How Dangerous is Tandem Skydiving?

Each year, millions of thrill seekers from all over the world experience skydiving for the very first time. The majority of these ‘first jumps’ are made in tandem with a professional skydiver and have allowed people to experience our fantastic sport without having to go through the extensive training required to become a licensed skydiver.

As one of the largest skydiving centers in the US and Los Angeles area, Skydive Perris has accompanied hundreds of thousands of adventure seekers on their first-ever jumps. Given how often we get asked about the safety of tandem skydiving, we felt it was important to address this issue and ultimately give our guests some insights about the safety statistics of tandem skydiving and what goes into it.

Tandem Safety Statistics

The USPA (United States Parachute Association) is the USA’s governing body for the sport of skydiving. They oversee safety guidelines for its member skydiving centers, and they also record and track statistics relating to safety.

With only 0.003 student fatalities per 1,000 tandem jumps over the past decade, tandem skydiving is classified as the most risk-averse from all disciplines of skydiving (wingsuit, free flying, canopy piloting, etc.) At Skydive Perris, we have an impeccable safety record at our skydiving school and have never had a tandem student fatality in almost 40 years of operation.

Statistically, tandem skydiving is safer than it’s ever been and millions have found this risk to be at an acceptable level. However, it is important to point out that tandem skydiving still poses a risk and cannot be deemed 100% safe.

The role of any skydiving center should be to minimize risk as much as possible. The process of reducing risk is not exclusive to the following, but these are huge factors: qualification of instructors, use and maintenance of skydiving equipment and ongoing maintenance of aircraft. These three objectives are at the highest of our priority list.

Tandem Instructor Qualifications

To become a tandem instructor, candidates must fulfill pre-requisites before they can enroll in the rigorous tandem instructor training course. Candidates must have at least three years of skydiving experience, have completed 500 jumps, and be in good health as signed off by a medical doctor. At Skydive Perris, we require our tandem instructors to have a minimum of 1,000 jumps, which is double the national minimum required. Many of our instructors have several thousands of jumps and numerous years of experience in the sport.

Once enrolled in the tandem training course, candidates will be put through their paces, completing a series of evaluations and exams to achieve their USPA rating.

Technological Advances in Equipment

The technology behind skydiving equipment has only improved with time, and new developments have improved the overall safety of the sport.

When making a tandem skydive, you jump with two parachutes. A ‘main’ parachute and a ‘reserve’ parachute. If there is a problem (albeit rare) with the main parachute, the instructor can release it and deploy the reserve parachute. The reserve must be inspected and repacked every 180 days whether it is used or not.

Additionally, all of our tandem systems are outfitted with an automatic activation device (AAD). This device is a computer that measures descent rate (speed), and altitude. In the unlikely event, the parachute is not deployed by a safe altitude, the AAD will automatically deploy a reserve.

The skydiving equipment we use today and the advanced technology behind it are yet another reason why skydiving statistics have improved.

Have Questions?

Skydive Perris is dedicated to delivering the best skydiving experience in the world, and that begins with answering all of your questions. Please feel free to contact us with your questions, we’d be more than happy to answer them.

Skydiving Los Angeles

If you’re ready to skydive the Los Angeles area with confidence, we’d love to welcome you to Skydive Perris. We are proud of our highly qualified team and know that you’ll feel comfortable in their experienced hands.

Book your tandem skydive online today, or get in touch if you have any questions!