Tandem Skydiving VA,MD,DC Netscape Version

If you are using an older version of Netscape Navigator, you may have trouble with certain pages, like the first jump prices page. So here is most of the same information in a text format. If the regular web pages work for you, then by all means return to them instead, click your back arrow and check out the first jump links and FAQ sections.

If anyone can tell me why some of my pages don't work with Netscape navigator, please let me know!

NEW! - Get 6 Free skydives ($510 value) when you graduate the training program!

1. Static Line first skydive course - $265-

A static line skydive is when a nylon line from the aircraft assists main parachute opening. Made from 3,500 feet after a 10 - 20 minute airplane ride, depending on exit order, followed by a five minute parachute ride. This course starts at 8:00 A.M. and lasts about 5 hours. Your skydive will be made the same day, weather permitting, usually between 3:00 P.M. and sunset. At least five static lines, for those progressing through this instructional method, must be completed before making that first freefall. An alternative after making one or more static lines is a transition to Accelerated Freefall Program (AFF).

Repeat Jumps, License.
*Cash discounted prices shown. Credit card prices are a little more. No
personal checks.

QUESTIONS??? email me!
skydive@cfw.com

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2. Tandem First Skydive Course - $255-

Tandem skydives are for first time skydivers to experience the thrill of skydiving easily, requiring only a 45
minute class. A Tandem skydive from about 10,500+ feet, a bona fide 35 - 40
second freefall skydive, (13,500+ feet for a 45 second freefall from our big
plane*) with step-by-step instruction, harnessed together with your
instructor during every step of the way-- from aircraft exit through
freefall, descent, and landing. Together you will fly on a parachute built
for two and enjoy an experience you'll always remember. We can even arrange
tandem skydive video from aircraft boarding, ride up, and freefall with a
professional skydiving photographer! What a conversation piece, "Hey gang,
come see my latest home movie!" 3-4 Tandem skydives can replace first AFF
skydives if learning requirements are met. Repeat
skydives

*Prices shown are cash discounted. Credit cards are slightly more. No
checks.

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3. Accelerated Freefall (AFF) First Skydive Course - $380-

45-50 second freefall! This program is called "ACCELERATED FREEFALL" because learning is three - five times faster than with traditional Static instruction. Upon successful completion of just 7 AFF skydives, you will have about 6 minutes freefall time and equivalent experience of someone with 20+ skydives under Static progression. Accelerated Freefall provides personalized instruction for students seriously interested in becoming a skydiver, although it can be used by someone making one skydive. AFF skydives are made from 10,500-13,500* feet with your own parachute system with two AFF Jumpmasters with harness grips. Instruction on aircraft exit, freefall body position, altitude awareness, canopy control, landing. Have your AFF videoed and stills made by a professional freefall photographer! Ground school is approximately 6 - 8 hours. Jump same day weather permitting. Additional AFF training progression skydives cost considerably less. By appointment only. . Repeat
Jumps

*Prices shown are cash discounted. Credit cards are slightly more. No
checks. QUESTIONS??? email me!

*Our 22 jumper twin engine aircraft allows 3,000' more altitude for the same student's price! We prefer the big plane, but which aircraft we use is your jumpmaster's decision, to be decided by logistics just before each skydive. 30 and 45 second static line progressions can also be done from the big plane.

Click Repeat Skydives for the regular repeat training progression pages. If this does not work, please email me! I don't know which pages are not Netscape friendly if you don't tell me.

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YES WE JUMP YEAR ROUND!

Student equipment used at Skydive Orange is state-of-the-art parachuting equipment. All main and reserve student parachutes used are large docile ram-air, rectangular shaped parachutes, and landing under one of these parachutes may be so light that there is little choice but to stand up. At Skydive Orange, we are blessed with a vast landing area, and a 6400 square ft. hanger.

Important First Jump Factors:

You must weigh less than 220 lbs. and be at least 18 years old. Picture ID with date of birth checked.

Do not give blood or scuba dive within 24 hours before jumping.

If you wear shorts and short sleeve shirt, bring a change of clothes to skydive in - long pants and ankle supporting footwear - cold weather - bring sweatshirt without hood and light gloves.

Even if the weather looks uncooperative, plan on attending the course. Ground school, except for Tandem skydives, takes quite a while; weather could and often does clear by the time the course is completed. When you come out to the airport, there is always a chance the weather will be bad and you will have to return another day. If you don't come to the airport, you definitely will not get to jump that day!

Tell all your friends about us! but don't wait for them all to come along to jump. Chances are out of a group of 4-20 friends who say they also want to skydive, when you try to collect their deposits to schedule a first jump most of them will say their knees itch, or their eyes are stuck, and they can't even see to change channels, let alone skydive - better just come out and Skydive yourself lest you never know the thrill of skydiving! - Then when they hear your stories or see the video, they'll want to join you for your second skydive!

(540) 943-6587
I am usually near the phone Monday through Friday 9AM till 8PM.
skydive@cfw.com
To schedule a first Skydive...

Send $50.00 Non-refundable Deposit Check made to Rainbow Parachute Inc. to:

Rainbow Parachute Inc.
138 Hickory Hill Drive
Fishersville, VA 22939

* Mailing a personal check 10 days before is OK for deposit. Balance to be paid by cash or Credit Card at time of arrival for skydive. Prices shown are cash discounted.
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See our WEATHER POLICY.

We must have your deposit in hand before a reservation is held.

Tell me when scheduling:

Name,

Your Phone Number,

Email Address,

Date you are scheduling for,

How many people for:
Static Line, AFF, &/or Tandem skydives.

Click HERE for our planned WEEKDAYS OF OPERATION. We can usually arrange weekday Tandems, but for first Static Line or AFF, we need to have a big enough group, usually 6-8 for a weekday first jump class. We usually need at least a week's notice for repeat static line and AFF, especially if you are doing 2 jumpmaster AFF's. But email or call me and tell me when you want to jump and I will try to arrange it.

Signing up for a first Skydive? FAQ's- IF THIS LINK WON'T OPEN FOR YOU WITH NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR, PLEASE LOOK BELOW.

Please include this information with your deposit,
or email it to me to so I have it handy.

Repeat jump information is on http://www.skydiveorange.com/repeat2.htm email me if you have problems with this page.

FAQ'S:

Try http://www.skydiveorange.com/faq.htm before you look any farther for the standard FAQ page. If it does not work, then return to this simplified Netscape friendly FAQ page.

When do I arrive, when will I actually jump?

Although we do our best to help you make your skydive in a timely manner, we sometimes have to wait for things like the weather to change, storms to go by, (click here for weather considerations), or due to other circumstances beyond our control like time consuming unscheduled FAA inspections, unpredictable airport operation slow downs, which might delay or postponed your skydive, so please leave a generous amount of time that you might have to be at the airport, possibly even the whole day until just before dark.

There are many variables we must deal with to provide all the components of safe skydives. Sometimes circumstances may change unpredictably, necessitating last minute changes to exactly when you will get in the air. Therefore, we can never guarantee that anyone will definitely jump by a certain time with a certain person on their plane load! If anyone is coming to watch you jump, be sure they understand they might be waiting a while. Most groups will want to jump one person at a time so they can watch each other jump, but we may need to put 2, 3, 4, or more first time skydivers on one plane load. We will try to arrange plane loads to suit, but please understand we have to deal with weight limitations, videographer availability, how many places are available on each plane load, coordinating Jumpmasters, packers, packed rigs, the plane(s), and many other numerous things, so no guarantees as to aircraft loading.

The Static Line and AFF first Jump Course starts at 8:00 A.M. and lasts about 5-6 hours. Your jump will be made on the same day as your training, weather permitting, usually between 3:00 P.M. and sunset. If you have a group in the NOVA/DC area, we can often arrange weekday evening training for groups of 6 or more so you can arrive at the airport ready to jump.

For Tandem, we have groups arrive at assigned times, tell us which you want, usually:

June 1 through September- 8AM, Noon, 3MP arrival times*,

October 1 through May- 8AM and 1PM arrival times*,

we train the group, and then we start skydiving with one or more Tandems on a plane load. Be sure to allow plenty of time. For example, we have 15 Tandems arriving at 8AM, most of these will jump within 1- 3 1/2 hours, but it could be 5-6 hours or more before the last of this group jumps, weather permitting. The last of the last group to arrive may not get to jump till just before dark. If we are busy, we will sometimes offer a small early morning arrival group, usually 6-7:30 AM.

* Weekdays by special arrangement we can usually arrange other arrival times, especially for groups.

What about Aircraft Safety?

At Skydive Orange, we recognize that safety starts before we even get off the ground. As a student skydiver, we ask that you stay close to your Instructor or Jumpmaster while approaching the aircraft. Approach only from the rear or side of the aircraft staying very close to your instructor. If anyone is coming to watch you skydive, we ask that they stay near the parking/hanger area, AWAY FROM THE AIRCRAFT LOADING AREA.

We are very careful about the way our aircraft are operated, and so are our pilots.

Is there an automatic activation device on my parachute?

All our rental, student, and Tandem parachute systems are equipped with the state of the art CYPRES automatic activation device on the reserve. It is widely accepted as being the best parachute opening back up system. It is a reserve activating back up system set for 1,000'.

Weather?

We will not jump in unsafe weather conditions!

Being in the skydiving business as we are, we must ask you to accept in advance that Skydiving is a weather controlled sport. Weather forecasts just one day previous to the jump day are less than 50% accurate when used to try to guess if you will be able to jump or not. Hence, in the event that you come out and the weather is bad so we can't jump (High winds, turbulence, clouds, rain), or if it causes the day's jump schedule to be backed up so that you cannot jump that day, it is your responsibility to reschedule your jump (no refunds). We will do everything we reasonably can to work with you to reschedule, and we will give you priority when you return to try again. Remember, what matters is the weather at the intended time of your jump directly over and around the airport. All weather reports are little more than rough guesses that are loosely applied to areas thousands of times this size.

What about scheduling and my deposit?

The amount of behind the scenes expense and effort that goes into providing your moment of glory in the sky in a safety conscious environment is enormous. We do our best to provide aircraft, relatively new state of the art parachutes with the latest safety devices and carefully maintained Reserve parachutes, as well as the best staff at the right place at the right time. After all this, you are expected to turn up to make your jump as scheduled. If you fail to turn up for your appointment, therefore, there is no refund for the Nonrefundable $50 deposit. Also if you are overweight or underage, your deposit will also be forfeited. By prior arrangement, we can take up to 275# Tandem, with the extra charge being $35 extra for every 10# over 220#.

Can I get a refund if the weather is bad?

No refunds, only reschedules. It is the jumpers responsibility to reschedule if the weather is bad. We provide aircraft, instruction, equipment, and jumpmasters, a place to skydive, but we can not help you find your way back to the airport to make your skydive- that is your responsibility. If you come out to jump and the weather is bad, we will give you a receipt for you to come back and make your skydive, and if you can't make it back for a while, there is no charge for the retraining that we will provide before you jump. Out of the many first jumps made in a year at Skydive Orange, some of them will be on days when the weather does not cooperate. If we were to follow weather predictions, the proportion of jumps that had to be rescheduled would not be very different than if we ignore the weather reports and accept that we might have to reschedule if indeed the weather is bad, and in the process we would be wasting the opportunity to make many skydives. We will not jump in unsafe weather conditions. We won't know until just before the time for you to jump if the weather conditions are acceptable or not.

Cancellations?

The amount of organization that goes into your skydive on is enormous, as is the commitment made by our staff necessary to be ready to provide everything needed for you to make your skydive in a safe environment. Hence there is no refund for the non-refundable $50 deposits.

Smoking & Drinking?

Please don't smoke in the hanger or near aircraft. If we pack a parachute on a hot cigarette butt, it causes a lot of expensive damage. We never drink & jump. No open alcoholic beverages until the last load of the day is in the air, even though you may be done jumping for the day.

What to wear?

No loose floppy clothing! Sandals & high heel shoes won't do! Tennis shoes work well. For Static Line, it is OK to wear ankle supporting footwear, but no combat boots for Tandem or AFF, please. Best to leave the jewelry behind. We do not provide secure storage for anything. In cold weather, bringing warm clothes, layers of sweatshirts without a hood and long underwear are a good idea in the winter. Except for Summer, bring light gloves if you have them, preferably not fuzzy or slippery, better deerskin or thin sports gloves designed for gripping. If you wear shorts and short sleeve shirt, bring a change of clothes for skydiving - long pants, long sleeve shirt.

What if I am over the weight limit?

The 220# limit is the limit for Static Line & AFF, But we can Take Tandems over 220# by special arrangement. It makes our Tandem instructors work harder, though, and increases maintenance to our equipment (which we are very careful to repair and replace regularly), so the charge is an additional $35/ 10 # over 220 # up to 275#. beyond this, we cannot accommodate anyone heavier.

What if I am under 18 years old?

Because of legal concerns, you must be 18 years or older to skydive. If your congressman has taken money from the American Trial Lawyers Association, he is largely to blame. The next best thing is probably going to be Flyaway, the wind tunnel in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. http://www.flyawayindoorskydiving.com

What if I have a fear of heights?

If you have a fear of heights, it does not apply in the same way for skydiving. You are so high, it does not look high in the same perspective as looking down from a ladder or out a high window.

What about fear and apprehension?

Fear & apprehension get worse & worse until you are out of the plane and skydiving, then most of it goes away. When you come back for repeat skydives, you will find that repeat jumps made on the same day will be more enjoyable since you will get a lot of this out of the way on the first jump of the day.

What is it like?

Skydiving defies description. It is not a falling sensation like being in an elevator. It is more like lying on a bed of air. See also What if I have a fear of heights? and What about fear and apprehension? Although watching a video is absolutely no substitute for making a real skydive, we did include a video of a Tandem sky dive for you to download.

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Which kind of first skydive should I do?

Most first jumps are Tandem. and this is what we suggest you start with. Definitely do this if you just want to try it one time. It is the easiest way to experience freefall with a minimum of training so you can experience the thrill with less training on your mind than AFF, and the experience is almost identical except that you don't have two jumpmasters holding on to you. Check out the repeat skydives page where it compares the instructional programs for those continuing. Rather than agonizing over what kind of first jump to do, consider that just about everyone has the same size smile on their face after they land regardless of which kind of skydive they do.

Advantages of Tandem over Static Line first jumps are:

Less training to clutter your mind while you are experiencing your first jump

Far less chance of having to reschedule because of high winds or clouds

There's a chance you will need to do a Tandem anyway. Many first who train for Static Line or AFF decide or are required to do a Tandem instead.

Counts for Category A in only one jump if you watch the altitude and open the parachute

You get to go a whopping 10,000 feet higher for no extra charge!

Most of the above are good reasons to do a Tandem instead of AFF the first few jumps too.

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When can I jump by myself?

Category E and F, about 8 jumps into the training progression, are solo skydives where you do front flips, back flips, barrel rolls, and tracking.

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Can I get just still photos of my skydive?

Yes, but you will still have to pay for the video, since there would not be anyone there to take the still photos if you aren't getting the video. Please click here for more info.

Gift Certificates?
YES! click here for Gift Certificate information.

Weekday Skydiving?

Click HERE for our planned WEEKDAYS OF OPERATION. We can usually arrange weekday Tandems, but for first Static Line or AFF, we need to have a big enough group, usually 6-8 for a weekday first jump class. We usually need at least a week's notice for repeat static line and AFF, especially if you are doing 2 jumpmaster AFF's. But email or call me and tell me when you want to jump, what kind of jump, and I will try to arrange it.

Can we get one video for our whole group?
No. It is impossible for a freefall camera flyer to be in more than one place at the same time — tandems are as much as a quarter mile apart in freefall! Click here for Video Prices