How Much Does it Cost to Get Into Skydiving

Hello, future skydiver (that has a nice ring doesn’t it?). If you’ve landed on this page, it’s likely you’ve got a dream that’s starting to occupy your thoughts – you want to become a skydiver! If that’s you, you’ve come to the right corner of the interwebs because we’ve got some great info to share which highlights the expectations, time, and financial commitment required to make your dream a reality. Are you ready to begin your journey? Find out how much it costs to get into skydiving. Read on!

Becoming a skydiver is one of the most rewarding endeavors an individual can pursue. Skydiving will build your confidence, build admiration from your peers and you will become part of a tight-knit tribe passionate about living life to its fullest. The rewards are great, but there are sacrifices that every person needs to make to get there. The sacrifice is time and money. Actually, it’s a lot of time and a lot of money, but all can be overcome if you’re committed to making your dream come true.

Setting the Right Expectations

Before you decide to go all-in on becoming a skydiver, it’s important to set the right expectations for what’s ahead. The first thing to know is that your progress in the early stages of learning will be slow. You will need patience as weather limitations are part of the sport and the weather restrictions for skydiving students are more stringent than for licensed skydivers.

Time Commitment

Becoming a skydiver requires a time commitment especially in the early stages of learning to skydive. It’s likely you’ll be learning to jump on the weekends and it will usually take up an entire weekend day. If you’re wishing to progress more quickly, you’ll want to give up that Sunday as well. It doesn’t sound so bad, but you need to commit to this for months as skydiving is much like learning to drive – the more you do it, the more comfortable and proficient you get. Making a single skydive every other weekend is a surefire way for you to leave the sport early as you need to build momentum and confidence. Jumping irregularly doesn’t generate momentum and your confidence will go through ups and downs.

When learning to skydive, it’s a requirement to make at least one jump every 30 days in order to avoid going “uncurrent.” If you become uncurrent it means you’ll need to repeat the last successful training jump made which adds to the cost of your training.

Unless you have the ability to commit most of your weekends, (or if your job allows weekdays), it’s best to not begin this journey until you’ve got the time to see the dream through.

Skydiving Financial Commitment

Learning to skydive and then actively participating in the sport will require a good chunk of your disposable income, but that doesn’t mean you need to be rich in order to become a skydiver. There are many ways to subsidize your skydiving by also working at the dropzone as a packer. Learning to pack and then packing to others can be very lucrative and usually paves the way to offset training expenses. Of course, this requires yet more time at the dropzone. In this next section, we’ll dig into the details of what it costs to become a skydiver.

There isn’t any one set price on the cost of getting into skydiving, but there are distinct phases throughout the learning journey that will have various costs. In this section, we will walk you through the steps and the corresponding prices you can expect to pay at each step.

Step 1: Tandem Skydiving

Even if you absolutely know you want to become a skydiver, it’s important to make a tandem skydive first. This is your first litmus test for you to figure out if you think this is really for you. This is an important first step because skydiving compares to nothing else. Some people who think they will hate the experience end up loving it and vice versa.

Step 2: Learning the Foundation

Once you’ve completed your tandem skydive and you’ve determined that you

1. LOVED IT!
2. Have determined that you have the time to commit
3. Have a financial plan to fund the endeavor

then it’s time to enroll in the AFP (Accelerated Freefall Progression) program. AFP is essentially the learn to skydive training program that will take you from off the street and build the needed skill set towards becoming an A-licensed skydiver. In skydiving the first license everyone tries to attain is the A (there is also a B, C, and D license which are earned based on different jump requirements and skills). The benefit of the A-license is it allows you to jump with other licensed skydivers which is where the fun really begins!

STEP 3: GROWING YOUR SKILLSET

Once you’ve completed the AFP program (a total of 16 jumps), you are now cleared for “solo supervision” which means you’re able to jump alone (Jumps 17-25 above). While this new independence is awesome, you’ll quickly learn that it gets old real quick to jump solo all of the time. You’ll want to jump with others, so you’ll want to begin preparing for your A License exam and “jump test” which serves as your in-air proficiency test with an instructor. The minimum jump requirement to test for the A-license is 25 jumps. If you’ve made it this far, it’s likely you’ll want to start purchasing some essential gear:

Step 4: Purchasing Equipment

Once you’ve earned your A, you’ll be eager to purchase your own equipment, but the rule of thumb is to never buy new gear at this stage. As a newbie in the sport, you’ll quickly outgrow the newbie gear and get into gear suited to your interests within skydiving (there are lots of different disciplines), so your first gear purchase should be second hand. Once you’ve got between 100 and 150 jumps then you’ll be ready for a new parachute and container system.

Step 5: Making the Sport Your Hobby

You’ve got the training and you’ve got the gear – now it’s time to jump and jump a lot! Your expense is now tied to your flight to altitude – $28 per jump!

We hope this has helped you consider the major factors associated with becoming a skydiver! If after reading all of that and you’re still ready to go, then click on the button below to begin your journey!

Related Article: How Long Does a Skydiving License Last?