Skydiving and parachute jumping in San Marcos/Austin/San Antonio, Texas
What if every drop zone posted their safety policies and daily notes conveniently in one location in the loading area for all jumpers, old and new, to browse and learn while waiting for aircraft? Check that box for Skydive Spaceland! We’ve just posted our own Safety Stand in the hangar, complete with information on: Basic …
Continue reading “Skydive Spaceland Introduces the Safety Stand”
If you’ve ever played sports, chances are good that you’ve heard a coach tell you or someone on your team to visualize doing it right when they were struggling with something. Some call this practice mental rehearsal, and it’s a completely valid strategy to increase performance, because you’re training your brain to perform to the …
Rosharon, TX, 4/18/14–“Skydiving! She’ll never suspect that!” So says Houston firefighter Clint Meade of the way he chose to propose marriage to his longtime girlfriend Whitney Greco last weekend at Skydive Spaceland. “I could have asked her at McDonald’s and she’d have said yes, but this was much better,” he said with a grin. “I …
Continue reading “Local Couple Gets Engaged, Celebrates Easter with Skydiving”
Hello student skydiver! As you progress to ever more awe-inspiring feats of skydiving skill in our Skydiver Training Program, do you ever wonder about the magic that happens before you strap your gear on for the next jump? I refer of course to the magic whereby the billowing parachute, hundreds of square feet of nylon, …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Tip: When to Learn to Pack Your Parachute”
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 …
Continue reading “Old Farts Texas State Record Set at Spaceland”
“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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Head-Down Skydiving Formation 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 …
Continue reading “Women’s State Record Set at Skydive Spaceland”
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Tip: To Land Off or Not?”
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 …
Continue reading “Skydive Spaceland Hosts Houston Firefighters’ Memorial Event”
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Seat Belts in Jump Aircraft: Not Just for Show”
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 …
Continue reading “Skydive Spaceland Raises More Than $2,500 for Oklahoma Tornado Victims”
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “How to Open/Close a Super Otter/Supervan Skydiving Door”
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 …
Continue reading “Skydive Spaceland to Host Fundraiser for Oklahoma Tornado Victims”
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 …
Continue reading “Steve Boyd Celebrates 40 Years of Skydiving”
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 …
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 …
(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 …
Continue reading “World Record Board-Breaking Skydiving Attempt Jan. 17, 2013”
“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, …
Continue reading “Skydiver Training Tip: Taking the Next Step”