If you’re looking to try skydiving, try booking your jump with one of the few Black skydiving instructors across the world.
While there’s not a lot of data regarding representation in the skydiving industry itself, there is a lack of advertising for people of color when it comes to adventure sports that researchers have said contributes to the misconceptions that Black people are not into adventure sports.
Despite the lack of advertising, it doesn’t mean our interest does not exist. According to the 2020 Diversity in Adventure Travel survey conducted by the Adventure Travel Trade Association, 13 percent of U.S. outbound adventure travelers are Black, and in a recent Nomadness survey of 5,000 BIPOC, “adventure travel” was the second-most-popular travel preference.
So, yes, mom. If my friends are jumps from a plane, you can get count me in to jump, too. Here are Black skydiving instructors and Black skydivers you need to know for your next 14,000-foot adventure.
Brandon Johnson
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Brandon Johnson is the G.O.A.T. The 32-year-old says YouTube is what inspired him to start skydiving.
When he’s not working o new and cool jumps from the sky, he’s’s actively working to become Will Smith’s stunt double, he says.
Trippy Hendrix
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Trippy Hendrix is working towards his 600th jump but widely known for being the first African American to skydive over the pyramids of Giza.
Jamal B
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Jamal B is a body flyer, skydiver, and most notably, also an indoor skydiving instructor.
For those of you thinking about skydiving or wanting to perfect your jumps in the air, indoor skydiving is where both the novice and the pros go.
Erendira Sanchez Gonzalez
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Erendira is reportedly the only active Black woman tandem instructor in the United States. She is also the only Black or Latinx female tandem examiner in the U.S.
