Author: Skydive Spaceland Houston
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Old Farts Texas State Record Set at Spaceland
I have officially turned old… well, old enough to join Skydivers over Sixty. Actually, I tried to join earlier but then it was explained to me that “sixty” was age and not IQ! Upon receiving my official SOS information, badge, and secret handshake, I noticed that the state formation record for Texas was only nine…
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Skydive Spaceland to Celebrate Veteran’s Day with Local Medal of Honor Recipient and Friends: “Airborne to Skydiving”
“Nobody signs up to win the Medal of Honor. You earn it at the intersection of happenstance and hell, and you’re there because that’s what your country has asked of you.” These poignant words from the book Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty summarize the situations combat veterans know all…
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Head-Down Skydiving Formation State Record Set at Skydive Spaceland
Contact: Stephen Boyd, 281-369-3337, Stephen@SkydiveSpaceland.com Thirty-four skydivers set a new state record for the largest head-down skydiving formation on Sunday, Nov. 3, at Skydive Spaceland just south of Houston. Their smooth skydive eclipsed the previous state record of 31 head-down skydivers linked in a single formation, and brought the record home to Houston. Not only…
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Women’s State Record Set at Skydive Spaceland
October 14, 2013 Contact: Kirsten Hardmant, Jump for the Rose Event Coordinator, Kirsten@JumpForTheRose.org (Rosharon, Texas)—Four skilled skydiving women set a new head-up state skydiving record at Skydive Spaceland last Saturday, Oct. 12, during the Jump for the Rose PinkFest Boogie. The annual charity event has so far this year raised more than $10,000 for The Rose, Houston-area…
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You’re the Pilot: Take Control!
Ask any group of non-skydivers what they think would be the scariest part of skydiving, and at least a few will answer, “The landing.” Ask a group of skydiving students, or even experienced jumpers, and you’ll get the same answer from a few of them. We have the guts to throw ourselves out of airplanes in…
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Skydiving Tip: You’re Not THAT Good…
Skydivers tend to be pretty confident people. We trust ourselves to save our own lives while throwing ourselves out of (ha) perfectly good airplanes towards the planet, right? We trust that we have the skills to succeed in the dives we plan. We trust that our gear will work, and even if it doesn’t, we…
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Tracking Dives: The Fun and the Danger
Ah, the sunset tracking dive. What could be more fun than flying along with your skydiving friends in a flock with a beautiful sunset? After all, all the cool kids are doing it! Graduation jump tracking dive, anyone? Just kidding!!!! If the dive goes wrong, a whole lot of things could be more fun than…
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Skydiving Tip: Predictability = Safety
Plan the dive, dive the plan. You’ve been practicing this since your first student training jump. There are two reasons for a dive plan: SAFETY! Engineering the dive so you can get in maximum learning and/or performance from the jump. Once you have graduated from a skydiving training program, there are SO MANY things you…
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Parachute Dirt Diving
We dirt dive the freefall portion of nearly all of our skydives, but do you dirt dive your landings? Do you check the wind speed and direction at all altitudes, which way the wind will shift as you descend, etc.? If the wind direction changes, how will that change your landing pattern? As we develop…
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Helmets: Secured for Takeoff
We don’t have a lot of bad words in skydiving (regardless of what you might hear after the beer light comes on! ;), but there is one we can all agree on: Complacency. com·pla·cen·cy n. — A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy. In skydiving, we say someone…
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Skydiving Advice: Listen With Care
Skydivers come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life, but If one word could be used to describe nearly all of us it would probably be “passionate.” This is a sport we love dearly and deeply, and we love to share that passion with others. That passion, unfortunately, can cause problems…
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Landing Patterns and Winds
One of the best things about skydiving today compared to some decades past is that we jump steerable parachutes. We have the ability to change our flight paths and land on target, which makes it a lot easier for us to land near the hangar and make lots of jumps in a day without quite…
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The New Beer Line
Ah, the beer line–that line close to the hangar that causes all skydivers in sight distance to yell “BEER!!!!” with glee if you land on the hangar side of it. Did you know we now have one of these in the student/A-B license landing area at our Houston location in addition to our regular beer…
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Skydiver Training Tip: To Land Off or Not?
Scenario: You’re under a good canopy at 2000 feet. You are downwind of the drop zone and aren’t sure you can make it to the landing area. Between you and the drop zone are trees, brush, power lines, and likely all manner of unpleasant critters. Behind you is a wide open field. What do you…
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Skydive Spaceland Hosts Houston Firefighters’ Memorial Event
On July 14, skydiver/Houston firefighter Chris Lee (HazMat/22-D shift) organized a memorial skydiving event at Skydive Spaceland for the fallen and injured firefighters and all others who battled a deadly hotel fire in Houston on May 31, 2013. The fire killed four Houston Fire Department (HFD) firefighters and injured 13 more, making it the deadliest…
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And Liberty and Pin Checks for All…
As skydivers, we like to do everything right so we can skydive again… and again… and… Lately we have been seeing a number of recent graduates, now unsupervised by instructors, neglecting their pin checks before exit. Perhaps it’s due to distraction when thinking about the upcoming jump, or perhaps you noticed an experienced jumper neglecting…
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Seat Belts in Jump Aircraft: Not Just for Show
I once had an instructor who refused to wear a seat belt in a car. He had managed to defy all odds in two separate car accidents by not wearing seat belts; both accidents threw him out of a car that would have crushed him had he remained inside. Unlike with cars, however, the last…
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Skydive Spaceland Raises More Than $2,500 for Oklahoma Tornado Victims
Rosharon, Texas (June 13)—Over Memorial Day weekend, Houstonians and Skydive Spaceland joined forces to raise funds to help victims of the enormous tornado that swept Oklahoma City recently. More than 250 people made their first jump at Skydive Spaceland over the weekend, which donated $10 for each person to the American Red Cross for a…
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What Kind of Skydiving Helmet to Buy?
Welcome to the world of gear decisions, skydiver! You’ve been jumping an open-face helmet throughout the student program, but you’ve been seeing a bunch of the cool kids on the drop zone jumping full-face helmets of various styles. What’s right for you? Your preferences will, of course, drive your selection. Here are a few things…
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How to Open/Close a Super Otter/Supervan Skydiving Door
Have you had the chance to open the jump door on one of our Super Otters or SuperVans yet? No? Are you nervous about it? Fear not, we have the scoop! Whether you’ve operated the door yet or not, chances are great that you’ll learn a valuable tip or few from our latest YouTube video…
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Skydive Spaceland to Host Fundraiser for Oklahoma Tornado Victims
NEWS RELEASE—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 22, 2013 Contact (Skydive Spaceland): Christy West, Marketing/Communications Director, Skydive Spaceland 281-369-3337; Christy@SkydiveSpaceland.com Rosharon, Texas (May 22)—Skydive Spaceland has joined the large ranks of individuals and businesses stepping up to help victims of the enormous tornado that swept Oklahoma City Monday. This weekend (Saturday through Memorial Day Monday), Skydive Spaceland…
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Steve Boyd Celebrates 40 Years of Skydiving
On April 28, Steve Boyd, owner of Skydive Spaceland just south of Houston, Texas, celebrated the 40th anniversary of his first skydive. With his entire family present at Skydive Spaceland, he chose to spend some time in the air with his two sons Eric and Stephen (who also help run the drop zone) and several…
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Skydive Spaceland Expands World-Class Skydiver Training Operations to South Florida Location
For the last 13 years, Skydive Spaceland has been training skydivers to a world-class standard at its private airfield just south of Houston, Texas. Spaceland has recently entered into a partnership with a skydiving center in south Florida to provide the same top-flight level of skydiving operations to jumpers in the Miami/Palm Beach/Fort Lauderdale/Fort Myers/Naples…
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Head-Down Big-Way Camps
On the weekend of August 31st/September 1st (Labor Day), Skydive Dallas will host a 2013 Texas Head-Down State Record camp to bust the previous 2010 record of 23. This year Skydive Spaceland is proud to host monthly head-down big-way camps in preparation for the event. Each month will be led by a different participant of…
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World Record Board-Breaking Skydiving Attempt Jan. 17, 2013
(Rosharon, TX) December 12 –Best known for his role as Tommy Oliver in the long-running TV show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Jason David Frank is attempting to break a Guinness Book of World Records – to jump out of a plane at 14,000 feet and break (with a bare handed knuckle punch) as many one–inch pine boards…
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Skydiver Training Tip: Taking the Next Step
“Congratulations, you’ve just earned your skydiving A license!” “WooHOO! … “…now what?” When a skydiver graduates from our Skydiver Training Program, some hit the air flying hard and never look back. Often, however, a graduate will wonder a little bit about what to do next. Your skydives up until this point have been tightly structured,…
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Loading Area Etiquette
Getting ready to board an aircraft for skydiving is more than a little different than boarding a plane for commercial travel or getting in a car for a drive. There are concerns for personal safety, the safety of others in the plane (and the plane itself), and efficiency. Stay safe and efficient with these loading tips!…
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Skydiver Training Tip: Cool Weather Gear
We may be in southern Texas, but the weather is definitely cooling down! Skydiving in wintertime brings a few challenges we don’t have in summer, namely how do we stay warm while staying safe? The heavy winter clothes you need to avoid frostbite can bite you in other ways, especially those big, bulky hoodies we…
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Skydiver Tip: Weather Watching
“What’s the weather like today? Is it good for students? What about experienced jumpers?” If we had a dollar for every time we got that phone call, text, or Facebook message, we’d all be retired. 🙂 And as you know, the answer is usually a variety of “You can’t jump if you’re not here.” In…
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Skydiver Training Program Tip: How Many Dives in a Day?
It’s one of the most common questions we get about the Skydiver Training Program (other than price): How many training jumps can I do in a day? How many SHOULD I do in a day? While the ideal number of jumps in a day will of course vary with the student’s fitness, goals, and budget,…