Skydiving in India-is it expensive?

Is 30k too much for a skydiving session?

My wallet is low lighter by more than quarter of a lakh rupees, spent at the rate of 1k per second during my 35 seconds of free fall from 10000 feet skydiving expedition. Before I share my experience [now updated here], I need to answer one of the more fundamental question people have been asking. Many feel it is expensive and waste of money. If you’re tempted by the adventure of skydiving but limited by the thought of the cost, read this post further, you may get some tips how to save up for your skydiving session.

Note that a static jump costs 15.5k and a tandem jump costs 27.5k and AFF costs close to 30k. Video charges, cost of travel and stay etc extra.

For all practical purpose, let us keep a number of 30k, assuming you’ll do a tandem jump or may be 2 static jumps

If you feel this amount is too much, as yourself below questions

1.       During the last family function or event, how much food was wasted? What were the unnecessary expenditures (mostly done for show off or to retain social status, no real value add) that could have been avoided?

2.       How much money did you spend on partying or alcohol over past 6 months? 5k per month on visiting pubs adds up to 30k in 6 months

3.       If you’re into buying gold ornaments and showing it off, ever considered the risk of it getting stolen or robbed? I am better off putting my money on a lifetime experience no one can steal.

4.       You may be saving lots for your retirement or future. But if the same dive costs 3 times then or if your health doesn’t permit participating in adventure activities, then what is the point?

5.       What is the value of living a life full of regrets- of things you always wanted to do but never took the decision, fearing one factor or another…

6.   Are there any luxuries you can live without for sometime? Such as

a.      Can you cycle to work or take office bus instead of car for 6 months?

b.      Can you skip your monthly shopping expedition which results in buying unnecessary items worth several thousand just because it caught your fancy or because there was a sale?

c.       Can you postpone renewing that club membership by 6 months?

d.       Should you really take that vacation in peak season paying double for everything? Can you plan the same in off peak season?

e.   Do you really need to buy that latest overpriced smart phone at 40-50k which becomes obsolete in less than an year?

I did spend some quality time interacting with Dr Aanchal, who runs Kakini enterprise, organizers of skydiving in Mysore. Skydiving is not cheap- it might look like just a few seconds activity  going high up and jumping- but there’re huge cost involved.

·         Airport needs to be paid for every minute of using their property and services

·         Aircraft costs crores to buy and maintain

·         Lots of time and effort needs to be spent in getting huge list of approvals required to operate a plane, using airport, performing dives and so on

·         Each parachute costs 3-4 lakhs and after 600 jumps, need complete overhaul (I was told 15 lakhs, but internet literature peg it at 3-4 lakhs)

·         Getting best of crew to conducting skydiving is not easy. There’re very few well trained professionals in this field.

·         Cost of skydiving in India is almost at par with any other places in the world

·         If more people come up, per jump cost can go down. But unfortunately awareness about skydiving is low in India and turn out is not really encouraging for organizers to keep the camp running for long.

So, I recommend viewing it from a different angle. Do not judge from the cost of the jump, but view it from the value of the experience you get and the confidence it gives you. If you've noticed above, you'd have definitely wasted similar amount already on various things that could have been avoided.

Read my earlier post on Skydiving * Parasailing in Pattaya * My skydiving Experience *