Am I a snob to be annoyed at "indoor skydiving"?

[quesera 0]

I really try to play nice with everyone who's getting into skydiving. I'm also pretty new, so I try to be very humble. I try to make tandem students feel welcome, and genuinely respect absolutely everyone who jumps, even once, as they are taking a risk equal to any other and adding to the collective knowledge of all jumpers.

But I am feeling pretty cranky at the moment about tunnels advertising themselves as "indoor skydiving" and tunnel users who have never actually jumped calling themselves "skydivers."

Am I total snob or is it fair to say that if you didn't jump out of a plane with a parachute, you didn't frickin' skydive?

I didn't even consider my static lines real skydives because there was no fall! Hell, even after getting my license, I feel like I'm barely a skydiver.

The tunnels allow small children in them because there is very little risk, no real falling, and of course no parachute involved. To me, it's like saying playing a race car game at the arcade makes you a race car driver.

Of course they're awesome for practicing, and many, many incredibly skydivers use them for that. And they're probably a good way to decide if you want to try an actual jump. I'm sure many people play in them who never plan to jump, just because they're fun. But to me, the term should be "tunnel user" not "indoor skydiver."

Am I a snob? I feel like they're downplaying the skill required, the risk taken, and the real meaning of this sport. I don't want to be a jerk, but I feel like shoving arrogant tunnel users out of planes...without parachutes.

[jtnesbitt 0]

You arent a snob, but it also doesnt make sense to get upset over it.

Indoor skydiving is a marketing ploy. Thats all it is. Obviously its not skydiving and everyone knows that.

Getting upset over this would be like getting upset over a marketing tactic by a skydiving manufacturer implying their gear made panites drop.

"If this post needs to be moderated I would prefer it to be completly removed and not edited and butchered into a disney movie" - DorkZone Hero

[LouDiamond 1]

Take a deep breath and let it go. The term "indoor skydiving" is so that non skydivers, ie the general public , understand what it is. Most people would not connect wind tunnel with skydiving if they saw it advertised as such. I have yet to hear a non jumper call themselves a skydiver after having been in the tunnel. Although I would not be surprised to hear some wuffo guy using that line at the bar given how many times people have claimed to be skydivers in the past.

Either way, I think you are over thinking this one.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[happythoughts 0]

It is ok that other people enjoy the tunnel.
The name is just a marketing tool.

You can discuss the joy of flying your body with them.
However, they have no illusions about the difference.

They know they are not skydivers. If they make that reference, just ask where they normally jump and gear selection.
Tell them their use of the term confused you. They will let it drop.

[BDashe 0]

Already terms in place-

tunnel flier
tunnel rat

Marketing allows them to stay open and for me to pay low rates. Call it whatever you want as long as I get to play with it cheap.


Eating the wall at 160 MPH rules,

Brett

So there I was...

Making friends and playing nice since 1983

[kelpdiver 2]

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I didn't even consider my static lines real skydives because there was no fall! Hell, even after getting my license, I feel like I'm barely a skydiver.

The tunnels allow small children in them because there is very little risk, no real falling, and of course no parachute involved. To me, it's like saying playing a race car game at the arcade makes you a race car driver.

Get over it.

Your SL jumps sure as hell count. And by my metric, you were a skydiver before you got your A lic. (Two standards work for me - if you are willing to step out to door, tandem or not, or when you complete an unassisted jump)

And there really is risk in these wind tunnels. Unlike the sky, you have rather narrow walls and an abrupt transition. It's not a place to horse around, break your spine.

[ridestrong 1]

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The tunnels allow small children in them because there is very little risk...,

true... back yard trampolines have a MUCH higher risk of causing injury than the tunnel. Hell, the tunnel has about as much 'risk' of injury as a round of golf.

I wouldn't sweat it.

*I am not afraid of dying... I am afraid of missing life.*
----Disclaimer: I don't know shit about skydiving.----

[bluetwo 0]

I would spend days in a tunnel if I could. Not minutes or hours, days!! I love flying in any form.

_______________________________________

[labrys 0]

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I didn't even consider my static lines real skydives because there was no fall!

I'm tryin' really hard to figure out how the hell you got from an airplane to the ground with "no fall"

Maybe whuffos aren't the only folks out there who don't articulate what they have done well..... just sayin.

Owned by Remi #?

[quesera 0]

No free fall


Note to self: do not vent on internet......

[labrys 0]

Lesson: If you can see that it's easy to misspeak, don't be so fast to buzz kill when other people get pumped up and say something that doesn't meet your standards for "skydiving" Best to encourage anyone and everyone to move forward one step instead of discounting what they have done so far as inferior.

Owned by Remi #?

[TiaDanger 0]

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Am I a snob? I feel like they're downplaying the skill required, the risk taken, and the real meaning of this sport. I don't want to be a jerk, but I feel like shoving arrogant tunnel users out of planes...without parachutes.

Damn....who shit in your Cheerios this morning?

I could say a whole lot right now, but I'm gonna keep it to myself. Don't knock people for using tunnels. Its a huge training tool for jumpers and it gives whuffos an ever so slightly small moment to experience what we chase after every weekend. And jumpers who regularly use the tunnel for training don't call themselves 'indoor skydivers', they are 'tunnel rats'.

And for the record: the appropriate ranking of cool modes of transportation is jet pack, hover board, transporter, Batmobile, and THEN giant ant.
D.S. #8.8

[DBCOOPER 1]

Yes

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[absane 0]

The title "indoor skydiving" is given because it's more attractive to the general public than "indoor vertical wind tunnel" and because it suggests to the public "this is kind of like what skydiving would feel like."

If you exit from a plane, internalize a desire to progress, AND commit yourself to do it again, then I'd consider you a skydiver.

I became a skydiver right after AFF 1. Many people have done a skydive, but only 2% of them become skydivers for any length of time.

Don't forget to pull!

[heavydude 0]

I see the tunnel as an excellant skydiving tool, if I had the money I would be in there all the time !

[Andy9o8 0]

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If you exit from a plane, internalize a desire to progress, AND commit yourself to do it again, then I'd consider you a skydiver.

I became a skydiver right after AFF 1. Many people have done a skydive, but only 2% of them become skydivers for any length of time.

Hey, I wanna play the semantics game, too!

The instant you step out of the door of an aircraft in flight while wearing (and/or strapped to a TI wearing) a parachute, and that includes a S/L rig, you're most certainly a skydiver (or if it's a military S/L jump, you're a parachute jumper). While you're out of the plane and in the air, participating in a skydive, you are in the act of skydivING; thus you are, at that moment, a skydivER.

To my mind, in the skydiving/parachute jumping context, getting past the fear of death enough to exit a plane in flight is the threshhold.

[Joellercoaster 6]

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Hell, the tunnel has about as much 'risk' of injury as a round of golf.

If that's true for you, then you're doing one of them wrong

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[grimmie 173]

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Hell, the tunnel has about as much 'risk' of injury as a round of golf.

If that's true for you, then you're doing one of them wrong

reply of the month so far!

[mjosparky 3]

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Your SL jumps sure as hell count.

I am not sure when it changed but at one time took 25 freefalls to get an “A” license and the S/L did not count. A C&P because you pulled your own ripcord.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[Beerlight 0]

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Am I total snob or is it fair to say that if you didn't jump out of a plane with a parachute, you didn't frickin' skydive?

I feel the same way when a skydiver calls themselves a pilot. They aren't flying the damn plane....

But seriously, it's nothing to get worked up about. Some things aren't worth the worry, ya know?

[cocheese 0]

The fact that you give a fuck about this is more sad than the whuffos.

The fact that I took the time to reply is even more sad.

[skydiverkeith 1]

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Am I total snob or is it fair to say that if you didn't jump out of a plane with a parachute, you didn't frickin' skydive?

I feel the same way when a skydiver calls themselves a pilot. They aren't flying the damn plane....

But seriously, it's nothing to get worked up about. Some things aren't worth the worry, ya know?

I'm a wingsuit pilot. I AM the aircraft...

Blue skies,
Keith Medlock

[skydiverkeith 1]

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If you exit from a plane, internalize a desire to progress, AND commit yourself to do it again, then I'd consider you a skydiver.

I became a skydiver right after AFF 1. Many people have done a skydive, but only 2% of them become skydivers for any length of time.

Hey, I wanna play the semantics game, too!

The instant you step out of the door of an aircraft in flight while wearing (and/or strapped to a TI wearing) a parachute, and that includes a S/L rig, you're most certainly a skydiver (or if it's a military S/L jump, you're a parachute jumper). While you're out of the plane and in the air, participating in a skydive, you are in the act of skydivING; thus you are, at that moment, a skydivER.

To my mind, in the skydiving/parachute jumping context, getting past the fear of death enough to exit a plane in flight is the threshhold.

Okay, me next in the semantics game!
Tandem passengers aren't

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strapped to a TI

, they are connected to the container...

Blue skies,
Keith Medlock

[skybytch 259]

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Okay, me next in the semantics game!
Tandem passengers aren't

strapped to a TI
, they are connected to the container...

My turn. They are not connected to the container. They are connected to the harness.

[Beerlight 0]

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Am I total snob or is it fair to say that if you didn't jump out of a plane with a parachute, you didn't frickin' skydive?

I feel the same way when a skydiver calls themselves a pilot. They aren't flying the damn plane....

But seriously, it's nothing to get worked up about. Some things aren't worth the worry, ya know?

I'm a wingsuit pilot. I AM the aircraft...

Yes, you are a wingsuit pilot. Agreed.