Skydiving Exits

Oh, the skydiving exit. For some, the thought of jumping from the plane evokes great excitement, and for others, it induces knee-shaking anxiety and door fear. Regardless of the stance, you may take right now, the skydiving exit is what allows you to escape the confines of the plane to take an air bath in the freedom of the wild blue yonder. We love this part of the jump so much, one of our favorite skydiving sayings is “if you want to fly, get out of the plane!”

Ready to make the leap? We’ll prepare you with some insider tips on skydiving exits.

What is the skydiving exit?

Of all the skydiving techniques, one of the most critical that tandem instructors must master is the skydiving exit. It seems simple enough: go from the inside of the plane to the outside of the plane. So, in essence, this is very well true. However, on a tandem skydive, to ensure the safety of both instructor and passenger, the perfect skydiving exit takes a bit of finesse. 

How to make a skydiving exit?

How will you and your instructor exit the aircraft? Some tandem skydiving students want every last second filled with action. If you’re one of the aforementioned adrenaline junkies, you might be wondering can you dive, backflip, or barrel roll out of the door? What kind of fun skydiving exits can you do?

Backflip and Barrell Roll

If you’re doing a tandem skydive and wondering if you can backflip or barrel roll out of the plane, the short answer is no. In order to deploy the drogue in a safe, stable manner, tandem jumpers need to exit presented to the relative wind (the airflow which comes from the front of the aircraft and the direction the plane is moving towards). However, it’s still possible to have a safe skydiving exit that is also a fun skydiving exit! Below are three common tandem skydiving exits.

• Poised Skydiving Exit:  When exiting from a turbine aircraft with a side door, the tandem pair will face out of the side door, turned slightly toward the front of the aircraft, or toward the tail of the aircraft. On a poised exit, the pair will rotate up to face the front of the aircraft as they come through the door. With this kind of exit, you get a really neat view of the aircraft you just left flying away above you!
• Diving Skydiving Exit:  On a diving exit, the tandem pair will present themselves to the relative wind with their right side high and turn slightly toward the tail of the aircraft.  Because the pair is presented to the wind head low, it will feel more like a “dive” when they exit. The best way to describe the feeling of this skydiving exit is it is kind of like sliding down a water slide head first!
• Gainer Skydiving Exit: The ability to do a gainer skydiving exit will depend upon the instructor and the equipment being used. On a gainer exit, the tandem pair rotates toward the tail of the aircraft they come through the door and complete half of a backward rotation to end up presented to the relative wind in a diving position.

Picking the Right Skydiving Exit

All of the above skydiving exits are fun, but the exit is just a small part of the excitement of your skydive! Ultimately, your instructor will choose the exit that is best based on safety considerations and the circumstances of your particular jump.

When?

Before you even board the aircraft, your instructor will go over which skydiving exit you will do. When it’s your turn to exit, you and your instructor will make your way to the door of the aircraft. Do exactly as you practiced. If you play your part, the skydiving exit should go off without a hitch!

Fun Skydiving Exits

If you’re really interested in giving those backflips and barrel rolls a try on exit, you should consider getting your skydiving license. Once licensed, there are a whole host of other fun skydiving exits you can try. Just to scratch the surface, here are a few:

• Tube Exit: If you’re looking to spin right round like a record, the tube exit is the way to go. On a tube exit, you and your other licensed skydiving buddies make a “wheel” in the sky by each holding on to the ankles of the person in front of you. 
• Wingsuit Rodeo: The wingsuit rodeo skydiving exit requires both jumpers involved to be extremely experienced, competent flyers. So, please note, this exit is not for novice flyers, but it’s just too fun not to mention. On a wingsuit rodeo, a jumper in a wingsuit and a jumper without a wingsuit exit the aircraft together. The person without the wingsuit straddles the back of the wingsuiter like they are holding on to a rodeo bull for the ride of a lifetime! Can you say yeehaw!?
• Train: On a train exit, a line of skydivers stand in the door of the aircraft. AS they exit, each person hooks their feet in the armpits of the person in front of them and chug-a-lug through the sky!

What do you say?  Let’s fly! Contact us to book your skydive at Skydive Monroe today.