{"id":16352,"date":"2016-08-10T15:50:58","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T15:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/?p=16352"},"modified":"2023-10-28T12:56:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T19:56:26","slug":"types-of-skydiving-planes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/blog\/types-of-skydiving-planes\/","title":{"rendered":"Does The Type of Skydiving Plane You Jump From Affect Your Skydive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A plane is a plane is a plane, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a first-time tandem skydiver, you probably haven\u2019t given much thought to the vehicle that carries you to your jump altitude. You\u2019ll probably \u201cmeet\u201d it just at the moment you\u2019re geared up and heading nervously to its waiting steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re here to tell you that it\u2019s a good thing to think about what kind of skydiving plane you\u2019re going to be in, as it has a direct relationship to the general awesomeness of your jump. Here\u2019s what every tandem skydiver should know about skydiving aircraft, in a nutshell, to be armed for good smart shopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Good Old Cessna 182<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Cessna 182 has been the workhorse of the skydiving community since the early days of the sport of skydiving–and, incredibly, plenty of those first planes are still in the air! The 182 has been in production since Elvis Presley released his first hit (1956, if you\u2019re curious).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This jump plane can carry a pilot, four jumpers and climbs to 10,000 feet, and putters along with the reliable O-470 engine. It doesn\u2019t go very high, and it doesn\u2019t go very fast. Usually, it takes about half an hour for a 182 to make its way to exit altitude–and the four-person seating situation on the floor in there is, um, cozy. Exit looks like a two-human version of a dog scruffling its posterior along a carpet, at the end of which the tandem pair kinda rolls out the door. It\u2019s undignified, but it\u2019s still fun.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The raging popularity of Cessna aircraft remains unsurprising. The aircraft are relatively inexpensive to purchase and maintain, compared to their bigger cousins, so the dropzone\u2019s profit margins are better. That works well for the beloved mom-and-pop operations that form the backbone of America\u2019s skydiving landscape, but the plane situation changes significantly when you get to a bigger dropzone (like ours).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SC-7 Skyvan Skydiving Aircraft<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ah, the mighty Skyvan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Skyvan has earned plenty of affectionate nicknames since its introduction to dropzone life: \u201cthe shed,\u201d \u201cthe schoolbus\u201d and \u201cthe beast\u201d among them. This boxy brute was built rugged, meant to haul bulky loads out of short, unimproved airstrips deep in the bush–and now, it often hauls bulky loads of 22 skydivers plus a pilot up to 18,000\u2019 (usually 12,500\u2019) into the air. The Skyvan is significantly bigger than the 182–18\u20197\u201d long, 6\u20196\u201d high and 6\u20196\u201d wide. Our favorite feature, however, is the exit door: a rear exit cargo door that cranks open so you can leap right out the back, just like in the movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"skyvan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s comfier than a Cessna, too: Skydivers sit on benches inside, like civilized people, to wait for the green light to go. (Pinkies out, everyone.) The Skyvan\u2019s signature roar and slow-ish–but not Cessna-slow–ascent can sometimes annoy fussy lifer skydivers, but everyone generally agrees that the Skyvan\u2019s appeal far outweighs those two little nitpicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Perris, we love our Skyvans. When it goes up on the manifest list, you can see the tail wags starting up all over the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeHavilland Twin Otter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Then, of course, there\u2019s our daily driver, and what we consider to be the best skydiving aircraft of all time–the Twin Otter. This beauty of an airplane carries one pilot and up to 22 skydivers up to our standard 12,500\u2019 exit altitude lickity-split.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Twin Otter | Skydive Perris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Probably the most versatile skydiving plane in the turbine world, the Twin Otter, a fixed gear aircraft that boasts predictable flying characteristics and engine redundancy (i.e., if an engine goes out, there\u2019s another engine to keep the plane flying), is one of the safest options in the air. Ours is kitted out to be extra-fast. Oh! And it\u2019s also one of the comfiest, with interior benches, plenty of windows and a nice, big door for exit. (One that you don\u2019t have to carpet-skootch up to, natch.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moral of the story, of course, is that everybody loves otters–so much–for excellent reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ready for a world-class experience skydiving Los Angeles?<\/strong> Skydive Perris offers first-time and experienced skydivers a wide range of capabilities with our fleet of 7 twin aircraft (3 Twin Otters and 4 Skyvans). Learn more about our skydiving planes<\/a> or come on out! We\u2019ll introduce you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Because all<\/em> skydiving is fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A plane is a plane is a plane, right? If you\u2019re a first-time tandem skydiver, you probably haven\u2019t given much thought to the vehicle that carries you to your jump […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":25417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,113],"tags":[75,73,88],"class_list":["post-16352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-time-skydiving","category-skydiving-aircraft","tag-first-time-skydiving","tag-skydiving","tag-skydiving-aircraft"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16352"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26242,"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16352\/revisions\/26242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}