Tandem
A tandem skydive Airlie Beach visitors book is a jump made in a harness attached to an instructor, who exits the aircraft with you and flies the canopy down. Both of the jumps on sale here are that format — the word is in both listing titles — and there is no solo option. This page sets out what the format asks of you, and which parts of a tandem skydive Airlie Beach listings describe and which parts they leave to the booking page. Fares start at $220.
Quick answer
The short answer. Tandem means two people under one canopy: you are clipped to an instructor who does the flying, so no training beforehand is involved. Both listings here are tandem, four hours end to end, and rated 4.9 — 964 reviews on the $220 jump and 503 on the $250 one. Neither publishes an altitude or a freefall time.
The format
You are clipped to the person doing the work; that is the whole definition.
Tandem is the format that lets somebody jump out of an aircraft on their first day in the sport. You wear a harness; the instructor wears a harness and a parachute system built for two; the two harnesses are joined before the door opens. From that moment you are one unit, and the instructor is the one flying it.
That division of labour is the whole point. The instructor leaves the aircraft, holds the body position in freefall, opens the canopy at the height they work to, steers it, and puts the pair on the ground. Your part is to hold the position you were shown in the briefing, and to lift your legs for the landing. A tandem skydive Airlie Beach sells is bought on that basis: the skill is rented along with the equipment.
It also explains why no preparation is asked of you. There is no course, no certificate and nothing to practise the week before. Both of these listings are four-hour outings on a single morning or afternoon, and the briefing sits inside those four hours rather than before them.
The word itself is in both product names, which is the clearest evidence of the format on offer: one is written up as a tandem skydive over the island group, the other as a tandem skydiving experience with a beach landing. Neither listing offers anything else, so the choice on this site is never tandem against solo — it is one tandem skydive Airlie Beach has listed against the other.
Division of labour
Five parts of the jump, and who owns each one. This is the format, not a promise about a particular day.
Everything you need to know for a tandem skydive Airlie Beach has on offer is covered on the day: the body position at the door, what happens in freefall, and what to do with your legs when the ground arrives. Neither of the two listings describes the briefing in detail, so how long it runs is part of what you find out on arrival.
The instructor controls when and how the pair leaves the aircraft. Nothing is asked of you there beyond the position you were shown, which is why a tandem skydive Airlie Beach visitors book needs no experience at all.
The instructor holds the body position and the heading. You get the part people pay for: the town, the island group and the reefs around it, from above. How many seconds that lasts depends on the altitude, and neither listing publishes either number.
Opening it and flying it belongs entirely to the instructor, including the approach and the choice of where to set down. On the $250 listing the description names the beach as the landing place; the $220 description does not name one.
The only physical thing usually asked of a passenger is lifting the legs clear for touchdown. That is the standard of the format rather than a line from either listing, and the instructor will say on the day how they want it done.
What is not published
Height, seconds, limits, cameras, aircraft: none of the five are in either description.
A tandem skydive Airlie Beach pages elsewhere describe tends to come with a full set of figures attached: a height, a count of seconds, a weight limit, a minimum age, a camera package. Neither of the two listings sold here publishes any of them, so this page will not invent them.
Altitude. Not stated on either listing. Tandem operations run different heights and price them separately, and the one you are buying appears on the booking page once a date and an option are chosen.
Freefall time. Not stated either, and it follows directly from the altitude above. Any figure you have read for a tandem skydive Airlie Beach has on sale came from somewhere other than these two descriptions.
Weight, height and age. Tandem equipment comes with limits, but neither of these two descriptions says what they are. They are conditions of booking, so read them at booking rather than taking a number from a page like this one.
Photos and video. Not mentioned on either listing. In this sport camera work is normally a paid option added at the time of booking.
The aircraft. Neither description names a type or says how many jumpers go up together. If that matters to you, it is a question for the operator rather than something to assume from the fare.
Every trip, current fare
Two tandem bookings, four hours each, 1,467 reviews between them at a weighted 4.90.
| Jump | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airlie Beach: Tandem Skydive over the WhitsundaysThe most reviewed jump on this page | 4 h | $220 | freefall over the islands and the reefs | $55.00 | 4.9 · 964 |
| Airlie Beach: Tandem Skydiving Experience with Beach LandingReturn transport named in the description | 4 h | $250 | a beach landing named in the description | $62.50 | 4.9 · 503 |
Four hours
Both listings say four hours and both mean the outing, not the air time. For a tandem skydive Airlie Beach has listed, those four hours cover arriving, the paperwork, the harness fitting and the briefing, the wait for a slot and an aircraft, the climb, the jump, the canopy ride, the landing and the trip back to where you started.
On the $250 listing, that last leg is the round-trip transport named in its description. The $220 description says nothing about transport, which makes it a question to ask rather than a thing to assume.
The flying is a small part of the four hours and the freefall is smaller again, and since neither listing publishes those numbers the four hours is the only figure to plan around. Treat a tandem skydive Airlie Beach visitors book as half a day, with an early start and nothing tight behind it.
The reason to leave room is the weather. Jumps here are weather-dependent and get moved to another slot or another day rather than flown regardless. Both listings carry free cancellation, which helps, but a slot that has to move needs somewhere to move to — so book early in the stay rather than on the last morning of it.
Which of the two
The gap between them is three things: where you land, whether transport is named, and the fare.
The $220 jump, with 964 reviews at 4.9 against 503 at 4.9 for the other. It is also the lower fare of the two and the one this site quotes from. Its description is about the freefall and the view of Airlie Beach, the island group and the surrounding reefs.
The $250 jump is the only one of the two whose description names a beach landing. If coming down on sand is the picture you are buying, that is where it is written down rather than implied.
Round-trip transport appears in the $250 description and nowhere else on this site. Without a car, that line can be worth more than the difference between the two fares.
Neither jump asks for any. That is what the tandem format is for, and both of these listings are tandem, so a first jump and a tenth jump book the same two products.
Want the jump itself, step by step, from the hangar to the landing?
The jump itself→Book direct
From $220, four hours end to end, free cancellation on both.
★ 4.9 · 964 reviews
★ 4.9 · 503 reviews
Common questions
Two people under one canopy. You are clipped into a harness attached to an instructor, who exits with you, holds the position in freefall, opens the parachute and flies it down. Both jumps sold here are that format.
No. The format exists precisely so that there is none: the briefing happens on the day, inside the four hours, and the instructor does the flying. A tandem skydive Airlie Beach has on sale can be a first jump.
Neither of the two listings publishes either number, so this page will not guess. Both are shown on the booking page once you choose a date and an option, since different options carry different heights.
Tandem jumps come with conditions, but neither description states what they are here. They are part of the booking terms, so read them on the booking page before you pay rather than relying on a figure from elsewhere.
The $220 one on fare and review count — 964 at 4.9 against 503 at 4.9. The $250 one if the beach landing and the return transport named in its description are what you want.
No. Four hours is the whole outing on both listings, from arrival to getting back. The flying is a few minutes of that, and the freefall is a fraction of the flying.
Neither description mentions them. Camera work in this sport is usually a paid option chosen at booking, so check the option list on your date instead of assuming it is in the fare.
Jumps are weather-dependent and get moved to another slot or another day. Both listings carry free cancellation, so the practical move is to book early in your stay and keep the next day loose.
Go deeper
Airlie Beach: Tandem Skydive over the Whitsundays
★ 4.9 · 964 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h