How Does It Feel to Skydive?

How Does It Feel To Skydive?

How does it feel to skydive? Oh man. This is the hardest question for any skydiver to answer because truthfully, it doesn’t feel like anything you’ve ever experienced – there is nothing that truly compares!

It would be easier to describe what skydiving doesn’t feel like than what it actually does! So, we’ll start there.

What Skydiving Doesn’t Feel Like

• It’s Not Like a Roller Coaster

The second** most common thing we hear from non-skydivers is “I could never go skydiving as I hate roller coasters.”

Okay, you might want to lean in because your perception of skydiving as it compares to a roller coaster is all wrong! Skydiving feels nothing like a roller coaster ride.

The reason most people hate riding on roller coasters is because of the dreaded ‘stomach drop’ as you race down that first hill throwing your stomach into your throat and violently back to your abdomen. You won’t get that sensation in skydiving and if you do, it’s for a split second. If you can handle a roller coaster, you can definitely handle a skydive, but if you hate roller coasters, it doesn’t mean skydiving isn’t for you.

• YOU Don’t Feel Like Your Falling

Remember when Alice fell down the rabbit hole seemingly out of control into the abyss? That’s nothing like skydiving, either. You won’t feel like you’re falling out of control towards the planet. While it’s true you will be descending (let’s keep it real) at 120mph, it feels nothing like that. There’s a whole bunch of science to this (beyond our understanding) but essentially you’re riding on air molecules that allow you to feel completely stable during the descent. You’ll notice that 95% of people are smiling during free fall. The reason they’re smiling is because they feel comfortable. They’re not bracing themselves, but rather looking out at the world without any sense of falling. As a skydiving center, it’s great marketing to say you’ll be falling at 120 miles per hour, but the truth is you have no concept of speed, which allows you to enjoy it!

If we had to describe the feeling of free fall, it would be like you’re suspended in time… oh wait, that won’t make sense either unless you’ve been to space. Looks like you’ll just have to skydive to understand what we’re trying to say! 😉

• Don’t Get Ground Rush

You know when Wil E. Coyote is falling to earth and the ground is rushing at him… you won’t feel that either! When jumping from 14,000 feet, you won’t experience ground rush. Jumping from 14,000’ is high and tandem skydives deploy parachutes at 5,500’…. still really high. So, no worries about the earth starting to zoom in on you…. you’re good!

What Skydiving Does Feel Like (Kinda)

• Feelings of Stability

Skydiving feels stable! As mentioned above you don’t feel like you’re plummeting out of the sky uncontrollably. Imagine laying on a firm Tempurpedic. That magical mattress feels like it’s supporting you, so yeah, we’ve just verbalized what skydiving feels like – like laying on a Tempurpedic in the sky – comfortable and supported. Boom! That’s it!

• Feelings of Happiness

Aside from the physical aspects of skydiving, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the emotional aspects. Too often the focus of skydiving is about death (the media will showcase this at every chance), but not enough emphasis is placed on the happiness. Skydiving offers the perfect chemical rush of serotonin and other fancy terms like endorphins and adrenaline that make a person feel over the moon happy for several days after the actual skydive. This is the true reason why some people get so addicted to it; the natural high of happiness is fantastic.

So, to summarize… if you’re thinking of not skydiving because you’re scared of it feeling like this or that… it doesn’t feel like anything you’ve ever experienced before. Just know this: it feels amazing!!! We hope you’ll work through any fears and join us in the sky! Learn how you can skydive for the first time at Skydive Carolina!

**The number one thing we hear from non-skydivers is “Why would anyone jump from a perfectly good airplane!!?” Every skydiver in the world hears this and while some take great delight in asking this, it’s not terribly original. 😉