0
Sorbus

Tandem Master earnings

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone,

I've got what may seem a rather personal question for all you Tandem Masters out there – but what the hell!

I was wondering how much you can earn from being a Tandem Master? I ask as I'm thinking of getting my Tandem qualification, with a view to doing this full time, but am unsure as to whether this would pay the mortgage or not.

So in brief - what's the money like? Or, what percentage of each jump's cost do you get?

Don't get me wrong, I love the sport and am in no way shape or form motivated by money, but I’m interested to know if it's enough to keep a roof above my head if I decide to go down this route.

Many Thanks!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Shy of living in a place like Hawaii, Cali, and a few other year round operations unless your mortage is on a trailer you'll probaly be homeless in a few months. You need to look at it in terms of $35-40 per jump is all you'll make. Calculate how many jumps it will take to pay your bills, living expenses and mortage then see if your DZ could use a TM to do that many jumps in their season.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The trick is not to guess how many tandems you will do in a month, but how many you will do in a year. Skydiving is seasonal in virtually every market.
There are very few places where you will get 1000 tandems per year. If you get $35.00 per jump that is something less than $33 000.00/annum?
Is that enough? What if you only get 500 jumps per year, is that enough?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
As stated your earnings are largely dependent upon where you are located, do you live in an area where they run the DZ 12 months a year, ie Florida? Are you willing to move? Are you will to be a transient, meaning summers in one part of the country and winters in another? Are you able to be without work for weeks at a time due to crappy weather? Are you willing to get other ratings (aff instructor) or fly camera to supplement your income? Most importantly what is an acceptable income for you, Are you looking to make 70 grand a year, its not going to happen in this industry, can you get by on 20 ish grand a year you MAY be able to do that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
TI's are indepndant contractors. If the DZO decides he doesn't like you, you are fired, if the DZO hires too much staff, you get less paid jumps, if you don't pay for health insurance yourself and get injured, it is out of pocket, plus you can't work. If the weather is bad, the plane broken, or no tandems to take up, you make no money. You work long days as much as 7 days a week. If you are full-time, it is easy for a DZO to take advantage of you, since your only options are to take it or quit. There are always more TI's that are just happy to get paid to skydive and just get by.

I have been full time skydiving instructor and there is no way I would ever do it again. With a mortgage, you stand to lose a large investment, your house. Don't risk it.

Derek

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Somewhere like Crosskeys you would be doing over 200+ tandems a month at $30 per jump but its only like that May to September , Most of the Instructors at Crosskeys take alot of the Winter of after going hard in the summer and making bank. Some go to other dzs.
At a Florida dz you would do the same amount of jumps but over an entire year however most staff at Florida dzs are full time and so its very hard to get a job at a good florida dz especially after just getting your rating.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0