Just A Few Of The Reasons To Choose Skydive Gananoque!

Why Choose Skydive Gananoque!

Experience... Experience... Experience!!

Gananoque Sport Parachuting Centre is the longest running skydiving centre in Canada under the same ownership. Owner/Operator Tom McCarthy, is an accomplished skydiver, innovator in the sport, former Canadian Sport Parachute Team competitor & coach with more than 40 years of experience and 11,000+ jumps, to his credit.

Check out our Staff Page, we feel this speaks for itself. Our current family of staff boasts a combined total of 44,000+ jumps and 226+ years of skydiving experience. The staff includes world and national record holders, competitors, medal holders,& certified riggers. Our Tandem Instructors (some of whom have 1000+ tandem jumps just to themselves) are all certified through the Relative Workshop Tandem Instructor Certification Program.  All of this experience gets passed to our customers, students, and other experienced jumpers alike..

Innovative Training

• Tom McCarthy is an innovator in the field of teaching skydiving. In 1979 Skydive Gananoque eliminated the use of static lines and introduced a safer method of deploying student canopies from the aircraft, coined "IAD" (Instructor Assisted Deployment). Most skydive centres and clubs throughout the country (and many around the world) adopted this method as a result.


• Skydive Gananoque also introduced the more progressive method of freefall instruction in which the instructor exits with the student from a high altitude, as opposed to the old technique in which the student exited alone and the instructor tried to observe from the aircraft. Putting the instructor in freefall with the student not only improves the instructor's ability to observe and critique the student, but allows the student to take direction from the instructor and learn while in freefall. All progressive centres now use this program or a version of it. (i.e. PFF, AFF, etc...)


• Continuing to move forward, Skydive Gan switched to first jump Tandem Skydiving and Tandem Freefall Progression or Tandem IAF (Tandem Instructor Assisted Freefall Progression) the most advanced method of making your First Jump, and subsequent training.


• This was the first centre in Canada to use a Tandem Harness and Container Assembly in our student operation. This we also did in 1979. All centres in Canada now use this type of equipment, as do the majority of centres throughout the world. All experienced jumpers, as well, jump this type of equipment.


• We were the first centre in Canada to introduce Air Foil type canopies (commonly known as square parachutes) into student training in 1982.


• Our student equipment incorporates not only square main canopies but square reserve canopies, as well. A number of centres and clubs are still using round reserve canopies. Round and square canopies both have a high degree of opening reliability, but the chance of a landing injury is much greater on a round canopy. Few jumpers anywhere in the world jump round main canopies anymore. If a round isn't good enough to be used as a main, why would you want one as a reserve?

Skydive Gan offers the most advanced method of making your First Jump: Tandem Skydiving. A Tandem Skydive permits newcomers to experience freefall without the need for extensive training. The tandem method also dramatically increases safety margins because of the direct presence and assistance of the in air instructor. It is also the most efficient and progressive means of transitioning to advanced training and becoming a skydiver.  Tandem also allows the opportunity for persons with disabilities to experience the thrill of skydiving

Location
The Gananoque Airport, where we operate, is an old World War II airfield spanning 345 acres. The airport is situated amongst farmland with few obstacles such as water, high voltage power lines or major highways. We're out of controlled airspace and away from major air routes. All this contributes to a much safer skydiving environment.

Dedication
The staff at Skydive Gananoque is dedicated to ensuring the best possible experience for you and your family or friends. Although many of us have thousands of skydives we still remember what it was like to do our first. We believe this is the best place to skydive whether it be your first or you are already an experienced skydiver. It should be noted that many of our instructors drive hours one way, past other centres to be here, and do in excess of 500 & 600 jumps a year (that really does say something)

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In facilitating you in doing your first jump, there is no other dropzone in Canada that can do it any better, nor any safer, than we can here at Skydive Gan. And if your desire is to become a skydiver, then we believe that we can train you faster, better and more efficiently than most.

Can you find a skydiving centre that's closer to home, with prices as competitive as ours?

-- Possibly...

Can you find a skydiving centre that has better training techniques and programs, safer equipment, more qualified instructors, and a safer skydiving environment? ...that has been as instrumental in instituting new training techniques and equipment technologies? ...that has been operating as long as we have?

-- We don't think so.

So why choose Skydive Gananoque? Well to be honest, we think “our” skydiving experience will make your “skydiving” experience an enjoyable one