Drop in the number of Skydivers

I happen to read that the number of sport skydiver membership has dropped to 31,500 currently from 33,500 last year. Not sure how accurate this statistics is but clearly it does indicate that the number of skydivers has either remained the same or not increased despite the tremendous imporvements in this sport to make it more safe. I was just wondering, what are the reasons for this drop. On the contrary, you would think it should start to become more popular since the instruction is getting better, better equipment, standard/structured process for students, low accident statistics, more marketing to reach out to people, more DZ's, etc.
I was wondering what each one of you would attribute to "the drop in the the number of skydivers"

I think that the major reason for the drop is the increased fuel prices and other economical pressures.

One more thing to consider may not be new people entering the sport, but loosing some of our old-timers to retirment. Remember, the baby boomers are retiring right now - maybe we're loosing membership from the other end of the age group faster than we're gaining members; but new members are still increasing year by year? The USPA has the facts to be able to answer this question.

It is also worth mentioning that the number indicated reflects USPA membership. It may be true that some of the political issues regaurding certain dropzones being removed from USPA membership have lowered some skydiver's priority on sending in yearly fees. I personally hope this is not the case; does anybody have any solid numbers on non USPA member dropzone's and their participation?

If a non-traveling skydiver has been skydiving at a dropzone, maybe those dropzones are allowing them to continue jumping without renewing USPA membership?

We need a sequel to "point break" to boost the numbers, remember what It did for the numbers back in the early 90s ?,.........................just kidding. I bet it's all those damn head-down fliers having something to do with it.

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low accident statistics,

I am pretty sure that the fatality rate has stayed fairly constant over the last 20/30 years. The wide spread use of AADs has all but eliminated the bounce with nothing out but people dying under good canopies has taken up the slack.

Booths Law #2:

"The safer skydiving gear becomes, the more chances skydivers will take, in order to keep the fatality rate constant."

I am convinced that the problem of skydiver recruitment boils down to two words: Sticker Shock. People are simply not willing to pay the price of entry into the sport. They balk at the price of lessons, balk at the price of gear, balk at having to do maintenance on gear and don't want to invest the time it takes to become proficient at it. They think their tandem rides were way cool, but will never do it again because it's too expensive. Never mind that they will quickly spend far more money to get into other things, like motorcycles and boats, they simply can't understand the enormous overhead that any sport involving aviation. I believe we will simply have to get used to a smaller number of jumpers.

I agree that the cost of the sport is a turn-off to any potential skydivers.

I've taken up over 30 tandems to my home DZ, and of those 30+ only 4 took their AFF 1, and only 2 of those 4 returned to get their license.

It costs about $3,000 to get an A license in California.

The high cost of the sport keeps away those who aren't completely passionate about it.

I like it that way. The circles are small, yet filled with passionate and dedicated people.

The.
End.

I wouldn't disagree with the price tag, but consider buying a Harley to ride around on the weekend. Holy Shit, you can buy a pretty nice rig and bunch of jumps for that much money.

If you're a fisherman and need a boat, trailor, a truck to pull it with and all the tackle, same thing, man, that would buy a bunch of jumps.

My theory is related to the social side of it. It's hard to break into skydiving. Once you're in a group, it's easier to make friends. It's such a small community that anyone who jumps is a candidate for friendship.

Not sure where I'm going with this, but I don't think it's the money completely.

When you get back from an awesome skydive, who can you tell about it? The kids at work don't want to hear about it, if they haven't jumped, they have no idea what you're talking about.

The other night I was at dinner with my girlfriend. The girl at the next table was telling her beau about her tandom jump. She was excited, he was about to face plant in his soup. He could not have cared less. I wanted to slide over and ask her if she was coming back for AFF. Probably would've been punched from him and kicked by my girlie.

Cheers,

MH

and in Australia you will pay betwen Au$2000-Au$2500 to get a license and I think the decline is pretty similar to that of the States. I'm not sure that it is the "Cost" of getting there. Supposedly as a whole western society has more disposable income than that of previous generations so maybe we need to look at other things. Possibly its our image.

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I believe we will simply have to get used to a smaller number of jumpers.

Is that such a bad thing? Skydiving is not for everybody any more then bridge is.

yeh, although i like to get people to jump & always promote the sport, i love the fact that we are all in a family- i like it the way it is...it's what keep's us appart from the rest.

Cost.

With the economy not doing as well as it was in the 90's the first thing that people do is stop spending discretionary income on hobbies.

Skydiving is an expensive sport, and people have less free money.

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I wouldn't disagree with the price tag, but consider buying a Harley to ride around on the weekend. Holy Shit, you can buy a pretty nice rig and bunch of jumps for that much money.

Outside of the Harleys and Ducatis, the entry cost to motorcycling compares well with jumping. Suitable first bikes run 6-8k, and most others range 8-12. My fav, the BMWs, go 10-18k, but can usually be financed at 2-6%, unlike the 19% typical of the Japanese makes.

My first year is skydiving was over 8k, inc the gear purchases. Year after was at least 3k.

And you're right to talk about the social aspects. The bike could be used to ride with a club, to go to work, or to take your girl to dinner. Very versatile. I have 3 hours of freefall, 2000 hrs on a bike.

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I don't think the uspa membership number alone say very much. While dues paying members make the NRA very powerful, it's the number of active jumpers that matter for the sport. If someone has a solid collection of parachutist magazines, I think counting the A numbers earned each year would be an interesting metric, since those are the most profitable customers out there.

When you see L&B expand their lineup so dramatically,
and guys pony up money to buy out Aerodyne, and seemingly more DZs opening and expanding rather than the opposite, the outlook doesn't seem terrible, at least not yet.

There is a lot of competition for dollars in the 'adrenaline' sports world, much more wityh each decade.

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I believe we will simply have to get used to a smaller number of jumpers.

Is that such a bad thing? Skydiving is not for everybody any more then bridge is.

Yes, it is a bad thing. Hang gliding reached it's zenith several years ago and has been on the decline since. Gear manufacturers are fewer than they were before. Fewer pilots meant fewer places to fly. A lot of the hang glider pilots blame the decline on the tandem hang glider ride, which allowed people to taste the thrill without much of a personal or social investment.

I'm all for tandems, but there needs to be a better way to get them back.

I don't think the cost is real issue here. In "good old times" skydiving was FREE in all ex-Soviet Union repulbics, as it was sponsored by the goverment as pre-military training (with no real obligations for you though). Now it is commercial almost everywhere, and the number of skydivers seems to have increased there - even though you have to pay $15 for a jump.

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I bet it's all those damn head-down fliers having something to do with it.

THAT'S what it is! Dang ol' butt/head fliers!

Seriously, I think it's one part our image (as crazy suicidal freaks), one part economics, one part media, and one part incidents under "perfectly good canopies." Whuffo's probably think our equipment is crap, what with all the fatalities where "the parachute failed" and all.

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Yes, it is a bad thing.

Go to any popular ski resort and see what going main stream has done for them. The operators make more money and the skiers wait in line. Growth for the sake of growth usually screws up a good thing.

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Hang gliding reached it's zenith several years ago and has been on the decline since.

Wasn't the decline in hang-gliding partly because of the rise of paragliding, which gives you pretty much the same thing with less hassle?

Another factor maybe, especially comparing to sports such as motorbike riding is the whole "instant gratification" thing. People don't want to sit around waiting for clouds to clear, wind to drop and slots on planes to become available. Whereas you can pretty much just get on your bike and ride. It was mainly the time commitment (you can pretty much spend the whole day at a cessna DZ just to get one or two jumps in) that saw a couple of the friends I did the FJC with drop out after a few jumps.

Even if those statistics are accurate (who knows?), I don't think that a drop in "membership" (whatever that is) from one year to the next clearly indicates anything about what's happening to our membership on a grander scale.

I also don't think it would necessarily be a bad thing if skydiving were a less popular sport....

linz

While I do believe that cost is an issue I see the bigger issue being how we are treating the newbies .Hundred jump wonders getting their jumps paid for so they can "coach" someone is raping our sport one jump at a time.If cost is an issue then the newbies damn sure can't afford to have to pay someone to jump with them.It's time for the USPA and the dropzones to admit that this coaching thing is not working and take steps to change it.USPA already took the first step by making it so D-licence jumper can jump with the newbies but as long as the DZOs are protecting their staff by forcing students to jump with coaches I think you will continue to see the numbers fall.On top of cost you have the whole social side of this.The newbies are not jumping with new people so they are not making new friends.They are segregated from the general population so to speak.


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Hang gliding reached it's zenith several years ago and has been on the decline since.

Wasn't the decline in hang-gliding partly because of the rise of paragliding, which gives you pretty much the same thing with less hassle?

Another factor maybe, especially comparing to sports such as motorbike riding is the whole "instant gratification" thing. .

You're right. I forgot about paragliding.

I'm a newbie, and if I honestly wasn't soooo passionate about this sport, I would have quit already because of the cost. I don't make too much money bartending 2 days a week, but I'm willing to spend it all on skydiving, and of course keeping my car running so I can get to the dz. so far, ONLY FOR training and a few solos so I can get my A, I have spent $3,673.50 - that includes the 13 AFF jumps, the 3 required tandems, 5 solos, and 1 coach jump. In order for it to get cheaper, I have to spend $5,000 on gear (haha..I'll be renting gear for a while..costing $61 per solo jump) Forgot to add membership into the USPA which was I think around $50. and the SIM was $30. Thank God there are nice instructors at the dz who are willing to coach me for free aside for paying for their slot on the plane. so that would cost $85 for a coach jump instead of $122 (Because I have to include gear rental) Also one really nice guy (Larry that would be you) is letting me use his rig whenever it's around and it fits me better than any student/rental rig. So I have some outside help. But yes, intro to skydiving is insanely expensive, and if anyone were unable to afford it or not quite so passionate, they wouldn't go through the training. (or the gear buying)

3 required tandem jumps, $85 for a coach jump that doesn't include gear rental??? Girl you gots to get to a friendlier DZ TODAY!

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Hundred jump wonders getting their jumps paid for so they can "coach" someone is raping our sport one jump at a time.

Back in the day we had 100 jump wonders being jumpmasters. Getting paid to teach skydiving.

People wanted skydiving to become popular. Well there is a cost to that. One is more regulation, another is people charging for things they didn't before.

I can remember showing up at a DZ and they would inspect my gear. If my closing loop was worn, they handed me a new one. Last time I had a DZ hand me a closing loop they wanted to charge for it. Now I understand that people want to make a living, but that is an example of the changes this sport has made.

It is not just the coach rating, it is in everything. I can remember showing up at a DZ and someone would loan me gear. Now they want me to rent it.

We wanted the sport to become popular, now we have to live with it.

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I happen to read that the number of sport skydiver membership has dropped to 31,500 currently from 33,500 last year. Not sure how accurate this statistics is but clearly it does indicate that the number of skydivers has either remained the same or not increased despite the tremendous imporvements in this sport to make it more safe. I was just wondering, what are the reasons for this drop. On the contrary, you would think it should start to become more popular since the instruction is getting better, better equipment, standard/structured process for students, low accident statistics, more marketing to reach out to people, more DZ's, etc.
I was wondering what each one of you would attribute to "the drop in the the number of skydivers"

What makes you think it is more safe? Fatalities are about the same and landing injuries have actually increased over the years because of this irrational desire to "downsize".

I don't think the instruction is any better, it is just more expensive. USPA claims their new ISP is a big improvement Why? Because they say so. I have seen many people go through the ISP and get an A license and still not have the basic skills they should have been taught. How is this an improvement?

USPA membership is down partly because the old timers are retiring and partly because student retention is not as good as it used to be. Also, many jumpers are just fed up with USPA so they don't renew thier membership. That doesnt mean they stop jumping.

Student retention is a whole nother thread but I think that tandems is the biggest reason. People come out, make a tandem jump, get their video, check it off on their "things to do" list and you never see them again.

It used to be you had to spend the whole day at the DZ going through class. You got to spend more time with the DZ crowd and people in your class so you felt more like part of a group. You made your 5 SL jumps and then gradually worked your way up to higher altitudes so you had a goal to work for with several milestones along the way. I think the sense of accomplishment was greater. With tandems we take them to the top of the moutain on the first ride and everything is done for them. It has become a very expensive roller coaster ride.

Tandems are great money makers for dropzones and many more people are making jumps because of it but for the most part they don't come back. As a SL/IAD instructor I have seen a much better retention rate from students that go through the class than from the tandems. Unfortunately the classes are getting smaller and the number of tandems is getting larger. (for instance last week we had 18 tandems and only 4 people in the FJC) I would guess the numbers for AFF are similar.

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It's time for the USPA and the dropzones to admit that this coaching thing is not working and take steps to change it.USPA already took the first step by making it so D-licence jumper can jump with the newbies but as long as the DZOs are protecting their staff by forcing students to jump with coaches I think you will continue to see the numbers fall.

Go through the list of USPA Directors. How many are DZO’s or an obvious reprehensive of a DZO?

To a large part, DZO’s are USPA. Where do you think that leaves the average weekend jumper? Without representation.