Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Skydiving Plane

Skydive Perris takes pride in many things: providing our customers with unbeatable service and the experience of a lifetime, unrivaled facilities that create an atmosphere more on par with a skydiving resort than a dropzone, and last, but certainly not least, our incredible skydiving airplane fleet.

If you’re new to skydiving, you may not realize that your ride to altitude is more than just a means of transport. It is a defining portion of your skydiving experience. The skydiving airplane you ride in really sets the stage for the rest of your experience.

In the land of major motion pictures, most everyone can appreciate a good behind the scenes look. With a skydiving airplane collection like ours, we are happy to oblige. In our industry, not all planes are created equal. Here’s a behind the scenes look at the skydiving airplanes used right here at Skydive Perris.

Skyvan

Skyvans are a favorite skydiving plane for skydivers of all levels—hands (or rather tailgates) down. This tailgate aircraft (where the door opens down from the back of the plane like a tailgate on a truck) is the ultimate party plane. With room for 22 passengers, the Skyvan is perfect for getting a really dynamic start to your skydive. Want to feel like a movie star? How about taking a literal running leap from an aircraft? Or maybe go charging out down the tailgate linked arm in arm with your friends? What about grabbing a couple of buddies and chucking a large inflatable raft out of the back? The options for cool exits are nearly endless with a skydiving airplane like the Skyvan.

Want to know something else? There are only roughly 40 Skyvans in existence, and you can find five of them right here at Skydive Perris!

Twin Otter

Though the allure of the Skyvan is strong, it isn’t the speediest of skydiving airplanes. If you’re looking to maximize the number of jumps you can make in a day, your best bet is to hitch a ride with the next skydiving plane on our list: the Twin Otter. The Twin Otter has quite a bit going for it: a large door for comfortably launching complicated exits, a speedy ride to altitude, and a roomy interior. At Skydive Perris, we currently have 3 Twin Otters. Two of these skydiving airplanes are quite unique. You see, they’ve been painted to look like sharks!

If you want an epic skydiving airplane pic, Super Blue and Shark Air (pictured above) are happy to oblige.

Douglas DC9

As far as skydiving airplanes go, the Douglas DC9-21 is what dreams are made of. The Douglas DC9-21 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jetliner. If it doesn’t immediately strike you just how incredible that is, allow us to share that it is also ultra-rare. You won’t find another Douglas DC9-21 outfitted for jumpers anywhere else in the world. Yes, you read that right: our Douglas DC9 is the only privately owned commercial transport category Twin Jet skydiving aircraft in the entire world. The hype for this skydiving plane is well earned. The Douglas DC9 can comfortably seat 80 passengers and get them to a jump altitude of 13500AGL in a jaw-dropping four minutes. When time is money, the DC-9 just can’t be beaten!

As you can see, at Skydive Perris, we’ve got the skydiving airplanes covered. All we’re missing is you. So whaddya say? We’d love to introduce you personally to each of the incredible skydiving planes in our fleet!