Can You Skydive If You’re Afraid of Heights, Claustrophobic or You’re Plain Scared?

Thursday, October 11, 2018

You’ve always wanted to skydive, right? But there’s a problem! You’re:

  1. Afraid of heights!
  2. Claustrophobic!
  3. Just plain scared!

Trust us: You’re not alone. You’re also not doomed to forego tandem skydiving on any of those counts! Agoraphobic, claustrophobic and terrified people make triumphant tandem skydives every day. You just need a little empowerment to push through it–and we’re here for you.

Nervousness is understandable. After all: in what situation in your daily life do you willingly throw yourself out of a moving vehicle? Never, you say? How about one that’s 13,000 feet in the air? Yeah. This is outside-the-comfort-zone stuff, and you’re well advised to be scared of it. Our best advice: Embrace those nerves! You’ll be even more stoked when you land.

Afraid of Heights?

The most common fear skydivers admit to having is a fear of heights. Fun fact: it’s not just first-time skydivers who carry those butterflies. Even after hundreds of successful jumps, it’s still perfectly normal to feel the tickle of nerves as you contemplate a jump. Every jump is an unknown, after all.

That said: The fear of heights you get on a skydive is very different than the fear of heights you get when you’re standing at the railing of, say, a bridge. It sounds counterintuitive, but you’re so high up on a skydive that it’s beyond what your brain can calculate as “dizzying.” It just kinda looks like a topographical map–flat and colorful and pretty. From the door of an airplane, the planet looks enough like a Google Earth map of itself that it’s pretty much of intellectual interest only how high up you are. Then, once you jump, far from feeling like you’re falling toward the ground, you feel like you’re being supported sweetly on the air.

Isn’t that comforting?

Claustrophobic?

It’s your lucky day! Instead of the tiny aircraft that most skydiving dropzones possess (though we have one of those too), we have a zippy little spaceship of a skydiving airplane, as well: our King Air, which will take you up to a whopping 13,000 feet in comparable luxury. Significantly bigger than its tiny counterpart (fits 12-14 instead of 4), the seating is on benches and the windows are on eye-level. Don’t misunderstand us–it’s still a tight fit, even more so than a discount commercial operator!–but it’s a short little flight at about ten minutes and, once the door opens, you’ll have the entire sky to yourself.

Just Plain Scared?

Guess what? That’s perfect! It’s totally normal to feel hardcore fear when you’re jumping out of an airplane. But wait: There’s more! We’d say it makes the whole experience even better. The sense of pride you’ll feel when you overcome that fear is the most motivating, extraordinary elation you have ever felt. The coolest thing ever is how deeply this will motivate you to face other fears that are keeping you from living your best life.

So: who cares if you’re afraid of heights, claustrophobic or just plain scared of skydiving. You can do this! Our super-friendly, highly qualified, über-experienced team of professional skydiving instructors is here to take you every step of the way. Reserve your jump today!