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Tandem jumps are the topic for this part of our go skydiving guide.

In tandem jumping – a popular way to start skydiving – a beginner jumper and an instructor are attached together by a harness. They exit the plane and descend together, remaining attached throughout.

At all times you’re attached by a harness to the instructor, who completely controls the jump, the free fall and the canopy release. They completely pilot you both horizontally and vertically through the entire jump, and you can just enjoy the experience.

It allows you to get acquainted with skydiving with minimal risk, minimal anxiety and minimal training. Many people use this as a preliminary to static line or accelerated freefall training, and ultimately to solo jumping. It’s also tends to be the cheapest option as you don’t have to purchase or hire your own equipment and you require less pre-jump instruction.

Whereas most jump programs require several hours of ground instruction, very little training is needed to do a tandem jumping as a student. The novice must learn how to cooperate with the instructor in exiting the plane and descending, but this will usually take less than a couple of hours.

Within a few seconds of the two jumpers exiting the plane, the instructor will release the drogue – a small pilot chute. This helps slow the descent to the normal free fall speed of roughly 120 mph (193 kph). Without the drogue, the combined weight of the student and the instructor would result in a descent speed of about 200 mph (321 kph), a speed that no novice jumper should experience.

At an elevation of roughly 3000 feet (914m), the instructor will deploy the main parachute canopy. This will slow down the descent and by the time the tandem jumpers land, they will be travelling at a gentle 10 mph (16 kph).

What to expect whilst skydiving is the focus of this installment of our go skydiving guide.

Skydiving is a popular form of extreme sport in which you exit a plane at anywhere from 10,000-18,000 feet (3,050-5,500 m) and fly / fall through the air.

When you first exit the plane, the force of gravity far outweighs that of air resistance and this causes you to rapidly accelerate downwards. After a few seconds, and a few hundred or a thousand feet, the two forces become equal and you’ll reach a speed of around 120-180 mph (193-290 kph).

The actual speed depends on the size of an individual’s body and the posture assumed. Most people position their bodies with the arms spread out and the face and belly pointing to the ground, but higher speeds can be achieved through a diving-like posture with head down, arms together or by the side and legs together.

Once the parachute cord is pulled, the main canopy is released and fills with air. This increases air resistance and the fall immediately begins to decelerate because of the sudden increase in air resistance. If the chute is opened at a safe height, the jumper will land at roughly 10 mph.

The chances of serious accidents are relatively low – about 1 jump in 100,000 leads to a fatality. But skydivers should remain safety conscious and alert at all times as mistakes, equipment malfunctions or turbulence could lead to disaster.

Static line, tandem and AFF (accelerated free fall) jumps require different levels of training and a jumper can spend anything from one to hours in preliminary training. This training will teach the skydiver how to jump from the plane and to land safely. It will also cover everything in between those points that he must know, including: basic physics on how the skydiver’s body and chute interact; how to safely and effectively use complex equipment; and various falling and flying techniques.

Skydiving can be expensive. Jumps can cost from $50 to $200, depending on the type of skydive being undertaken and the skydiving school’s location and reputation. Jumpers also need to consider the costs of hiring or buying equipment if it is not provided by the skydiving school.