Tandem jumpMost booked
Harnessed to an instructor from the plane to the ground. Exit at 13,000 ft, around 45 seconds of freefall, then five to six minutes under a two-person canopy.
A scaled model of a round-canopy descent, not a live feed. Drag to orbit the field, scroll to zoom.
A club drop zone at Havenridge Airfield. Tandems, the AFF student course, repeat lifts for licensed jumpers — and a briefing that starts before you touch the gear.
Prices are per person and include the lift, gear hire and the instructor. Everything is booked against a slot on the manifest, so the day has a shape before you arrive.
Harnessed to an instructor from the plane to the ground. Exit at 13,000 ft, around 45 seconds of freefall, then five to six minutes under a two-person canopy.
The same jump with a camera flyer beside you: edited clip and a set of stills, delivered to a private link within two days. Booked as one slot, not two.
The first step to jumping your own canopy: six hours of ground school, then one jump with two instructors flying beside you. Levels 2–8 are $189 each.
Lift only, for jumpers with a current licence and a logbook we have seen. Bring your own rig or hire a student system from the loft for $35 a day.
Indoor freefall in the tunnel next to the hangar. Four one-minute rotations with a coach on the glass, split however you like. Runs on days the weather grounds the aircraft.
Gift vouchers are valid for 18 months and can be moved to another name once. Group of six or more on the same lift — $20 off each tandem.
These come from the harness sizing, the canopy loading and the aircraft weight sheet. We check them at the desk, and we would rather move a booking than fly outside them.
For every jump from the aircraft. No upper age limit; over 60 we ask for a short note from a doctor.
220 lb, fully dressed. Between 95 and 100 kg the instructor is assigned by build, so tell us in advance.
209 lb. Student canopies are sized for this range; above it we can still offer tandem or the tunnel.
Under 16 flies with a parent on site. Tunnel weight limit is 115 kg and the harness is fitted on arrival.
We also ask about shoulder, back and neck injuries, recent surgery and anything that affects pressure equalisation. None of it is automatically a no — it changes how the jump is planned and who flies with you.
Havenridge is home, but the season runs on away-days. Spin the globe to see the fields our aircraft and members visit, or flatten it into a list.
Every student learns to read three things before anything else: height left, how fast it is going away, and the moment the canopy has to be out. The panel below runs the same descent model as the hero, so you can watch those numbers move.
Read the dial, not the ground: height is the only number that decides when the canopy comes out. Students are taught to call it out loud on the way down.
The model runs at the club’s training scale, not at full altitude: it is there to show the shape of a descent, not to replace a briefing.
Nothing on the day is a surprise. This is the order it happens in, from the moment you park to the moment the canopy is folded and back on the shelf.
Weight and height confirmed against the slot, health questions gone through, paperwork read and signed. This is the point to mention anything you did not want to put in a form.
Exit position, body position, what the canopy opening feels like, how the landing is flown and what the instructor will ask you to do. You practise the positions on the ground.
Harness fitted and tightened, then checked by a second instructor. Nobody walks to the aircraft without that second pair of eyes on the rig.
Climb to 13,000 ft takes about 18 minutes. Straps are tightened on the way up, the door opens on the jump run, and you go out in the order set on the ground.
Five to six minutes under canopy, then a flared landing on the grass. Back at the hangar the jump is talked through, and the video is handed over if you booked it.
Runs the training programme and signs off every student progression. Flies tandems on busy weekends because she says the desk makes her rusty.
Packs and inspects the reserve systems in the loft. If a rig comes back with a story, it goes to him before it goes back on the shelf.
Teaches the student course and flies the club Caravan on alternate weekends, which makes her unusually strict about spotting and exit order.
Skydiving carries risk, and no club can take that away. What a club can do is run the same checks every time, keep the gear current, and stop the day when the numbers say stop. That is the part we are strict about.
Every system on the shelf is logged, and the log travels with the rig.
Three separate checks stand between the desk and the door.
These are decided by the chief instructor on the day, and they are not negotiable at the desk.
Students are taught the drills before they are taught anything else.
Roughly one booking in six moves because of weather. It is part of the sport, so the club is set up to move you rather than to argue with you.
If the day is called off, your slot moves to any open date within 12 months at no cost, and the deposit stays with it. You can also hand the booking to someone else once, as long as they meet the same limits.
If you cancel yourself, the deposit is refundable up to 72 hours before the slot. Inside 72 hours it moves with you to a new date but is not returned.
On a marginal day we hold rather than cancel, and the manifest board in the hangar shows the next call time. Waiting is normal; the tunnel and the cafe are both open while you do.
Check available datesI had talked myself out of this twice. What changed it was the briefing — forty minutes where every question got a straight answer, including the ones about what can go wrong. The jump itself was over far too quickly.
Did levels one to four here over a summer. The debriefs are honest, which is the whole point — twice I was told to repeat a level and both times they were right. Nadia’s spotting lecture should be required listening.
Weather moved our booking twice and both times someone rang before we left the house. Third attempt was perfect. The loft is worth a look too — Tobias will happily explain exactly what he is checking and why.
The drop zone sits on the south side of Havenridge Airfield. Follow the perimeter road past the fuel bay; the club hangar is the one with the windsock on the corner.
Send this and the desk comes back with the open dates for the jump you picked, plus the health questions we need answered before the day.
The manifest desk will come back within one working day with open dates and the health questions. Nothing has been charged and no slot is held yet.
Budget three and a half hours on site for a tandem and a full day for AFF level 1. Most of that is briefing, kit-up and waiting for your lift — the flying part is about 25 minutes from boarding to landing. Arriving late usually means moving to a later lift.
Your slot moves to any open date within 12 months and the deposit moves with it. We call or message by 07:30 if the forecast has already closed the day; otherwise we hold on the field and the manifest board shows the next call time.
Yes, and most first-timers have not. The climb is steady and takes about 18 minutes. Tell the instructor if you are prone to motion sickness — there are seats that help, and it is better mentioned on the ground than in the air.
Not for a tandem or the AFF course: harness, canopy and helmet are provided and included in the price. Licensed jumpers bring their own rig or hire a student system for $35 a day. Personal accident cover is your own decision and is not included.