Skydiving and parachute jumping in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Hello student skydiver! As you progress to ever more awe-inspiring feats of skydiving skill in our Skydiver Training Program, do you ever wonder about the magic that happens before you strap your gear on for the next jump? I refer of course to the magic whereby the billowing parachute, hundreds of square feet of nylon, …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Tip: When to Learn to Pack Your Parachute”
Ask any group of non-skydivers what they think would be the scariest part of skydiving, and at least a few will answer, “The landing.” Ask a group of skydiving students, or even experienced jumpers, and you’ll get the same answer from a few of them. We have the guts to throw ourselves out of airplanes in …
Skydivers tend to be pretty confident people. We trust ourselves to save our own lives while throwing ourselves out of (ha) perfectly good airplanes towards the planet, right? We trust that we have the skills to succeed in the dives we plan. We trust that our gear will work, and even if it doesn’t, we …
Ah, the sunset tracking dive. What could be more fun than flying along with your skydiving friends in a flock with a beautiful sunset? After all, all the cool kids are doing it! Graduation jump tracking dive, anyone? Just kidding!!!! If the dive goes wrong, a whole lot of things could be more fun than …
Plan the dive, dive the plan. You’ve been practicing this since your first student training jump. There are two reasons for a dive plan: SAFETY! Engineering the dive so you can get in maximum learning and/or performance from the jump. Once you have graduated from a skydiving training program, there are SO MANY things you …
We dirt dive the freefall portion of nearly all of our skydives, but do you dirt dive your landings? Do you check the wind speed and direction at all altitudes, which way the wind will shift as you descend, etc.? If the wind direction changes, how will that change your landing pattern? As we develop …
We don’t have a lot of bad words in skydiving (regardless of what you might hear after the beer light comes on! ;), but there is one we can all agree on: Complacency. com·pla·cen·cy n. — A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy. In skydiving, we say someone …
Skydivers come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life, but If one word could be used to describe nearly all of us it would probably be “passionate.” This is a sport we love dearly and deeply, and we love to share that passion with others. That passion, unfortunately, can cause problems …
One of the best things about skydiving today compared to some decades past is that we jump steerable parachutes. We have the ability to change our flight paths and land on target, which makes it a lot easier for us to land near the hangar and make lots of jumps in a day without quite …
Ah, the beer line–that line close to the hangar that causes all skydivers in sight distance to yell “BEER!!!!” with glee if you land on the hangar side of it. Did you know we now have one of these in the student/A-B license landing area at our Houston location in addition to our regular beer …
Scenario: You’re under a good canopy at 2000 feet. You are downwind of the drop zone and aren’t sure you can make it to the landing area. Between you and the drop zone are trees, brush, power lines, and likely all manner of unpleasant critters. Behind you is a wide open field. What do you …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Tip: To Land Off or Not?”
As skydivers, we like to do everything right so we can skydive again… and again… and… Lately we have been seeing a number of recent graduates, now unsupervised by instructors, neglecting their pin checks before exit. Perhaps it’s due to distraction when thinking about the upcoming jump, or perhaps you noticed an experienced jumper neglecting …
I once had an instructor who refused to wear a seat belt in a car. He had managed to defy all odds in two separate car accidents by not wearing seat belts; both accidents threw him out of a car that would have crushed him had he remained inside. Unlike with cars, however, the last …
Continue reading “Seat Belts in Jump Aircraft: Not Just for Show”
Welcome to the world of gear decisions, skydiver! You’ve been jumping an open-face helmet throughout the student program, but you’ve been seeing a bunch of the cool kids on the drop zone jumping full-face helmets of various styles. What’s right for you? Your preferences will, of course, drive your selection. Here are a few things …
Have you had the chance to open the jump door on one of our Super Otters or SuperVans yet? No? Are you nervous about it? Fear not, we have the scoop! Whether you’ve operated the door yet or not, chances are great that you’ll learn a valuable tip or few from our latest YouTube video …
Continue reading “How to Open/Close a Super Otter/Supervan Skydiving Door”
On April 28, Steve Boyd, owner of Skydive Spaceland just south of Houston, Texas, celebrated the 40th anniversary of his first skydive. With his entire family present at Skydive Spaceland, he chose to spend some time in the air with his two sons Eric and Stephen (who also help run the drop zone) and several …
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For the last 13 years, Skydive Spaceland has been training skydivers to a world-class standard at its private airfield just south of Houston, Texas. Spaceland has recently entered into a partnership with a skydiving center in south Florida to provide the same top-flight level of skydiving operations to jumpers in the Miami/Palm Beach/Fort Lauderdale/Fort Myers/Naples …
On the weekend of August 31st/September 1st (Labor Day), Skydive Dallas will host a 2013 Texas Head-Down State Record camp to bust the previous 2010 record of 23. This year Skydive Spaceland is proud to host monthly head-down big-way camps in preparation for the event. Each month will be led by a different participant of …
“Congratulations, you’ve just earned your skydiving A license!” “WooHOO! … “…now what?” When a skydiver graduates from our Skydiver Training Program, some hit the air flying hard and never look back. Often, however, a graduate will wonder a little bit about what to do next. Your skydives up until this point have been tightly structured, …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Tip: Taking the Next Step”
Getting ready to board an aircraft for skydiving is more than a little different than boarding a plane for commercial travel or getting in a car for a drive. There are concerns for personal safety, the safety of others in the plane (and the plane itself), and efficiency. Stay safe and efficient with these loading tips! …
We may be in southern Texas, but the weather is definitely cooling down! Skydiving in wintertime brings a few challenges we don’t have in summer, namely how do we stay warm while staying safe? The heavy winter clothes you need to avoid frostbite can bite you in other ways, especially those big, bulky hoodies we …
“What’s the weather like today? Is it good for students? What about experienced jumpers?” If we had a dollar for every time we got that phone call, text, or Facebook message, we’d all be retired. 🙂 And as you know, the answer is usually a variety of “You can’t jump if you’re not here.” In …
It’s one of the most common questions we get about the Skydiver Training Program (other than price): How many training jumps can I do in a day? How many SHOULD I do in a day? While the ideal number of jumps in a day will of course vary with the student’s fitness, goals, and budget, …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Program Tip: How Many Dives in a Day?”
When you’re about to graduate from our Skydiver Training Program, it’s time to start thinking about getting your own gear, and the accessories (helmet, goggles, altimeter) are the best place to start. We provide everything you need during the program, but afterwards you will need to rent our gear or buy your own. It’s a …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Tip: Your First Skydiving Gear Purchase”
No one likes to wait for anything—doctors, prescriptions, someone to get the right size of shoes out of the stockroom, or even the 60 seconds you’re supposed to wait before spitting out your mouthwash. While they say all good things come to those who wait, some good things can come without waiting, especially if you …
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How often have you heard this at the drop zone? “Hey, let’s go track!” or “Hey, let’s go do some angles!” Movement jumps are extremely popular at most any drop zone in the world, and with good reason: They’re a ton of fun! But they are most definitely not just another skydive. Key Point: It’s …
Continue reading “Top 11 Things to Know About Movement Jump Safety”
Are you ready to skydive? If you show up for a Skydiver Training Program jump without having completing your paperwork (dive flow quiz) for each jump you intend to make that day, the answer, sadly, is “not yet.” Why is this quiz important? It tells us that you have studied your student manual and that …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Tip: Paperwork is Homework”
Birds and worms aside, the Skydiver Training Program student who checks in early definitely gets the jumps. Aside from just having more time in the day to skydive, there are a number of other benefits to early morning check-ins: Winds are usually lower. Wind conditions are usually less turbulent. Temperatures are cooler. You get on …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Program: Early Birds Get the Jumps!”
The Skydiver Training Program at Skydive Spaceland gives you a lot of detailed information to help you become the best skydiver you can be. You can increase your success and fun on each skydive by studying the dive flows before you come out to the drop zone. Study as many dive flows as you plan …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Program Tip: Study for more fun!”
It’s back, bigger, better, faster, and with another blade on the prop! Our Cessna Grand Caravan recently returned from its Supervan 900 conversion and we are LOVING IT!!!! It’s not every drop zone that can call its Caravan the “fast plane” with everything else we have on the field. The Supervan is hauling jumpers to …
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