If you have a question not covered here, please feel free to contact
us on 0438 44 1239or email here.
How fast do you
go?
It takes one person about twelve seconds or 1000 feet
to reach terminal velocity of 200 kms per hour. A tandem pair would go
faster except for the small pilot chute or drogue thrown by the
tandem master shortly after exiting the plane. The drogue slows you both
down to the speed of one person.
What are the age limits?
The minimum age to do a tandem skydive is fourteen,
but you need your parents permission until eighteen. The minimum age to
undertake your solo course is sixteen. There is no maximum age. Pete,
our chief instructor has taken many people in their late eighties!
What are the physical requirements?
Only a tiny percentage of people cannot skydive for phycial reasons. If you weigh more than 100 kgs, please inform us at the point of booking. Very few people have medical
conditions which prevent them from tandem skydiving, but you will be
required to lift your legs for the landing, and if you have a weak
heart, experience feinting or dizzy spells, you should get your doctors
advice before you decide to jump. Many pregnant women jump in their first trimester. If you have glasses or contact lenses, that's no problem, just let your tandem instructor know. If you have a shoulder that dislocates easily, you should also let your instructor know. If you have an injury or disability, please contact us to discuss the possibility of a jump. You should be reasonably fit if you
plan to jump solo. You will have to wear about twelve kilos of
equipment, manoeuvre
your canopy, and carry your equipment. Skydiving
is a sport, and you will be using muscles that you don't normally use.
Arching in freefall will strengthen the muscles in your back!
What does freefall feel like?
Believe it or not, it doesn't feel like you're
falling! It's more like flying, but extremely windy! We can achieve
complete directional control. That's what we teach you on your solo
course, how to fly your body! It's usually pretty difficult to wipe the
smile off your face in freefall, and you completely forget about
everything else.
How hard is the landing?
Today's parachutes are rectangular and are steered
with right and left toggles, which also act as brakes on landing. We
land into the wind, so the more breeze, the slower the landing. On a
tandem, you are reguired to lift your legs, so the tandem master takes
the weight of the landing, and you can just gently put your feet down.
Almost all landings are a gentle touchdown.
What should I wear?
The main thing is to wear a pair of running shoes or joggers. No
thongs, high heels, or heavy boots with hooks, please. Longish style shorts or pants are the best. Try not to wear really short shorts or a singlet, as you will have a harness on, and it can chafe if it rubs on your bare skin. Also try to avoid a collared shirt, at 200kms an hour you might feel a flapping collar. Dependent on the season and the time of day, you may want to wear a long sleeve T-shirt and pants, or something with a bit of warmth in it.
How long does it take?
The whole process should take about an hour, but we recommend to give yourself some leeway in case of poor weather conditions, or other delays which may be beyond our control. We recommend you give yourself half a day without time constraints.
Is it cold up there?
It is definitely cooler up there than it is on the ground, so in Winter or early morning or late afternoon, it might be as cool as zero degrees. You'll feel a blast of cold air when the door opens,
but it is only for a few seconds, and your adrenalin is keeping you warm
by then. You won't feel cold in freefall, you can't feel anything but
great!
Can I take my own camera?
In freefall there is no way you will be thinking about taking photos, and you will need both your hands to have a go at steering your parachute. As we skydive over a populous area, we cannot take the risk of you taking your camera in case you were to drop it and injure someone in the town below.
What if my parachute doesn't open?
By law, every parachute harness must carry a main and
reserve canopy. The main is packed by a qualified person with an
Australian Parachute Federation 'Packer B' rating. The reserve is
meticulously packed and thoroughly inspected every six months by a
qualified 'Packer A' or Parachute Rigger. If you familiarise yourself
with the design of a parachute system, you will understand that
the laws of physics make it impossible to just not open, and human error
has just about been removed in the systems used to pack reserve
parachutes. In addition, every parachute you may jump is required to be
fitted with an Automatic Activation Device which calculates your speed
and altitude and deploys your reserve parachute, in the event that no
one else does! Skydiving fatalies do no occur simply because "his parachute failed". It is instead always a series of events, and the most common factor is pilot error.
So is it safe?
Tandem skydiving is about the safest form of transport
there is when you look at the fact that there are around 70,000 tandem
skydives carried out in Australia every year. Skydiving is a highly
regulated sport, and we are extremely focused on safety. A
skydiver must always follow the rules, in the same way a driver has to.
Common sense is paramount!
But I'm scared of heights!
Don't worry, so are lots of skydivers! Many people try
skydiving to cure their fear, and then fall in love with it, still
fearing heights!. It's not like standing on the top of a building. You
are travelling so fast that's it's impossible to get that tummy wobbling
vertigo feeling, and you are so high up that you can't get any
perspective, so the earth just looks like a big pizza. Once you
have jumped you will wonder what you were worrying about.
I'm scared of planes!
You will never feel so safe in a plane as when you are
wearing two parachutes!
And last but not least, the most
frequently asked question of all...
Why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good
aeroplane?
If only I had a jump ticket for every time I had been
asked that question! There are almost as many answers: "Because it has a
door", "Because I can", "Because I've got two perfectly good
parachutes", "There is no such thing as a perfectly good plane", and
"Because I'm in love with my parachute and it's the only time we get to
spend quality time together"... But seriously, it's impossible to think
about work or any of your worries when you're in freefall. It's the
anticipation on the ride to height, the burst of adrenalin when the door
opens, the absolute focus on flying your body, the smiles on your
friends faces in freefall, and the silence under canopy as you take in
the views and wonder how you got this lucky. Afterwards, it's the
confidence and openness you gain in every aspect of your life, and
lastly, it's the wonderful friends you make from all walks of life.
Doctors and garbage collectors alike share a bond after jumping
together. Skydivers are a giant family united in their love of flying
and freedom. It's a beautiful thing.
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