Why A Fear of Heights Means Nothing in Skydiving

Does your heart start to race a little when you think about jumping from a perfectly good airplane?

Do you get butterflies in your stomach when you consider what it would feel like to fall from thousands of feet in the air?

Then skydiving is for you!

No, really! There are plenty of skydivers who, just like you, have a fear of heights. Part of their love of the sport comes down to the feeling of achievement they get in overcoming that fear, and the adrenaline rush they get whilst doing it!

If you’ve ever thought about skydiving but been held back by a fear of heights, this article’s for you. Read on…

Many skydivers have a fear of heights

It’s true! Many skydivers who jumped hundreds, even thousands, of times do so with a fear of heights. It’s not unusual and it’s certainly not a disadvantage.

For those who do fear heights, skydiving is the ultimate rush. Consider the last time you did something you weren’t entirely comfortable with, or something you found challenging. When you succeed in overcoming a fear or an obstacle, you feel a huge amount of pride and satisfaction. That’s exactly what skydivers with a fear of heights feel!

It’s not just the sense of achievement that gets people jumping out of airplanes even when they’re afraid to do so. It’s also a massive rush, as all of your senses engage in the ‘fight or flight’ response, giving you an almost super-human awareness of everything that’s going on around you. With a fear of heights, you’ll experience every moment of your skydive in hyper-clarity – giving you the opportunity to get even more out of your skydive than you might without that fear.

You’re so high, you don’t get a full sense of altitude

Many people with a fear of heights will experience anxiety doing simple things that climbing to the top of a ladder of peering down from a tall building.

That’s because, in those situations, you get a real sense of how high up you are. Skydiving, however, is quite different. You travel to heights of thousands of feet, meaning that the ground looks so far away, it becomes surreal and almost incomprehensible. It looks like a toy or a map, so far away that you lose that sense of being high up – and with it, a large part of what gives you the fear in the first place.

Ask any skydiver with a fear of heights how they manage to jump, and they’ll tell you that the height simply doesn’t bother them at their exit altitude. It’s a point of view that few people can access and one that you’ll treasure for a lifetime – believe us!

Falling from a plane doesn’t really feel like ‘falling’

Skydiving is the act of jumping from an airplane and falling down to earth. During your skydive, you’ll reach falling speeds of around 120mph. That’s fast!

But skydiving doesn’t really feel like ‘falling’ in it’s usual sense. In fact, it feels a lot more like you’re being cushioned by the wind.

That’s because you quickly reach your ‘terminal velocity’ – the speed at which you don’t get any faster. At that point, you lose that feeling of acceleration and you begin to ‘float’. It’s an incredible experience and one you won’t get anywhere else.

Practiced skydivers are able to use the air to move and ‘fly’ their bodies as they fall. This gives an even greater sensation of ‘flying’ over ‘falling’. They say ‘only skydivers know why birds sing’, so come and find out for yourself!

If you’re interested in trying skydiving for the first time, why not plan your tandem skydive with us? Our experienced and friendly instructors will be with you every step of the way ensuring you feel comfortable and can tackle that fear head on. If you’ve got any questions at all, feel free to get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.