Well, just like most businesses, Clyde’s Cessna manufacturing firm couldn’t withstand the turmoil of the Great Depression. The company, however, was revived by the Wallace brothers, who later on reinstated Clyde as the president of Cessna Aircraft Company. The company first manufactured a twin-engine plane, the T-50 Bobcat, which was received well with the United States Army. In fact, selling approximately 5400 planes during the Second World War, Cessna played a vital role in ending the war.

Even after the Second World War, Cessna was producing high-quality planes. No other company in the United States could match their expertise, let alone offer any meaningful competition against them. Until 1985, when Cessna become a branch of General Dynamics Corporation, the firm was constantly producing planes, mainly for military purposes. It was until 1992, when Textron acquired Cessna that the firm started producing light airplanes again. This was a clever move, considering that the company needed to boost its income. Business jets produced by the firm would go a long way in increasing revenue for Cessna.

Even with the increase in airplane manufacturing firms, Cessna is one of the best brands. After all, the brand has been in existence for over 100 years, constantly improving the airplane models manufactured. Cessna planes are also used by aviation students. The plane is also ideal for tandem-jumping. In fact, some of the best organisations in the world such as SkyDive Mauritius use the plane for tandem-jumping. What’s better than to be associated with two of the most successful firms? Tandem-jumping can never be unsafe when Cessna and SkyDive Mauritius are involved.

There are several different types of skydive that you can try, so make sure you choose the one that’s most suitable for you.

Tandem Skydive

This type of skydiving jump is perfect for beginners, particularly if you’re a little nervous about jumping from a plane. You don’t have to worry about when or how to open your parachute, or how to land properly, as you’ll be strapped to an experienced instructor who will take charge of that for you. All you have to do is enjoy the view – and the rush of adrenaline you’ll get from floating safely back down to the ground from 10,000 feet in the air on your tandem skydive.

Static Line Jumps

Once you’ve caught the skydiving bug, you might want to try a static line jump. In this type of jump, your main parachute will be in a bag, which is attached to the plane by a length of webbing – known as a ‘static line’. When you jump out of the plane, the static line will pull the parachute out of the bag and you can then steer yourself towards your landing area. You’ll need to train with an instructor for about six hours before completing a static line jump.

Accelerated Free-fall Jumps

This type of skydiving jump is usually completed as part of a skydiving course designed for people who want to become qualified skydivers. You’ll undergo training before you attempt your first accelerated free-fall jump – or AFF – and you’ll be guided down by instructors. Accelerated free-fall jumps normally take place from about 12,000 feet and you’ll free-fall for about 7,000 feet before opening your parachute and gliding back down to the landing area.

If you’ve never skydived before, your best option would be to try a tandem skydive. With its warm climate and breath-taking scenery, the idyllic island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, is a superb destination for skydiving and you can book a tandem jump with Skydive Mauritius.

Skydiving has a rich history, with the earliest known incarnations taking place in China in the 1100′s. However, with regards to skydiving as a sport the earliest known practitioner was Andre-Jacques Garnerin, a French balloonist who created the frameless parachute. Garnerin made jumps using hot air balloons and would afterwards jump to safety. The first recorded free-fall is alleged to have been completed by Leslie Irvin in 1919, though reports on this are inconclusive. The earliest competitive dives date back to the 1930′s

Skydiving became much more mainstream once the military began developing parachute technology and used the act of skydiving as a tactical move during World War II. After the war skydiving became even more popular as many returning soldiers took it up and had regular competitions, which led to it becoming a national sport in 1952.

Most recently skydiving made the news when 43 year old Austrian Felix Baumgartner made history by successfully completing the highest recorded jump ever, around 39 kilometres and in the process became the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power. His achievement was broadcast on national television and entered into the Guinness Book of World Records, thus introducing the sport of skydiving to a wider audience.

One of the great thrills of skydiving, as well as the sensation of jumping from a great height is getting to witness breathtaking views. This is even more appealing if the dive takes place against the backdrop of beautiful, scenic locale, i.e. a tropical island.

Mauritius is one such beautiful location which offers professionally organised tandem skydiving opportunity at competitive rate. Skydive Mauritius offers a tandem skydive for visitors to the popular island.

The FAI Parachuting Commission is the governing body of the sport. The FIA oversees both record attempts and international competitions, like the World Championships. The organisation, which is located in Lausanne in Switzerland, said that the event executives had made all the visitors very welcome. Many organising individuals, such as the Technical Meet Director, Mohamned Yousuf Abdul Rahman and the Deputy Meet Director, Helmut Schlecht, were publicly thanked for their efforts at the event’s closing ceremony.

The championships saw participants from 57 countries descending on the UAE. The number of skydivers and parachutists was estimated to be around 800 with a number of different disciplines on show. As well as the prestigious individual freefall style and landing accuracy contests, which were split into senior and junior sections for males and females, there were no less than four formation skydiving awards up for grabs. There were also two artistic events included in the meeting that comprised freestyle skydiving and freeflying.

Competitors took to the skies in a Bell 212 helicopter for both the accuracy landing and canopy piloting contests. A Pilatus Porter PC-6 was used for the freefall style and canopy formation events whilst a Cessna C 208 Caravan was used for other events. For the formation skydiving and artistic events, a Twin Otter HD 6 aircraft was put to use.

The rise in popularity of parachuting and skydiving has led increasing numbers to take to their air and try the sport out. There are more and more skydiving centres around the world, that allow members of the public to take a taster, whilst enjoying themselves on a holiday. For instance Skydive Mauritius is a centre that will allow beginners to skydive. Jumpers are hooked to an experienced skydiver who acts as a master in a tandem jump. This way of experiencing freefall means that only a modest amount of basic safety training is required. And for those who get the bug for the adrenalin fuelled sport with a tandem jump, who knows whether they will end up competing in the next World Championships FIA hold?

Skydiving offers a number of different career opportunities, one of which that is in very high demand is a Tandem Master. To become a qualified Tandem Master, one has to first complete a basic instructor course and move up from there. It is by no means an easy or cheap qualification to achieve, it requires strong determination and enthusiasm in the sport. Most countries have their own legal requirements to become a qualified Tandem Master, the United States for example, requires 3 years experience and a minimum of 500 jumps, as well as a master parachute license issued by an organisation, that is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Other countries differ slightly in the number of jumps required but generally follow a similar requisite, such as in New Zealand it is 750 jumps that is needed and offers an actual diploma in commercial skydiving.

This large number of jumps may seem daunting at first but actually when you are training on the job, you will reach this target faster than expected. Often when training you are required to work as a free-fall camera man so your hours and jumps soon mount up due to the increasing demand for tourist skydives to be filmed.

As well as the practical side of the training, it is also compulsory to complete the instructional rating coursework, even if you have completed all of the necessary jumps, it is still possible to fail without sound skills in skydiving and the correct level of coursework. Skydiving regularly, helps to improve the practical skills needed, as well as ensuring that the knowledge of the regulations and guidelines is maintained.

There is potential to earn a very comfortable income as a Skydiving Tandem Master so it is worth putting in the extra effort at the beginning. Once qualified, as long as you keep jumping regularly, you can continue to earn money whilst enjoying a truly exciting and different career path.

Unfortunely we don’t propose this training at SkyDive Mauritius. But our tandem masters got few hundreds of jump.  So, if you haven’t jumped yet, don’t hesitate to contact us for your first time.

In doing so, Baumgartner claimed three world records: the longest skydive, the highest altitude parachute jump, both from 128,100 feets (39km) and the greatest free fall velocity, measured at 1,342kph (Mach 1.23). He also became the first person to break the sound barrier from outside a vehicle. Baumgartner may also lay claim to the highest altitude record for manned balloon flight, although rules stating the balloonist must also bring down the envelope may preclude him from adding this record to the list.

Baumgartner and his team spent five years planning and training for the attempt and completed two test jumps earlier in the year to prepare. Test one took place in March, from an altitude of 21,818 meters and test two in July, from an altitude of 29,460 meters.

The main event, held in Roswell New Mexico, was organised for 9th October 2012, but then rescheduled to 14th October when cold weather and wind made the original date too dangerous. Travelling up to an altitude of 39,045 meters, wearing a special pressurised suit, Baumgartner launched into his historic jump.

The jump itself lasted a little under ten minutes, with Baumgartner accelerating from 0 to 700mph in 40 seconds. There were concerns early on as it appeared Baumgartner was falling out of control, seemingly unable to stabilise his descent. However, drawing on his extensive experience, he was able to steady himself and assume the correct ‘delta’ position needed for a safe jump. The rest of the descent occurred without incident and Baumgartner was able to open his parachute and drift down to Earth as a record breaker.

A microcard, that Baumgartner carried with him, recorded GPS data throughout the jump. This will be used to verify the data needed in order to claim the records, which will become official when endorsed by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.

Ziyaad is 31 years old and lives at Quatre Bornes.

Before joining our team, Ziyaad worked in the IT and in the maritim transport. With his savings, he could pay for the training to become a pilot in South Africa. He’s started the lessons in September 2008 and passed the exams in October 2009. He was really motivated to do it quickly, as piloting a plane was his dream.

He has started in February 2010 with SkyDive Mauritius. It’s the perfect start to really know the plane, making a lot of taking off and landings, to train as much as he can. He’d like to make his 1,500 hours with our Cessna to be able later to pilot bi-engine planes and finishing on commercial aircrafts.

On his duties, he has to check the plane, stay connected with the airport (and traffic control for clearing to climb or to go down), check the weather, especially the wind speed at the moment when the clients are supposed to jump from the plane.

SkyDive Mauritius has an specific area to fly. He flyes up to 10,000 feets in 25 minutes and find the place to jump. Then he “slows down” the plane to let the passagers jumping. Once done, he has to take back at the base quickly. It seems simple, but he really has to be concentrate and focused on what he’s doing, during all the flight.

Ziyaad loves his job. One of his wishes became true : he can live from his passion. When he was a kid, he used to spend a lot of time near the runway. He told us that he knows all the houses of the area.

According to him, Tandem-Skydive is THE attraction to do in Mauritius. People don’t often jump (except skydivers fans). So if you have to do it once in your lifetime, it’s really the place to be to do it. Why? The view is amazing from the plane. Sometimes, you can see the entire island…

A lifetime memory, according Ziyaad…