The Sport Parachute Club has been an organization at Georgia Tech since 1969 and has held many awards and recognitions throughout the years.  The club stretches back towards the pioneering days of skydiving with some of our members being the ones that improved upon and created the extremely safe equipment that we rely on today.  The club members and club graduates can boast more than 100 top three finishes in Collegiate, National and World Competitions in recent years alone.  Georgia Tech Sport Parachute Club carries an unprecedented reputation with it wherever it travels and the teams from the club that compete are well respected for their sportsmanship as well as skill.  Georgia Tech is the most decorated non-military sport parachute club in the nation, and with safe gear and a top notch program, the awards will continue to be won. 

Club Equipment
We are happy to boast 9 full skydiving rigs ranging from student qualified Javelin Containers with Flight Concepts Sentry 260 canopies to sportier Javelin J3 Containers with Flight Concepts Sentry 170 main parachutes.  We also have a Flight Concepts Rage 185 thrown in the mix for our more experienced jumpers.  We use Cypres 2 AAD systems in all of our rigs as well as Reserve Static Line attachments.  Flight Concepts International Inc. and Sun Path Products Inc. have been long-time vendors to the Georgia Tech Club, and we continue to purchase club and personal equipment from them.

Our club is open to Georgia Tech students (undergraduate, graduate, and alumni) and faculty.  Skydiving is not a requirement to be in the club but it is a pretty fun bonus.  Our dues are $50 a semester, including use of our top-of-the-line equipment (that’s a pretty awesome deal verses $40 a jump for rental gear at a drop zone).  We also have Alti III altimeters, helmets, and jumpsuits to use.

Our home drop zone is Skydive Atlanta in Thomaston, GA.  We have been there for years and have a great relationship with them.  Skydive Atlanta is a USPA certified drop zone that goes above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to safety.  They have one of the largest landing areas in the southeast, a spectacular Super King Air that’s shinier than most new cars and only takes 8 minutes to altitude, and top notch instructors.  All of our students and tandem jumpers come home telling their friends and family they can’t wait to go again.  Skydive Atlanta is one of the top drop zones in the country with first rate attention to safety, instruction, and professionalism. 

Club Mission
Dozens of sport parachute clubs from around the nation actively participate in the sport with full consent of their respective school administrations.  One of the club’s missions is to provide a safe and exciting experience of competition amongst the top college teams in the United States.  It is our intent to maintain the Georgia Tech Club in order to continually compete under the Institution’s name to promote values of sportsmanship, competitiveness, and to further the awareness, knowledge and skills of those involved. 

These goals may be achieved only through making safety our first priority.  The equipment receives the utmost of care and the members receive the most up-to-date safety guidelines.  Each member is taught and is encouraged to abide by all of the safety practices of the USPA (United States Parachute Association) in which each member is required to have a membership.  The USPA provides our insurance and is considered the nation’s standard for safe skydiving regulations. 

The Club Looking Forward
Future goals of the club are to continue keeping safety a first priority while bringing in new members to introduce more people to the growing sport.  Club numbers in the past few years have grown in multiples and interest is increasing as fast as the club can keep up.  The short term goals of the club at this instant are to provide a safe skydiving experience and to help members learn what it takes to compete at a collegiate level.  Only through skydiving together can members learn to fly with others and to compete as a team.  Long term goals include increasing each member’s knowledge of the sport and pursuing team development skills in order to compete year after year.