price of skydiving

[tvo7 0]

I was just adding up the costs of skydiving from classes to getting your own rig. What type of jobs do most of the people you know who skydive hold to afford this fun sport?

[airtwardo 7]

What's a "JOB"?

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Zenister 0]

its the only reason i havent quit...

well not the only, but at least it compensates for the days the really suck....

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[FallinWoman 1]

It is not about the price....

I am a teacher....made about $35,000 a year when I started jumping. And I have a mortgage payment....

It is about how you choose to spend your money. I stopped eating out as much...stopped shopping for clothes as much...stopped drinking in bars with my friends as much....
It is a series of choices that landed me with a license and my own gear. And no regrets.

~Anne

I'm a Doll!!!!

[CanuckInUSA 0]

There's all different types of people in this sport. Without a doubt people with good incomes can jump more. But as FallingWoman pointed out, it's all about what you're willing to sacrifice in order to jump. If you want to jump full time, you better have money or work in the industry (in which case prepare to go through life without a lot of money). But if you're good for doing enough jumps to keep your personal currency levels at a comfort level you good with (please don't jump high performance canopies unless you're ultra current and knowledgable in canopy control), then you can find things to cutaway to create more jumping resources.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[outlawphx 1]

The initial costs of getting into the sport are high, but definitely worth it. I started jumping in high school (talk about low income), but I managed by packing a few dozen rigs every weekend and working part-time at a computer store. Also, cutting back on misc. expenses (eating out, convience store, etc) is a good plan.

Don't get discouraged though. When I pulled into the parking lot at the DZ last week, there was a brand new 2005 Corvette parked next to a beater 1980 Oldsmobile... Everybody manages

[popeyefireman 0]

You have to want to do it. When I started I was working a $20,000 a year job and a newly wed. I went and got a second part time job just for jumping money. Now I make good money as a firefighter/paramedic (the paramedic part is what getts me the money) any now all I have to pay is my wife the extra attention for allowing me to be away more.

"I Yam what I Yam"

I am not afriad to die, only to die without living.

[robr 0]

I know there are a bunch of fellow college students out there. I know in my case, I work a couple part time jobs during term and I also pretty much cut back on spending money on anything but food and skydiving. Now I have a much higher paying summer job programming and it's helping pay off my debt, but I'll be back to part time jobs when I head back to school in the fall.

[skyce 0]

Type of jobs/income I came across : factory worker, student, doctor, managers from all areas, sound engineers, unemployed, realtor, electronic/mechanical engineers, nurse, crooks,
musicans, parcel service delivery guy, high ranking
let's say police officers, airline pilot, surgeon.....
They all made it happen, regardless.
If you want it bad enough, you can change your situation to make it fit.

• Quote

[uponone 0]

The price of skydiving is cheap compared to the price of racing streetbikes...if that makes you feel any better.

[Tink1717 2]

Firefighter. No wife, no girlfriend, no kids.
Three rigs, no waiting.

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[MarkM 0]

20 jumps a month, which pretty good for a weekend jumper, would be $400 a month. That's a new car payment, maybe the difference between a 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom apartment, a bike/boat payment, etc.

There are 2 ways to make money you don't have:

1> Get paid more.
2> Spend less.

[tkhayes 348]

when I started 25 years ago, I afforded it by adding up what I spent in bars every Thurs/Fri/Sat night getting hammered with my friends. - and figuring how many jumps that was. I drank a lot.

It did not cost all that much, but that's how I afforded it.

TK

[Morcyk 0]

I've been eating cheerios and pancakes for about 3 months trying to have enough money lying around to do 2 AFF jumps a month. Almost done.. Can't wait to have a nice juicy steak.

[MeatJerky 0]

Im in college, eat only things that have been frozen or packaged in tiny little delicious raemen packages. I cut out lots of fun stuff to jump, which doesnt bother me a bit. Oh, try selling your body to science, theres always hospitals/researchers that will pay you decent money to rub some cream on your arm to see if it burns or not, or tell them how you feel about smoking a pack a day. Actually, those god damn scientists are paying for 70% of my AFF. Blue Skies.. Dmitry

I wish my pants had a 3-ring system. Maybe my girlfriend wouldnt have such a problem trying to get them off...

[StreetScooby 5]

LMAO!

We are all engines of karma

[GQ_jumper 4]

Military, single E-6 living in the barracks, no rent, my car is paid off, no alimony, and 7 months worth of tax free pay every year help!!!

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[katzurki 0]

I translate stuff for a jumping. Used to think, "okay, another three pages, and I got me one of the nine cells of a canopy covered! Now, one chapter more, and that should be enough for a whole leg-strap!"

Oh, yeah, that qualifies as PT job while in school. :)

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

when I started 25 years ago, I afforded it by adding up what I spent in bars every Thurs/Fri/Sat night getting hammered with my friends. - and figuring how many jumps that was. I drank a lot.....
TK

So.....what's changed?

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[StevePhelps 0]

videographer, cartoonist, web designer, pastor a small church, Behavior Tech at a 6/7th Grade Center, and the MOST important thing I have that allows me to do thise for fun and profit ... a working wife who has benefits!

[nael 0]

I cut down on a lot of drinking and partying when I started jumping. You also need to get used to living on a tight budget, I dont even have a spare $5 for a sandwhich anymore! This year I am doing a 4 way team which is taking literally every cent I have (plus some!) but we're going really well and I think it's worth it.

You just need to decide what it means to you. Where there's a will there's a way.

www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

[cocheese 0]

You can't put a price on freedom. But you can pay the ultimate price to get it.
I just made a 3 day weekend worth of jump $ ... with a lawn mower today. And my landing gear is stronger because of it.

[jtval 0]

Quote

I was just adding up the costs of skydiving from classes to getting your own rig. What type of jobs do most of the people you know who skydive hold to afford this fun sport?

I kn ow watcha mean.
When I started jumping I was making next to nothing. but I budgeted my finances to fulfill my dreams. now I make quite a bit more money at my real job and skydiving pays for itself. its a pretty good deal I got going on!

If you stick with it, it gets cheaper. once you get your own gear etc. the only problem is that the cost goes down but then you just end up jumping more often! LOL

My photos

My Videos

[mdrejhon 8]

Quote

I was just adding up the costs of skydiving from classes to getting your own rig. What type of jobs do most of the people you know who skydive hold to afford this fun sport?

Going from a lifestyle of 2 bedroom lifestyle to a 1 bedroom lifestyle and giving up the car (Works if you live downtown, and you can always use a carsharing service for those occasional uses of car, such as Zipcar). Carpool to the dropzone like I do.

Actually, I had already been in a 1 bedroom for 2 years before I started skydiving, but it is the circumstance that came to be, and I decided I could afford the course for my 31st birthday. You could shoestring it a bit, just a few hundred per month (for training, jumps, rig, etc), and spread it out.

[skyblu3 0]

I live in a country with no drop zone (Malta) and it's an island. So for me just to get a jump I have to pay airline tickets, rental car, hotel, wife's airfare as she refuses to stay home, the list goes on.
All in all just to get to the drop zone I figure it costs me about $1,500.
I am not rich and for this reason I don't get to jump much and usually end up doing a years worth of jumps over a ten day period. I save every spare penny I have and put it in my skydiving fund when it accumalates I make a trip to a drop zone.