Skydiving is one of the world’s most unique experiences–and not just for the reasons you think. In our humble opinion, there are three major ways that skydiving differentiates itself from the world’s other adventure activities: confidence, competition and community. These elements, taken in synthesis, elevate the sport way beyond the simple act of jumping out of a plane.

Confidence

Skydiving inspires the kind of confidence that can readily dig you out of the deepest rut. After all: You have to let go of the plane to have the experience, right? Once you’ve done that, you’ll find it just that much easier to let go of the past; to release obsessive thought patterns; to find your freedom. At the end of the day, it’s like this: successfully planning and accomplishing something as scary as a skydive builds confidence with each execution. The more you do it and achieve these goals, the longer the lasting confidence builds.

There’s another level to that feeling of confidence: A giddy sense of uniqueness. If you’re a skydiver, you’re different. There are so few people in the world that have tried it–heck, are even willing to try it–that making a jump makes a person statistically special, and that’s something to feel good about.

Competition

Skydiving as a sport has one great big secret–it’s not all just fun and games up there. That’s right! While the general public might think of skydiving as a frivolous activity that just runs circles around the simple thrill of freefall, that’s not at all the case.

Most people–including first-timers–have no idea that skydiving is a sport of many distinct disciplines, the skills of which don’t necessarily overlap. How does that work?, you ask, When you’re just falling out of a plane? Well: Say you’re amazing at stand-up paddleboard yoga. Does that mean you’ll be awesome if you grab a longboard and head out to the big waves? Or vice-versa? Well: the same is true in skydiving: just because you’re super-skilled at flying upside-down doesn’t mean you’ll fly beautifully in a wingsuit. There are loads of these disciplines, and each one could take years to perfect.

So: Skydivers train, and we compete. Especially at a big, thriving dropzone like Perris, we enjoy a smorgasbord of different events, skills camps, and workshops that draw people from around the world. These are often taught by skydivers who are famous in the community for their accomplishments. Once we’ve honed our chops, we start to perform in local competitions. People who have worked tirelessly to optimize their performance in one (or two!) of these disciplines are given the opportunity to compete on the national and even international level.

As a side note: This is one of the only sports where you can just hang out with famous, well-known and extraordinarily accomplished skydivers. Often, they’re so humble that you won’t even know who you’re talking to until someone else explains it to you. (In other sports, you have to pay to get the attention of someone who’s this big a deal!)

Community

You can’t help but bond with other like-minded people and skydiving is a sport full of open-minded, open-hearted, open-armed folks who share goals and values. Once you step into the world of skydiving, you join the family.

What are you waiting for? Book today and come and be a part of our tribe.

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There’s a good reason why we’ve chosen to spend our lives with people who are deeply involved in the skydiving community. In all honesty, they’re the most fantastic people we’ve ever met. This incredible sport brings people together in both its soaring highs and in its tragedies, making us appreciate life that much more on both ends of the spectrum. That full-scope experience of a deeply, fearlessly lived life means that skydivers share a very unique perspective. Such a perspective drives proactive social behavior directly from its roots.

Skydivers Look Out For Each Other.

When you’re walking out to the plane on any given dropzone, you’ll see it: Skydivers checking each others’ equipment; looking around to make sure that everything is in the proper configuration; tapping and tugging and confirming that everything is just right. You’ll see jumpers setting up their exit arrangements and “walking out” their jumps on the ground. You’ll observe them having careful conversations about exactly what they plan to do, so nobody is caught unsafely off-guard.

We take these safety conversations very seriously, even though we’re smiling, laughing and playing around, because–on every jump–each one of us is taking responsibility for not only ourselves but for every other jumper on the plane.

Skydivers take the same kind of care of each other outside the context of the actual jumping. We have a tight, supportive community; we celebrate each other’s’ successes and help pick up the pieces when things aren’t going well.

Skydivers Look Out For The World At Large.

When you start to look around, you see how involved skydivers are not just with their freefallin’ brethren but with making the entire landlubber world a better place to be. Often, we use skydiving to do it.

There are hundreds of examples of these efforts, but a few come readily to mind: Jump for the Cause, a non-profit started by a group of women who perform mass skydiving formations to raise money; Leap for Lupus, which has been raising funds for disease research for many years running; Operation Enduring Warrior, which facilitates skydiving training programs to expand the world of our nation’s veterans; Just Care More, which supports programs for at-risk youth–and then introduces them to the “whole-other-planet” experience of a great big skydiving party at the beach, with the aim of motivating them to aim for the stars.

Skydivers Love To Share.

Skydivers generally wax pretty poetic about the experience of freedom, focus and peace that they experience through the act of freefall. That experience–enjoyed over and over and over–has life-changing effects on their personal sense of possibility, accomplishment, confidence and overall happiness. It’s a gift, really: and to share that with others is an incredibly satisfying, bonding experience.

At Perris, our staff and our skydiving community at large is really big on sharing that gift. You’ll notice it from the moment you arrive. When we congratulate our new jumpers, we really mean it, and you can tell. After all: we’re welcoming you into the population of the world of skydiving–which, of course, is the very best–and we know you belong here. Come on over and introduce yourself!

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One of the first things you’ll notice about a skydiving dropzone when you stroll through the gates for the first time is that it is not like any airport you’ve ever visited–and the colorful, nylon-and-cordura-uniformed residents might seem a little strange to you. We’re a lot more fun once you get to know us a little better, so we’re here to share a few little secrets with you…

The Skydiving Community is Misunderstood

If you’re convinced that the sport of skydiving is full of a bunch of adrenaline-seeking, death-cheating wild children, you’d be in good company. Most of the world sees our sport through that “YouTubeified” lens. The truth is a lot more subtle.

Most skydivers are pretty much exactly like you. We come from widely varied backgrounds, we have earthly responsibilities to fulfil, and we don’t get up in the morning with the singular desire to scare our mothers half to death with our envelope-pushing antics. There is a risk involved, of course, but skydivers are in the habit of managing that risk by taking proactive safety measures–and that well-managed risk is an excellent tool for focus.

It is true, however, that our sport is populated with the most amazing people you’ll ever have the good luck to meet. The community, in fact, is just as big a draw as the freefall.

The Dropzone is our Home–and the Door is Wide Open

On any given dropzone, you’ll see a collection of campervans hanging out at the periphery. Some of these might stay there over the weekend, while others don’t move a single wheel over the course of a decade. It might strike you as odd, at first, that someone would choose to actually live snuggled up to a far-flung airfield…until you start skydiving. (When the obsession takes hold, you’ll understand perfectly fine.)

Not everybody lives on the dropzone, of course, but all of us build dropzone socializing time into our lives. After all, you can’t miss the parties, the barbeques, the competitions, the coaching weekends, the theme nights–or any good-weather Saturday, ever.

On a big dropzone, like ours, there’s usually a restaurant–or a pub–that fills up with animated, affectionate groups of skydivers after “green light” (our term for the official end of the skydiving day). Don’t be shy: stroll right up. We’re reliably stoked to bring you into the conversation.

They Started Just Like You

No matter how casual and comfortable the skydivers around you look now, remember–it wasn’t always that way. Every skydiver in the air started as a curious soul on the ground, mystified by the equipment and (more than) a little nail-bitey about the whole thing.

If this is your first tandem skydive and you’re nervous and new, you’re in the same shoes we’ve all walked a mile in. We’re here to support your process–and welcome you into our motley crew. Don’t be a stranger! Learn more about Skydive Perris and why so many skydivers in the Los Angeles area love to call this place home. We hope to welcome you into our growing skydiving community soon!

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