Tandem Skydive

Very large groups help us operate more efficiently, and because of that, we’re happy to pass along those small savings to you if you make our day awesome and let us throw you out of perfectly good airplanes! For groups 10 or larger, please contact us directly to discuss numbers, dates, special requirements and corporate rates. And don’t forget, we already do the highest skydives in Canada at industry standard rates so you’ll already be doing more than 50% more freefall than anywhere else in Alberta!

We love the big groups and we’re here to help make them even bigger! If you want to make your event huge, tap into some of our resources and expertise we have available for you. Our booking system has built-in tools that easily allow you to share and promote your event on all of the most popular social media channels or via email. Our marketing department can assist in creating promotion materials such as flyers, T-shirts or specialized and targeted newsletters for big groups. And even though skydiving video or picture packages must be purchased individually, we’ll make sure we grab a bunch of fun group photos on the ground.

Often times the head cat herder is required to not only organize people, dates and logistics, but also inevitably shell out deposits in advance for friends. Fortunately, our booking system completely removes that burden from the organizer. You can make a reservation on behalf of the group, share a booking number and have them confirmed to the group once they pay their own deposit. No need to stress about forking out money up front, sorting out balances on the day or chasing friends for outstanding debts.

Skydiving for the first time feels so incredible it just puts you in the celebratory mood. If you want to turn it up after you’ve flew back to the ground, stick around the skydive center and take advantage of our amenities. Our 15,400 square foot mega skydiving center includes a bar and lounge, café, theatre, conference room overlooking the entire hangar and outdoor picnic and BBQ area where you can chill with some beverages, food and watch the jumpers that are still skydiving. We also partner with a campground less than 10km from our facility if you want to make it an overnight event. Please contact us to discuss how we can accommodate whatever non-skydiving activities you’d like to add to your group event.

Lots of our group events go full party mode after the jump. If you celebrating a new marriage, big promotion or having a fun, social work activity, you should! For large enough groups, we can ease the logistical burden and help organize transport to and from Calgary or Edmonton to make sure everyone can enjoy some post-jump drinks. We could assist in such services for up to 50 people. Please contact us for inquiries and more details.

For large enough groups – perhaps a large bachelor or bachelorette party, corporate or charity event – we can arrange a day (or a morning or afternoon) solely for your crew to have a private adventure party or corporate event. They’ll be no wait times for your team, and we’ll have the team 100% dedicated to making your event a success as defined by you. With the facility solely for your group, we’ll help configure it in a way that maximizes the use of our incredible facilities and meets any specific event related needs you may have. Contact us to discuss any ideas you may have for your group event.

After your very first skydive, there’s sure to be an excessive amount of adrenaline, high fives, hugs and feel good vibes! When you’re ready, you’ll make your way back into the gear area where hop one of our staff members will help you de-gear. No doubt you’re super stoked and wondering how deep this rabbit hole goes. Be sure to ask about our second jump options, or if you know this is your new jam, then sign up for the Solo License program.

While our staff are prepping your amazing video and pictures, drop into our bar for a post jump beverage, text that special someone and tell them you’re still alive (or surprise Mom I went skydiving) and get on Instagram and Facebook and tell everyone about it! Stick around, watch some experienced skydivers land their parachutes and we’ll hang out after the jumping is done!

While freefall might entice most people to try skydiving, a surprising amount of first time jumpers enjoy the parachute ride even more than the freefall. This is one of the many hidden beauties of skydiving: it’s actually two sports in one!

After the instructor has deployed the main parachute, you’ll gradually decelerate from 200km/h to about 30km/h in about 10 seconds. As the parachute fully opens, it gets much calmer and quieter (you’ll be able to talk with your instructor now). Your body orientation has shifted from horizontal and vertical and weightiness has returned (you’ll feel suspension in your leg straps and at the shoulders). Sensory overload fades completely away, your neurological system chills out but leaves the good blissful drugs in your system. All of that combined with the zen chillness of the parachute ride, clouds and/or sunset, make if a completely different sensory experience.

After the instructor does some housekeeping (wind assessments, practice landing and navigating location), you typically have another 4000 feet of vertical descent to play and fly back to the landing area. In most cases, your instructor will hand over the controls and let you fly the parachute during a safe altitude and area. Please understand that sometimes the wind, traffic conditions or drop location are not ideal for a first time flight so we might not be able to let fly. Safety always is priority. New jumpers are often surprised at how responsive and controllable the parachutes fly. They dive, bank, roll and turn similar to an aircraft. Those g-forces are felt when we rotate and spiral.

If you’ve been flying the parachute, your tandem instructor will take over around 2000 feet and begin the landing pattern. As the pair turn in on a final approach, your instructor tell you to lift up your legs for landing, leading to a soft slide onto the ground on your butt. You’re back but you’ll never be the same!

Freefall is the magical part of the skydive. It’s why people try skydiving.

As you fall forward out and down from the airplane you enter into the airstream created by the horizontal speed of the aircraft. Right from the exit, the sensation is different then jumping from a cliff where wind and speed increase from zero. As you exit, you gently enter the airstream and gradually, over the first 12 seconds of freefall, accelerate until you reach your top freefall speed of about 200km/h only you will not feel the acceleration or the sense that you’re falling at 200km/h. There’s a lot of science surrounding the why (link) but essentially your brain needs relative objects to detect speed. Our eyes are not capable of detecting closing distances of such magnitude therefore it doesn’t appear that you’ve moved in five seconds even though you’ve fell 1000 feet.

For many first time jumpers, sensory overload is a common phenomena for the first few seconds of the skydive. It’s simply that we’re overloaded with nuerochemicals responding to what they perceive as a threatening situation and the mind trying to focus on the most critical tasks. This can sometimes mean that people forget exactly what happened the first few seconds of the jump until they establish a new equilibrium. To that, the best thing we can tell people is breath deeply and smile to control your heart rate; otherwise buy video and pictures in case your forgot, or come back and do a second jump (sensory overload exponentially decreases with repetitions).

Or if you completely on the other end of the spectrum and want to crank the adrenaline dial all the way over to super stoked, let your instructor know you want a wild ride for a sweet gainer (backflip) on exit or lots of spinning and turning in freefall. And if it’s not how you roll, thats cool with us. We’re here to celebrate and experience your first jump. So, if you want to keep the horizon level, slow everything down and just look out to the mountains or the sunset, let us know that too! We’ll customize it for your adventure level.

During freefall, you are in front/below the tandem instructor with a horizontal attitude toward the ground (as in the position you would be if you were laying face first on the ground). While it really is hard to describe the actual feeling of human flight, and nothing really does do it justice other than the experience itself, it does resemble floating on a tunnel of column of air with 200km/h wind in your face and body. Paradoxically, it’s simultaneously an intense, adrenaline inducing yet zen and free experience.

Even though you’re doing the highest jumps in Canada and thus the longest freefalls, all good things must come to an end. And after an incredible 9000 feet (60 seconds) of freefall, it’s time to change your speed, perspective, orientation and control system. We’re at about 5000 feet above the ground and that means it’s time for the instructor to start the parachute deployment sequence.

It’s Go Time, baby! We’ll board the aircraft right next to our facility and the landing area so any spectating friends or family can watch your nervous expressions as realization sets in! Alberta Skydive Central flies a variety of different aircraft (we have the largest fleet west of Montreal) but typically you’ll be sitting, facing the back of the aircraft, straddling a bench with your back to your tandem instructor. Your instructor will seat belt you in for take-off and will taxi out to the runway.

We fly a couple super fast airplanes so even though we’re going higher (14,000 feet above ground) than any other skydive center in the country, it’s only about a 10 minute flight so try to slow everything down and take in as much as you can. Take those moments to absorb the great views of the Rocky Mountains (on clear days), feel how your body is responding to the adventure, to enjoy flying in a small aircraft, or get to know some of the colourful personalities that are sitting beside you. If you think anxiety and nerves might be running rampant at this time, practice some deep breathing and relaxation techniques that we’ve developed (link).

In what seems like just a few moments, we’ll already be half way up to jump altitude. Your instructor will make final adjustments and safety checks to your harness, connect you at all four connection points, and then complete a full systems check. Once complete, your instructor will review the key training points for the skydive.

We’ll continue to fly for a few more minutes until we reach 14,000 feet, then fly over top off the dropzone. Just prior to that, your instructor will advise and help you fit your goggles. You’re ready to fly! And then, the aircraft will slow down a bit, the pilot will activate the green jump light, you and your tandem instructor will begin to walk toward the door as other tandem groups exit every 5-10 seconds. It’s getting loud and windy as you approach the door. Before you can even process it, there you are, standing on the edge of a normal flying airplane, tiptoes on the edge as you do 140km/h across the ground, 14,000 feet above it, and then you just let go and fall into a whole new magical world.

You’re all checked in, ready to fly, and suddenly you realize that you are actually about to jump out of a perfectly good airplane! Whether you’re ready to crush some Red Bulls at fly or that freaks you out a little bit, it’s all good because we’re going get you mentally and physically prepared to do your first tandem jump like a rockstar!

We’ll escort you to our Video Training Room to show you a brief, 5-10 minute training and orientation video. The objective is to make you a skydiver in five minutes but rather to familiarize you about what happens in the aircraft, desired body position for the different parts of the skydive, a couple of key safety procedures and some tips and tricks to make your jump more enjoyable. So, pay attention but remember we’re expecting that you won’t remember everything.

It’s time to Suit Up! We’ll bring you to the gear up area and fit you with everything you need for your jump: a tandem skydive harness, goggles and accessories (we do have skydive pants that go over your pants if it’s cold or wet, and gloves are available during cold weather). Tandem harnesses are significantly over-engineered for the stress and force that they will undertake on a tandem jump. There has never been a reported case where a tandem harness broke or failed.

Temperatures at jump altitude are more similar with mountain temperatures so dress with flexible, comfortable, multi-layered clothing. Whether it be for fashion or function, check out our more detailed resource for skydive clothing (link).

One of our team members will then review the key points from the training session and do a quick practice session with the group and answer any questions. We’ll advise you of which flight you’ve been assigned and provide an approximate time to departure. After this, your instructor might leave you in the waiting area to do some behind the scenes jump preparations (link).

Typically, you’ll be waiting/pre-departure area for 10-30 minutes before your instructor will escort you to the boarding area. However, we could have weather delays which means you may spend a little more time in the harness. Prior to getting harnessed, please make sure that you use the restroom facilities: there seems to be a strange relationship with harnesses and bladders. The harnesses are your safety equipment so do not eat, drink, smoke, vape or make any unnecessary adjustments.

When you arrive at Alberta Skydive Central, you’ll be walking into the front doors of the nicest skydive centers in the country. The facilities are meticulous and an accurate representative of aircraft, skydive equipment and team. The vibe we like to put out is passion, adventure and fun but your first impressions are likely to be a safe, efficient, fun yet professional center to skydive.

Maybe you’re a bit curious as to what happens at a skydive center or want to check out some other people jumping so you decide to arrive a bit early. That’s totally cool. We ask that you do arrive at your booking time at the latest so that we can ensure a timely turnaround and departure for you. We’re located at the Innisfail airport, just southwest of Red Deer (link).

The paperwork part of the day is not exactly the most exhilarating but we’ve done everything possible to expedite the process. The longest part is completing our Assumption of Risk and Medical Waiver (link). It’s a digital process to ensure maximum efficiency on our end. We request that all of our customers complete this prior to the day of their booking (you’ll receive a link with your booking confirmation) so that we spend less time doing non-fun stuff!

Then, we’ll show you a variety of our video and pictures packages (link) and settle any outstanding payments/business. We do accept cash, debit, email transfers, Visa and MasterCard.