Paying for your skydiving, with some left over

When you look at how much it costs to skydive, one of the factors you'll notice is that it's not cheap. This section is all about four things;

1. Ways to save  money (thus releasing more to spend on jumping)

2. Ways to jump for less cost than you usually would

3. Tools to manage  cashflow and finance (these are useful for anything, not just skydiving)

4. Ways to make extra money, over and above the 'day job' so we can skydive and do other fun things

Making a fortune from skydiving

Skydiving is an expensive game and the credit crunch hasn't really helped much, although there are a few good deals to be had if you know where to look when certain drop zones and schools do extra special deals to get your business. When they actually get to make a skydive, entrepreneurs start to wonder how they can make money while doing the sport they love. There a short phraise that most skydivers know, that goes something like this;

A "Start with a large one"

There is a lot of truth in this, although I do know one or two individuals who have been able to buck that trend and here's a tip "become an investor in a new windtunnel for indoor skydiving". However, back on the ground floor, we've been looking around and listening to how people pay for their skydiving and we've done our best to make some notes to 'spread the joy' and to try to trigger some ideas to help others do the same. As we find more ideas we'll update this and if you have any that you'd like to share, then either blog them here or email them in to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We're always open to discussing ideas and ideally passing them on to our readers to help them too.

Be a 'breadliner''

Focus on whats important! Eat for less, skydive more

Sure, the credit crunch is hurting everyone in one way or another but lets take a positive look and see it as a 'global detox' which is needed from time to time to make sure the fat cats don't get too, erm.. well, fat! The credit crunch shouldn't stop us from doing what we want to do - we just have to be more creative.

Soon after I started skydiving a group of us went to skydive at Zephyrhills in Florida. Money was tight and we all realised that the more we spent on food and accomodation the less we had to spend on skydiving. Therefore we squeezed as many into a single cheap motel room as we could and it was a lottery to see who ould get the bed and who would get the floor to sleep on. We found the best deals for places to eat. My favourite was the $1 slice of pitza and a shared salad bar. Sometimes I have to cook at home and I recently found this neat little Canadian site with some great cheap comfort food ideas that even my own limited culinary expertise can handle, so I'd like to share it with you. Bon Appetite! Maybe you could guess that the owner of the site is also an aviation fanatic and although he is a Pilot (and less used to jumping out of aeroplanes than  driving them) I'm assured that a test flight for the new Montreal windtunnel is on the cards soon (hoping to see a blog entry on that one ).

Anyway, to finish off the 'cheap eating-out thing' The same principle holds true to this day, even if the deal prices have changed a little. Back in those days we called ourselves the "breadliners" and each of us got a number (I'm BL#13 - with a tee shirt to prove it) and in a way it was our own acknowledgement of our shifting priorities. If you happen live or study in the north east of UK or are planning a vacation near there, then I highly recommend you do a skydive or two at Skydive Academy Peterlee, near Durham. Ask for the drop zone operator Ian Rosenvinge BL#1. Tell him that "the Accelerator", Breadliner #13 sent you and see just what a terrific deal you'll get. You'll also find one of the warmest welcomes for any DZ anywhere in the world and an extremely professional operation that is committed to your safety. Added bonus - the scenery is just awesome on that Durham coastline... Its one of my favourite places to teach AFF.

Being a Breadliner is a pretty good way to lose weight too, just don't stay on the 'breadliner diet' too long...

To check out accelerated freefall as a route to becoming a licenced skydiver click here

Interested in tandem skydiving, perhaps to raise money for charity click here

Like to find out how to make more money to fund your skydiving?

or perhaps you'd like to go back to our home page?

Photo courtesy Phil Judd (don't worry, I've put some weight back on since this was taken )