Skydiving Cost: Is Cheaper Better

Tempted to find cheap skydiving near you? You may want to reconsider. We enjoy a bargain as much as anyone else, but there are definitely times when it pays to pay for quality. Times, dare we say, when a bargain isn’t the best thing. Medical procedures, tattoos, and skydiving all come to mind. In these fields, most of the time, you get what you pay for. Would you try to find the cheapest brain surgeon near you? Of course not. You’d try to find the best.

More often than not, there may be something menacing beneath the veneer of a great deal. In skydiving, quality and cost often go hand in hand. If a deal on a cheap skydive seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Low Prices Can Indicate Cut Corners

There are a lot of overhead costs when running a reputable skydiving dropzone. Sure there are the “usual suspects” of rent, insurance, and fuel for the aircraft. But, have you ever stopped to consider what it costs to safely run an aircraft?

Maintaining a “perfectly good airplane” is anything but cheap. Every time an aircraft reaches a certain number of flown hours it must go in for inspections and routine maintenance. The cost of the inspection alone can be close to $2000. Please note, that’s not including anything that may need maintenance. As you can imagine, the cost of keeping airplanes airborne adds up quickly.

In order to perform maintenance and do more than “patch” potential issues, a dropzone must have a revenue sufficient to cover the costs. Considering that a dropzone must properly maintain it’s aircraft, maintain life-saving skydiving equipment, and pay a living wage to draw in professional and properly rated staff, if a skydiving center is offering über cheap skydives, one of these three areas is definitely lapsing.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Many people are not familiar with the world of aviation much less the world of skydiving. Our intention is to inform you of the key features you should to consider when choosing a skydiving facility for your first jump. Although it’s tempting, the dropzone you choose shouldn’t be chosen exclusively on proximity or price alone. Here are a few other important things to consider.

Ingredients for A Great Skydiving Experience

Attention to Detail

Your skydiving experience is much more than getting strapped to your instructor, exiting an aircraft, speeding toward the ground below, and landing with a parachute. It’s important to ensure that the dropzone you choose goes that extra step to help you feel comfortable from the moment you arrive. You’d be surprised what a reassuring smile and friendly energy can do for your experience and just how hard that kind of service is to find.

Skydiving Facilities

Some dropzones keep their facilities spick and span while others are less than tidy. If the facilities seem disheveled or dirty, it doesn’t necessarily bode well for other elements of your skydive. For an all around great experience, it’s best to find a dropzone that has pride in their facilities and keeps them clean.

Skydiving Safety Culture

It’s important to choose a dropzone with a prominent safety culture. At the ideal skydiving dropzone, each member of the skydiving team is committed to the overall safety of both participants and staff.

How should you pick a dropzone for your first time skydiving?

See What Others Had to Say

The experiences of others can give you a lot of information about a skydiving facility. Check out reviews on Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Google. If you have time, check out their facebook page and see how the customers are interacting with the business.

Give Them A Call

Are they polite and courteous on the telephone? Or are they anything but? A phone call can tell you a great deal about the professionalism of a company or the lack thereof. Ask questions. Their answers and the way they provide them can tell you if the dropzone is a good fit for you.

Pay the Dropzone A Visit

If you have the time to spare and really want to go above and beyond when selecting a skydiving facility for your first time, visit the dropzone. Pay attention to how the guests are being treated and the experience they are having. Would you want the kind of treatment they are getting?

Ultimately, you only get one “first” skydive. In our opinion, the best way to ensure an incredible first jump experience is to know how to pick a skydiving center without basing your decision solely on the sticker price. At Long Island Skydiving Center, we are committed to exceeding the expectations of our guests and giving them more than their money’s worth. Whether it’s with us or another company, we want to make sure you have a safe and enjoyable skydive. With a little research, you should be able to pick the skydiving center that’s right for you. Have any questions? Feel free to give us a call. We’re happy to chat!