple levels of training or the entire program upfront. At many dropzones, including our own, there are discounts for students that are able to pay for a portion of their skydiving training in full.

Although you will have to deal with extraneous factors beyond your control as you work toward skydiving certification, there are ways to help expedite your skydiving training progression.

• Tunnel Time: An indoor wind tunnel is an incredible tool utilized by student skydivers and professional skydivers alike. Because it isolates just one portion of the skydiving experience, freefall, in a controlled environment, flying in the wind tunnel allows you to hone in and develop important body flight skills. When used in tandem with your skydiving training and jumps at a dropzone, time spent in the indoor wind tunnel can help you elevate your skills exponentially.
• Read Up: Every skydiver should become familiar with the Skydiver Information Manual (SIM). The SIM is an excellent resource that provides a wealth of information regarding basic safety requirements, student training, and general information concerning emergency procedures, equipment, pre-jump safety checks, weather, and aircraft. This information is both useful to have and a required competency for receiving your skydiving license.
• Watch Training Videos: Did you know you can find skydiving training videos online? The USPA has a youtube channel called SkydiveUSPA. Here you can find an entire section dedicated to skydiving training and the USPA A License progression. While these are no substitute for an actual Accelerated Freefall instructor, these videos can help you see the required maneuvers for each category of the United States Parachute Association’s Integrated Student Progression. As you watch, try and focus on the mechanics of body movement that you see. Likewise practicing these body positions

While it is definitely possible to learn to skydive in a week, we recommend that you don’t get so caught up in the goal that you forget to enjoy the process. Learning to skydive is an amazing, rewarding experience. In our humble opinion, the journey is just as important as the destination.

There’s no time like the present! Begin your skydiving journey today!

Related Article: What Can You Do With Each Skydiving License?