I have been promising myself a course to learn to skydive for years and I'm now adamant that this summer it's happening. Just wondering if anyone here knows any schools best sought out/avoided etc I'm going for the accelerated free fall course, so basically intensive week of class room and airborne stuff to go from 0 to qualified to jump on my own.
Hi Joe 400 jumps and loved every minute, hung my suit up for now but was trained by the best in the business (ex SAS para) does AFF in uk and abroad in Spain and California as weather is more conducive to jumping. Generally if you go through the levels you can be solo jumping in 9 jumps and A licence in 18! Pm me for his details if you're interested. Nige
Thanks for replies. I have looked at them as a school but waiting to hear back on potential few hundred quid saving at a school in Devon. I know it's not something to be stingy on but I hardly think they will sabotage my chute for asking about a price match haha. I plan to get all of it done in one hit so should be an awesome few days!
no worries, just make sure that rig hire and packing fees are included in the price, also cost of jump tickets
Are you the student in the video I take it? Not watched vids for few months, got me all fired up for it again now, have to go climbing instead for now.
I'm the camera, so the guy at the beginning with the white shades and some reflections. Students are not allowed to jump in groups until progressed to FS1 and FF1 qualifications. The video is "hybrid" and need specialist free fly friendly gear also.
Good video Nigel. I would appreciate you giving some more details as it's tricky to work out exactly what went on. Did your main chute fail to deploy and then you used the reserve ?
The plan is to get a LOT of skydiving and base Jumping done then head over to free base climbing. Something our sadly lost inovator came up with. Essentially climbing ( on a select few appropriate routes) with a chute instead of rope so if you fall you simply fly away. (he died doing something else for anyone who was about to question my sanity)
Throw up what prices & how it all works out please. Quite interested as I choose motorbiking rather than skydiving 8 years ago & its on my to-do list.
I did a tandem paraglide thingy for charity when the fuel shortage was on quite a few years ago. Got winched out of a field in Oxfordhire, damn winch ran out of fuel... I was the one at the front frantically fumbling with the cable to locate the release so we could unhook. Landed heavily and spent a few hours in A&E with suspected fractured ankle. Flew to Taiwan the next morning to hobble to a meeting on crutches... oh happy days, things seem kinda boring lately !
I've thought about doing it too. I was going to book a jump to see if It's for me. I'm not sure it's just something I want to try or something I want to do. I have a list of things I want to try.
Yeh, what the camera doesn't pick up is that the main pilot chute is out but the main is bag locked (pilot chute in tow) google it, it's a pretty nasty malfunction as if not stable when deploying the reserve the bridal can wrap around reserve lines as it deploys and added to that I was travelling at 134 mph! The reason I keep looking behind me is that when a reserve deploys, the free bag its contained in flies off, mine was located in the tractor factory next to drop zone.
Thanks for the explanation Nigel, not a pleasant experiance! I have a little understanding of what it's like to be plummeting towards the ground. Eons ago I foolishly blagged my way onto the second weekend of a paracending course that my mate was unable to attend. He had completed the first weekends training where they learnt how to acend/decend using a round mushroom shaped parachute and suggested I go along and blag my way onto the next stage the following weekend where we would be using the oblong shaped thing ( sorry can't remember what it's called) After an hour or so's revision of what they did last week I stood in line awaiting my go. The first person went up , towed by a landrover and it looked pretty straightforward, up they shot into the air, released the tow rope and down they came. I was next. Bearing in mind the highest I had been before was probably somewhere like the Efiel tower, it came as a bit of a shock to suddenly run behind the landrover with people on each side of the oblong thing holding it so the thing would inflate with the forward movement, and then bang next thing I know I'm about 600' in the air looking down between my legs at the tiny people on the ground and wondering why the person standing next to the landrover was frantically waving a bright flourescent baton back and forth. I remembered that this was the signal to disconnect the towline and frantically reached down to find the release catch. No release catch anywhere to be found-not good ! Man on the ground frantically waving flourescent baton realised I hadn't released , so disconnected the towline from the landrover. I started to decend rapidly as I still had 600' of tow line connected to me which I presume was extra weight hastening my rate of fall. I pretty much worked out I was going to die as the ground rushed towards me at an alarming rate, but just before I hit the ground I suddenly remembered the only instruction I had picked up which was as soon as you can make out individual blades of grass reach up and pull hard on the rear rigging handles to stall the wing. I jerked hard on the handles and hit the ground all thoughts of the parachute roll missing , Hell of a bang but I'm still alive. Dazed and confused the land rover came roaring up beside me, checked out I was o.k, my errors pointed out ( the release catch of course was there all the time, I was groping in the wrong place) and was asked if I wanted to go up again for another try straight away. Next thing I know I'm being towed up again, shot up into air like a missile, see the baton waving, reach down, undo the catch correctly and all good, thoroughly enjoyed the next 6 or so acents, spiraling slowly downward. Marvelous .
Lol Lol, reminds me of a trip to LILO in Spain, the DZ is about 2500ft above sea level and in parachuting terms means it's like downsizing 2 sizes of parachute, as a relative novice at the time we had agreed to land in the student area on the first jump, during decent decided that I would land in the experienced area instead and went for the turn in......big mistake! Higher altitude means less air density means much faster decent! Realised immediately I wasn't going to make an into wind landing and came screaming in "cross wind" sliding for a good 100ft before I bounced over the raised soil edge of what was the empty ( lucky for me) 4ft deep swoop pond!! As I came to an abrupt halt thinking nobody saw I stood up like a meerkat to rapturous applause! One of those memories you never forget!
I used to suffer from vertigo, so to try and overcome it I took up rock climbing, parachuting and gliding - all for free as I was RAF. The parachuting at Weston-on-the-Green ended on my 13th jump with a leg in plaster and some crutches. I still rode my Honda CBX550 home sitting on the crutches. The rock climbing was fine in the south of France but not my scene in wet north Wales. The Gliding was okay at Bicester but need loads of people for a short flight. I then turned to microlights and have one to this day, more independent, more fun and just like a 3D motorcycle.
