Life as a licensed Skydiver
As a licensed skydiver, there are a lot of opportunities for you in skydiving. We will present some of them on this page for you.
For freshmen like you it is absolutely important to consolidate and develop further what they have learned so far, until those things have become their second nature! For that reason, we at Skydive Vienna have developed the One-by-One Program, which aims to provide you with exactly those basics. That's why we recommend you complete OBO after getting your license and before specializing in other things. All necessary information about OBO can be found on this page: One-by-One Program.
Not only for those basics, but for any other more advanced things you might want to try Skydive Vienna got the right coaches for you. We will try to accurately respond to your individual goals, in order to get you there as soon and safe as possible. All important details can be found under Coaching at Skydive Vienna.
Relative Work
In RW skydives, all participants fly (more or less) in the classic "belly-position" you have already learned during your AFF training. RW is all about doing as much repetitions of a predetermined sequence of formations (hence the other name formation skydiving) as possible within a given time. However, this is more challenging than you might assume! There are competitions in formation skydiving for teams of 4 or 8 competitors.
Most of the time there is an additional videoflyer hovering above the formation, who documents what's going on - after the jump, this makes it much easier to blame each other for missed points ;-)
Many "bellyflyers" specialize in doing big formations and participating in record attempts as well.
Freefly & Freestyle
This is all about the 3-dimensional facet of our sport. If you can fly it, fly it! Only your imagination and your skills limit what is possible. Each year anew it is hard to believe what international teams have come up with for the world championship.
Another characteristic is, that during competitions the videoflyer is a much more important part of the team, as camera work and "direction" are judged too.
But don't worry, you don't have to compete to be a freeflyer. Actually, quite the opposite is the case: most of us only do it for the fun in moving completely free through the air!
A special case, because it has emerged from Freeflying, is VRW, or Vertical Relative Work. Just like in formation skydiving, competitors try to as much formations as possible within a given time. Where is the difference, you ask? Easily explained: This is happening head-down!
Canopy Piloting
Probably the most spectacular discipline right now, but the most risky as well. Primarily, it's about being the fastest, the one going farthest or the one, who makes the most accurate landing after a high-speed approach over water.
On a second look, those manoeuvres require lots of experience with your canopy and a very detailed knowledge about its possibilities, but even more: its limits! The real point is not how to perform the best landing, but when you better not perform it.
Video
Doing videos is not a discipline on its own, but nevertheless confronts you with a completely new set of challenges. You have to be endued with a steady hand (or head), know and apply a thing or two about exposure and angle and have to operate the camera. You can do that? Great, now try while doing 130mph in free fall!
More possibilities
You should take the disciplines presented so far only as a foretaste of all the things you can commit yourself to in skydiving. Those are the most common disciplines, but they are far from being all there is! For all other options Skydive Vienna got the right contact persons too. We will happily help you with whatever you want to try, be it wingsuits, speedskydiving, canopy relative work, accuracy landings, paraski, ...
After being a skydiver for some time, you might feel the urge to pass your knowledge and the undescribable feeling of free fall on to other people. You probably will be interested in becoming an instructor or tandem pilot then. We will gladly assist you in that decision. All necessary information along with the requirements can be found here: Advanced Skydiving Training.
Did you know that an extra course needs to be taken to be permitted to pack reserve canopies or to make repairs on skydiving gear? Becoming a rigger happens in stages. In fact you don't have to be a skydiver, but rather be skilled with sewing machines. On the other hand, it certainly doesn't do any harm being one.
Maybe you are interested in becoming a judge for one or more of the competition disciplines? The time it takes to be approved for international events is not even too long. This is quite a responsibility, but you will get around a lot.
Contact Person
If you want to know more about these topics, get in contact with Paul any time.
