LearningTOfly 0 #1 December 19, 2004 Why did you decide to take up skydiving instead of flying (general aviation)? Or if you do both: which one do you participate in more often and why? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wee 0 #2 December 19, 2004 QuoteWhy did you decide to take up skydiving instead of flying (general aviation)? Or if you do both: which one do you participate in more often and why?because leaving a plane unattended would be dangerous to those below If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 643 #3 December 19, 2004 I started flying lessons the same year I started jumping out of airplanes: 1977. I enjoy both. Even flew jumpers for three seasons, but now my boss says that I am more valuable jumping with tandem students. Besides, he can hire eager young commercial pilots for peanuts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pilotmonkey 0 #4 December 19, 2004 With out question there is no substitute for either. Flying is its own rewards-i dont think i will ever get over the love of flight or the airplane im in. Righteous times having the door open and having everyone sling themselves out..Sometimes i just shake my head and laugh at the faces or antics of people dangling off out there. The same goes for jumping. Its nice to have someone else drive while i just lounge and stare around the plane focusing on jumping. Then i get to make the faces and do the dangling...Two different things with the same satisfaction. Thinkin about chainsaws....... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheAnvil 0 #5 December 19, 2004 I do both. Skydiving is more fun for me. To each his own. Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peacefuljeffrey 0 #6 December 19, 2004 I do both, too. I was flying long before I skydived, though, since I used to go up with my dad when I was in junior high school. I was learning to fly from him in the late '80s, and I did my first jumps (5) in 1991 and 1996. I did AFP in 2003. I love them both a lot, but I fly maybe once every 1.5 months or so, and I keep current with night flying, but I skydive just about every week, between 2 and 6 jumps on average. They're similar, but so different! -Jeffrey-Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leroydb 0 #7 December 19, 2004 does flying RC count?Leroy ..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
killler 2 #8 December 19, 2004 I never wanted to fly.... I took up flying to be a spare pilot when the real pilots were not around... I owned the plane & dropzone so it was a "NEED" to learn to fly.... I never got anything out of flying cross-country and normal flying.... But... Flying a c-182 at max load+ out of a 1600ft grass strip is "FUN".... Taking-off of a 265' driveway when the runway was muddy was "FUN"... Landing in the night on the little grass strip was "FUN"... I think I understand the guy who said flying was.." Hours of boredom with seconds of sheer terror".... Killer.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonstark 8 #9 December 19, 2004 I never thought that the money it takes to fly would be well spent. I would rather spend it at the DZ and did so for a long time. Jumping slowed down and I have a shorter leash now with two kids so I started rebuilding antique airplanes and flying them in the mountains and desert. I love both jumping and flying. They both are "lifestyle" sports. They must become a lifestyle for you to become proficient. Once fairly expert in either you can engage in them recreationally or as a carreer. However you wish. Either can be an avocation, carreer or a bottomless pit for your cash too. The choice is yours. jon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LearningTOfly 0 #10 December 19, 2004 I agree- both do become lifestyles if one is serious about them... exactly. Both as well can turn to the bottomless pit... like they say- It only takes two things to fly, airspeed and money. Flying is my primary interest with jumping following a close second. I'm also still in school, so any way I look at it I'm stuck on the ground more than I like (no time for a job) for the next little while. Hopefully once I build a few more hours I'll get onboard with a DZ as a 182 driver and live the best of both worlds (for a low timer, that is). The thing that got me hooked on both is the feeling of freedom that comes with the activity. When flying you can go up, down, le... well you get the idea, and in any attitude you prefer until the go juice gets low. The only thing that you think about during that time is flying the plane... absolutely nothing else- your life depends on this focus. Skydiving comes with the same (or even an increased) feeling of freedom, I think. Of course your choice of directions is a bit limited, but you get the same clarity in your mind during the jump because you're focused on one and only one activity (besides pulling at the end)- whether that be to make a four way happen, or finally get a stable sitfly going, or to get the spin out of your arch (my noviceness shows). Both activities also have groups of almost fanatical followers, who often become very good friends once the common interest is revealed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 10 #11 December 19, 2004 Started flying and skyding at the same time. Skydiving took over, but now I am learning to fly helicopters And its a blast."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #12 December 19, 2004 That tandem was cheaper than ground school. Or so I thought, at the time. I probably coulda had my private license with the money skydiving took. My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
unformed 0 #13 December 19, 2004 I could've had a lot of things with the money skydiving took and wven more with the money it will take. I'd still take skydiving over anything else though.This ad space for sale. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
killler 2 #14 December 19, 2004 QuoteI could've had a lot of things with the money skydiving took and wven more with the money it will take. I'd still take skydiving over anything else though. This is a poem from Skys Call.... If I could retrieve the fortune I have spent... Worrying where it came from, Not caring where it went.... I could live the heady lifestyle of Playboy magazine.... I would see the worldly sights, That still remain unseen.... It must amount to thousands I've squandered on this sport.... The mark of any jumper, A balance close to nought.... But if I had it back in one financial lump..... I'd go south in the winter and jump and jump and jump..... Killer.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChasingBlueSky 0 #15 December 19, 2004 We will see how much my skydiving suffers after I get back into flight school in the spring. Either way, I don't care as long as I am in the air._________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peacefuljeffrey 0 #16 December 19, 2004 QuoteStarted flying and skyding at the same time. Skydiving took over, but now I am learning to fly helicopters And its a blast. You bastidge! I would LOVE to learn to fly helicopters... but it's SO expensive! I've been thinking about taking just a few hours in them to see what it feels like. I have had fairly detailed dreams in which I was flying a helicopter, even consciously using the collective and cyclic, sitting right seat! I don't know how my subconscious dream-mind put that together for me, since I've never even sat in a helicopter. Tonight I saw a seriously sweet sunset from the ground (Alternate A1A, running along Florida's oceanfront, as I drove north) and it made me wish I was up for a dusk-into-night flight or jump. Some time in the next week or two I'm going to go for that kind of flight. There is little that is as beautiful and serene. Ron, I don't think I was aware that you're a pilot. Cool! -Jeffrey-Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dutchboy 0 #17 December 20, 2004 I tried skydiving because a friend of mine did it, and I wanted to see why she loved it so much. I fly a lot more than I skydive because I own a flight school. It seems like every time I want to jump I've got paying customers bugging me to teach them. I love both aspects of aviation. Skydiving is just pure fun with no practical application. Flying is fun, but also useful for travel, etc. I like flying my body vs. flying a machine and doing aerobatics while skydiiving. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 10 #18 December 20, 2004 QuoteYou bastidge! I would LOVE to learn to fly helicopters Then just go do it. Its how I try to live my life....see something I want and I move towards it. As soon as I have an idea I want to do something, I put that into motion and let the momentum build. Way to many people say "I'd like to (insert anything)". But then they never even take the first step. "I am going to learn to fly/skydive/SCUBA dive.......Next year" is all they ever say. As Little Annie used to say "Tomorrow is always a day away". For those that need a more serious work than a line taken from a showtune...How about Kipplings "IF" "If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run. Yours is the world and all thats in it. And whats more than that, you will be a man my Son." Quotebut it's SO expensive! 235 an hour. In a Robbinson you need 20 hours to solo due to a Special FAR. It will cost about 6 grand to add Rotorcraft to my fixed wing. BTW I have no reason to do this other than I want to....Thats all the reason I need. QuoteI've been thinking about taking just a few hours in them to see what it feels like. Do it, it is in-fucking-credible. It takes very light touches on the controls, and you have three controls you have to use all the time. QuoteRon, I don't think I was aware that you're a pilot. Cool! Well thats cause I'm not. I have had my PPL since 94. But I don't have many hours. Skydiving took over. I chase new planes. I have flown PIC off the top of my head: C-150, 152, L-19 Birddog, C-172, C-182, Piper J3, Warrior, Great Lakes Biplane (Acro), Super Decathalon (Acro), Bonanza, Piper Tri-pacer. I have stick time in twins, and now a Helicopter. Skydiving was way cheaper back then for me. I could rent a plane for 2 hours and fly to get a hamburger, or I could spend the weekend at tha DZ for the same amount. Then after I got a SL rating it was much less expensive to skydive than fly...So I did more skydiving. Chase your dreams."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
