Packing a parachute is not unlike packing a bag lunch: it’s a bummer when your mom puts old ham in either one. Rely on the expertise of a professional parachute-packer with today’s Groupon from Skydive Houston in Eagle Lake. Choose from the following options:

• For $119, you get a tandem skydive for one (up to a $199 value).
• For $238, you get a tandem skydive for two (up to a $398 value).
  
  

Veterans of more than 50,000 successful jumps collectively, the skydiving senseis of Skydive Houston take jumpers of all experience levels on airborne trips to terminal velocity. Training begins with a short introductory video, followed by 20–30 minutes of ground school with a dive instructor, in which pupils learn the basics of two-person jumps, safety, and how to spot one’s mom from an elevation of 9,000 feet. Next, fledgling fliers strap into a tandem harness with their parachute pros and ascend to 14,000 feet in the school’s own Twin Otter aircraft, named for the pair of shellfish-cracking mammals that powers its engines. Once out of the plane, pairs free fall for approximately 60 seconds, then enjoy about seven minutes of calm parachuting, after which instructor and customer safely land in a field or on the nearest naturally occurring pillow pile.

Skydive Houston has escorted more than 30,000 students out of its plane’s jumping door, and the majority of its instructors have more than a thousand jumps under their belts. Nostalgic divers can have their earthward trip captured by one of the academy’s talented cinematographers for an additional $109.