[Me? A Tandem Instructor…? Am I ready? What does it take to be a Tandem Instructor?
By Nicole Richards
We interviewed Angie Aragon, Course Director & Tandem Instructor Examiner, and Aria Vela, Women’s Skydiving Network Scholarship recipient and now Tandem Instructor, about what it takes to make it as a tandem instructor.
The appeal of the job is easy to see –skydiving everyday, getting paid to do it, the opportunity to travel the world, and the freedom to make your own schedule as a contractor! According to Angie and Aria, the best part of their job is when the canopy deploys and they hear their student’s initial and authentic reactions to the experience. Thier energy passes through me like osmosis! Angie says with a smile.
Angie’s experiences of teaching courses all over the world (Skydive Perris, Skydive Chicago, Skydive Paraclete XP, Skydive Deland, Skydive City/Z-Hills, Skydive Puebla, Skydive Cuatla, Skydive Qatar) give her a wide range of real world experiences. She is able to help candidates work through different scenarios that can come up when traveling for the job. Some of these scenarios are exiting different types of aircrafts and international issues, such as foreign equivalents and language barriers. She is also able to offer tandem instructor courses in English and Spanish.
Taking the first steps into this career can seem intimidating. Aria remembers looking up to TIs with 200+ jumps and thinking “I’ll never be where they are. I’m not strong/good/confident enough.” Now, after one season at Skydive Indianapolis, she has 600+ tandem skydives and the experience to have secured a full-time TI position at her dream dropzone, Skydive Perris! Making a lot of jumps in a day allows you to build muscle memory and play with techniques; the amount of learning that can happen is exponential. Aria’s progression shows it is possible to advance quickly. She says, “It is possible anyone can do this, you just have to put in the work!”
]