Tandem Skydiving? What To Expect

Tandem skydiving is a great way to experience skydiving for the first time. After a short brief, you’ll be taken up by one of our highly experienced tandem skydiving instructors, who will be responsible for the operation of the equipment. This means you’re able to take in the sights and sounds, without having to learn to skydive yourself.

Here, we’ll explain what you can expect when tandem skydiving with us.

Arriving at the Skydiving Center

The first step to making your tandem skydive is to arrive at the skydiving center!

We’ll ask you to arrive in the morning; you’ll be welcomed by a member of our friendly team of staff, who will get you signed on and go through all the paperwork with you.

There are risks to skydiving, which we are obliged to tell you about. It goes without saying that any sport like ours will come with its own potential dangers, so with that comes paperwork (which some find to be scarier than the skydive 😉

Tandem Skydiving Instruction

As a tandem skydiver, you’re technically a student, as opposed to a passenger. This is because there are things you need to do as a tandem skydiver to help the whole process run smoothly.

This includes putting your body in the right position for exit, maintaining an arched position during freefall and lifting your legs up for landing.

You’ll learn about your responsibilities and all about the equipment and the skydiving process itself, all during a class that lasts around 20-30 minutes.

Making Your Skydive

This is it – the big moment! Once your turn comes, you’ll be invited to join your instructor who will get you ready with a jumpsuit and gloves (if it’s cold), some goggles and your harness.

You’ll then walk over to the aircraft and board with your instructor. You’ll also be joined by other skydivers, including tandem skydivers like yourself, and experienced jumpers who use their own equipment and will either be jumping solo or in groups.

The climb to altitude is really good fun. You’ll likely be feeling the nerves at this point, but you’ll have your instructor, fellow skydivers and the gorgeous views out the window to take your mind off it!

Once we get to our exit height, the experienced skydivers will start moving toward the now open door. Watching them jump out is an awesome sight – you’ve never seen anything like it!

Next, it’s your turn. Your instructor will hook you up so the two of you are fully attached, and you’ll move to the door together. Then… jump! That moment when you leave the airplane and go into freefall is indescribable. The wind rushes by. You’ll feel your senses go into overdrive. You reach your terminal velocity (the fastest speed you’ll fall) and it feels like you’re floating. It really is like nothing else.

When the time comes, your instructor will deploy the parachute. At this point, everything slows down and goes quiet. You’ll be able to get your breathe back, and to talk to your instructor, if you like. The views over Long Island are astounding, and you’ll have around 5-6 minutes to enjoy them as you travel back down to earth.

For landing, your instructor will bring the parachute to its slowest forward and downward speed, so expect a gentle arrival, either landing on your feet of your backside with your instructor. You’ll then be disconnected from your instructor, and together you’ll return to the spectator area, where you’ll be reunited with your family and friends.

Many of our tandem skydivers choose to have a video made of their jump, so they can relive it with family and friends and keep the memory for themselves. To do this, our instructors will jump with a camera attached to their wrists to capture the entire free fall experience and time under canopy.

After your skydive

After your skydive, you’re free to do as you wish! You’re more than welcome to stick around and to watch the skydivers coming in to land, and to enjoy our facilities.

Get in touch if you’ve got any questions about anything here and we’ll be happy to help.