Can You Listen to Music While Skydiving

For centuries, music has inspired, motivated and moved people in many ways. We’re constantly listening to music to match our vibe … a thumping bass line during our workout, acoustic strings during our study sessions, and light meditation music at bedtime to help us relax. It’s a no-brainer why someone would want to blast some tunes while getting pumped up for skydiving. So, can you listen to music while skydiving? We’ve got your answer here along with a bumpin’ soundtrack to help enhance your skydiving experience before your jump.

Can You Listen to Music While on a Tandem Skydive?

As far as tandem skydiving goes, listening to music is a hard NO. Contrary to popular belief, tandem skydivers are not just passive passengers on a ride – they actually play an active role on their tandem skydive. It’s critical for tandem jumpers to pay close attention to what’s going on and what guidelines their tandem instructor is giving them. In order for this to happen, the tandem student must be able to communicate and receive instruction from the tandem instructor at all times: on the ground, in the plane, and especially when it comes time to land the parachute. 

Do Experienced Skydivers Listen to Music While Skydiving?

Experienced skydivers have a little bit more leeway when it comes to listening to music while skydiving, however, the majority of skydivers don’t for a multitude of reasons. Some experienced skydivers will listen to music while on the airplane ride to altitude to pass the time but turn it off as soon as they approach the exit altitude and prepare to jump. 

Why Can’t I Listen to Music While Skydiving?

Skydiving is an extreme sport that requires one to be vigilant and extremely safety-conscious. Therefore, we can’t afford any distractions. Listening to music while skydiving is straight-up not safe and most definitely not worth the added risk – besides, you can’t really hear much due to all the other external noises anyway. Here are the main reasons why listening to music while skydiving is a no-go:

1. Safety Considerations:

• Situational Awareness
  It is absolutely vital for skydivers to have full situational awareness while skydiving and especially during canopy flight. Tandem and experienced skydivers need to be able to hear other skydivers, the instructor, or the pilot, while on the plane ride to altitude, should there be an aircraft emergency. If someone has headphones in with music blaring, they may not be able to hear potentially lifesaving instructions. Listening while under the canopy is especially crucial. While the sky may seem infinitely large, once everyone makes their way towards the dropzone, the margin of error becomes greater as you get closer together. For that reason, it’s crucial that jumpers maintain awareness of everyone around them and be able to hear in case someone or something crosses their pathway during landing.
• Distractions
  Skydiving is a fast-paced sport where things can literally happen in an instant. Therefore, it requires a lot of focus on every single step in order to avoid an emergency situation. We’ve all been guilty of “getting lost in the music,” so it’s best to just avoid anything that could potentially distract you from what you should be focused on: a fun and successful skydive.
• Listening for the Dytter
  For experienced skydivers, some opt to wear an audible altimeter, or “Dytter.” The audible altimeter emits beeping sounds to serve as crucial reminders for the skydiver to break-off and pull their parachute. If an individual is listening to music while on their skydive, they might not be able to hear the beeping from their audible altimeter, potentially causing them to not pull their parachute in time. Yikes!

2. The Power of the Wind

Even if you were able to listen to music while skydiving, you wouldn’t exactly be able to hear it above the powerful airplane engine, the excited chatter amongst fellow jumpers while on the ride to altitude, and the roar of the wind in freefall. Skydivers can reach speeds upwards of 120 mph during freefall, causing the noise-level to be pretty significant, and definitely enough to make it hard to hear much of anything without blowing out the headphones. Not to mention, the powerful winds would probably knock those tiny earbuds right off and into the skies – or worse, tangled around the instructor’s head/neck or on the important, lifesaving skydiving equipment.

Songs for Skydiving: Creating the Ultimate Pre-Jump Playlist

Don’t worry, we have a few ideas of ways you can enjoy skydiving music in a safe way. Adding music to your skydiving video after your jump is a great way to personalize your video and express the feelings you had in the moment or give your video a certain aesthetic. Additionally, you can create a whole playlist dedicated to amping yourself up while on the way to the dropzone! Here are a few of our favorite songs for skydiving:

• “Flyaway” by Lenny Kravitz
• “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty
• “Fly” by Sugar Ray
• “Parachute” by Chris Stapleton
• “Jump” by Van Halen
• “Learn to Fly” by Foo Fighters

The best way to enjoy skydiving is to take it all in: embrace the authenticity of all the sights and sounds that naturally occur during your experience. Ready to jam to the sounds of skydiving? Book your jump with NYC’s closest skydiving center – Long Island Skydiving Center. Blue skies!