What’s your first thought when you look at an airplane?
I’d bet you a dollar it’s not, “I’d like to jump out of that.”
Skydiving is an experience like no other. It starts with dangling your legs out of a plane that’s thousands of feet above the earth’s surface while strapped to a person you met 20 minutes ago. You can see the curve of the horizon, knowing you’re about to go hurtling toward the ground.
Then, freefall. Seconds feel like hours as you plummet, until your parachute deploys. It’s not exactly a graceful descent — but it’s exhilarating and chaotic, as controlled as such an extreme experience can be.
If the experience sounds interesting, you’re in luck: There are four drop zones within a three-hour drive of Nashville.
Nashville is, of course, a tourist destination unto itself. But in addition to usual suspects like bachelorette-party culture and the live music industry, there’s another player on the field. Skydiving is an unexpected but growing part of greater Nashville tourism.
According to Rational Stat, the global skydiving market is expected to experience significant growth in the next few years, with an anticipated growth rate of 16 percent from 2023 to 2028. Some drop zones in Tennessee say they’ve already seen a recent increase in interest. Danny Velez, owner and manager of Music City Skydiving, says his company has experienced a steady increase in business annually over the past few years.
“From the first year we took over there was probably about a 30 percent increase,” says Velez, who bought the company with his wife four years ago from its previous owners. He attributes Music City Skydiving’s growth to “taking care of our customers, safety, new gear, better plane, and just giving the customers what they want and being safe with what we do.”
“[Nashville is] one of the number one tourist spots in the United States,” says Velez. “Folks want to come out here and have a good time and find something to do in the little pockets of time that they have. And we’ve got a service that we can provide in about two to four hours, and the closest drop zone to downtown Nashville.”
While Music City Skydiving has seen growth in recent years, Justin Silvia — the manager and owner of Chattanooga Skydiving Company — says his business has been slowly declining since COVID. He attributes the decline to economic perceptions — as part of the larger adventure tourism industry, he says skydiving is viewed as a luxury some think they can’t afford.
Despite the decline, Silvia is hopeful business will return to pre-COVID growth rates before long. He attributes the Chattanooga Skydiving Company’s previous growth to being ahead of the marketing curve — CSC was providing guests with videos of their jumps on YouTube while competitors were still handing out DVDs. He used to hire staff for the sole purpose of video editing. Now he uses AI technology to edit videos, hoping to stay ahead in the industry while cutting down on overhead costs.
Chattanooga Skydiving Company also hopes to continue expanding its target demographic. The company runs ads in Spanish and has members on staff who speak Spanish to help facilitate communication with prospective customers.
“Reaching out to specific sections, cross sections of populations — that’s something I’ve cognitively tried to market toward,” says Silvia.
Part of reaching new audiences is understanding the different reasons someone might want to go skydiving. Birthdays, anniversaries and life accomplishments are all common reasons people choose to celebrate by jumping out of a plane. For state Sen. Ken Yager (R-Kingston), defeating cancer and his related advocacy brought him to the drop zone.
“I wanted to do it on my birthday a couple of years ago, but because I was sick, I couldn’t,” Yager tells the Scene. “And so I finally did it in conjunction with a group called the Men’s Health Network. I’m a prostate cancer survivor, so I thought, ‘Well, we’ll use this as a chance to encourage guys who are over 40 to have their PSA drawn annually so they can help discover and prevent prostate cancer.”
Yager went to Skydive Tennessee in Tullahoma, another Middle Tennessee drop zone. He says that although he has a “history of having a phobia of heights, of all things,” the experience couldn’t have been better.
Sen. Ken Yager
“They didn’t give me enough time to worry about it," he says. "We were busy getting connected, getting strapped up, getting ready and getting into the plane. And they were good at cracking jokes."
"It was just the best experience I’ve ever had. To see the planet from 14,000 feet adds a whole new perspective to your thinking.”
