Company Profile

Tandem Skydive (Fiji) Limited commenced operations in Fiji on Saturday 29 May ’04 with display skydives at the Outrigger Regatta on Denarau Island.

At present it offers novices the opportunities to experience a freefall skydive from up to 14,000 feet over the beautiful Denarau Island. There is also the option to land onto the beaches of participating resorts.

In the future we hope to be able to offer tandem skydives landing at resorts on the Coral Coast and in the Mamanuca Islands.

Tandem Skydive (Fiji) Ltd has put together a highly experience group of skydiving instructors and pilots. They have also employed a number of local staff including a ground co-ordinator, safety officer and guest liaison.

Outlined below is a profile of our instructors.

Tim Joyce:
Managing Director / Chief Pilot

Tim Joyce and his business partner, Phil Onis
have been involved in setting up skydiving in
Fiji for over two years. Tim is the on site manager for Tandem Skydive (Fiji) Limited.

Tim did his first parachute jump at the age of
seventeen and has been a skydiving instructor for nearly eighteen years. During his skydiving career Tim has been involved in a number of international skydiving competitions including skydiving formation record attempts in Indonesia and Thailand. In 1992 he was a member of the Australian champion parachuting team, ‘Precision Collision’ which represented Australia at the World Championships in China and broke a number of Australian records. Tim was also on Australia’s largest freefall formation of 81 skydivers, a record set in 1999. He is a life member of the Australian Parachute Federation, has an APF Instructor B rating for Accelerated Freefall, Static Line and Tandem student training and is a ‘Licensed Display Organiser’ with over 3,000 jumps.

Tim Joyce is one of the most qualified pilots in Australia and Fiji with Air Transport Licenses for both helicopters and aeroplanes and is also a Chief Flying Instructor for helicopters with over 14,000 hours flying experience. Tim’s flying career has taken him to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands, Burma and India where he was involved in specialist helicopter long-lining operations in support of oil exploration and the construction of power lines.

He has had extensive experience in helicopter fire fighting, aerial filming and television work and has specialised in coordinating aviation stunts for the film industry. These have included riding the motorbike out of the back of an aeroplane, flying under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, bungy jumping from a helicopter and many others.

Tim’s flying career has placed him in a number of precarious situations. Probably none of them as dramatic as the time he and his helicopter was hijacked and forced to ‘rescue’ a notorious criminal from Sydney’s Silverwater jail in a hail of gunfire from the prison guards.

On 8 June 2004 he flew our especially modified skydiving aircraft from Australia to Fiji via New Caledonia and our tandem skydiving operations commenced soon after.

Ever since he was a small child Tim has been fascinated by flying. Throughout his career he has been involved in many facets of aviation from multi-crew instrument helicopter and aeroplane flying, aerobatics, gliding, ultra-lights, hang-gliding, ballooning and skydiving in countries all over the world. He says that skydiving, where you are flying your own body in freefall, is the ultimate in flying!

Tim believes that Tandem Skydiving is the easiest and best way he can share his passion for flying with you.

Phil Onis
Director/ Chief Instructor

Phil is the most experienced Skydiving Instructor in the Southern Hemisphere with over 21,000 jumps. He has owned and managed Australia’s busiest drop zone, the Sydney Skydiving Centre for many years and visits Fiji on a regular basis to oversee the operation.

Phil holds an Australian Parachute Federation Instructor Examiner rating, APF Senior Instructor Rating and is a Licensed Display Organiser. Many of his protégé are currently working in all parts of the world in the Skydiving Industry.

Phil is also a very experienced pilot with a class 1 instrument rating and over 3000 hours in single and twin engine turbine aircraft and helicopters. He owns many aircraft and flying and skydiving are his passion. Like Tim, Phil tries to fit the maximum into his life. His motto is “There’s plenty of time for lying around when your dead!”.

Janine Hayes aka “J9”

Mother, wife, friend, organiser, Skydiving Instructor & camera person.

Janine wrote a poem about jumping when she was 13 years old and started jumping in September 1981 at Labertouche in Victoria under Claude Gillard.

She migrated to Queensland and obtained her first Instructor Rating in 1985.

In 1985 she gained a pilot licence and helped operate a charter company.
Janine was also involved in the operation of a couple of small Drop Zones in Queensland until early 1990. She then returned to Victoria and worked for the Smedleys at Redcourt Drop Zone for ten years, instructing in Static Line and later Accelerated Free Fall (AFF).

In 2000 Janine gained her senior instructor rating and set up a boutique operation at Latrobe Valley called Victoria Aerial Skydives. Janine currently holds an Australian Parachute Federation chief instructor rating.

During her lengthy and impressive skydiving career Janine has represented Australia at World competitions in 1988, 1990,1991,1992,1994,1996 and 2003 in Style and Accuracy.

Janine has won gold in the “Swoop” competition at the Australian Nationals and won gold in the women’s accuracy event several times. In the 2003 Nationals, Janine won silver to her good friend and coach Tibor Glesk, by a margin of just 2cm. In that same year she was a member of the 81 way Australian Record.
She has been a Board Representative for the Australian Parachute Federation for the past 10 years and is currently the National Development Officer for the Australian Parachute Federation, on leave in the Pacific.

So as you can see Janine is totally committed to her love of skydiving. It is her passion, her business, her hobby and her career.

Ken, Janine and Alice (tandem passenger from Belgium)

Ken Hills aka “Hillsey”

Ken was born 22/6/50 in Newscastle Australia. He started jumping in August 1970 and was a competitor at the 1st World Meet in New Zealand in 1972.

Ken was also a member of the Australian Parachute team at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, USA in 1973. At the 1974 World Meet Ken won a silver medal
In the10 Man Speed star team, “Joint Effort.”

From 1973-1978 Ken worked for the Pope Valley Parachute Ranch in California.
Ken left with an Instructor rating and joined the staff of Tahelquah Oklahoma Parachute Centre, later buying the business. In 1983 heleft with an Instructor rating for Static Line and AFF, a Pilot’s Licence, 1000 flying hours and a Rigger’s rating.

Ken worked for Lodi Parachute Centre in California as an AFF Instructor. In 1983 I flew back to Australia and introduced the AFF programme at the Nationals in Corowa completing Australia’s first AFF jump with Paul Osborne and Tony Edwards.

Between 1984 and 1987 Ken returned to the USA to work as an instructor at Lodi, Antioch & Skydance Skydiving.

When Ken returned to Australia in 1987 he worked as a freefall photographer and relative work coach until 1990.

In 1988 Ken was coach & captain of the Australian 8 Way canopy formation team which competed at the World Championships winning Australia’s 1st Gold Medal.

Ken later worked as an AFF and Tandem Instructor at Redcourt skydiving centre in Victoria until 2000 when he joined Janine at Aerial Skydives in Latrobe Valley, Victoria as a Tandem Instructor

AIRCRAFT

Skydive Fiji is operating an especially modified Cessna aircraft which has been fitted with a large Continental IO-550 fuel injected engine to enable it to climb quickly to high altitudes. This large engine coupled with a three bladed propeller also means that the engine operates at a lower RPM on takeoff dramatically reducing engine and propeller noise.

The Cessna is also fitted with custom made in-flight opening door which not only enables comfortable skydiving operations but is ideal also for search and rescue operations and aerial photography.

Skydive Fiji’s aircraft carries up to five skydivers. It allows two tandems and an extra camera person on each load.

Janine, Danielle (tandem passenger from Melbourne) and Cookie