For those of you who want to take up skydiving as a sport and may want to do more than one jump.
Your first jump will be from 3,500 feet. You are connected to the plane with a static line, which will open your parachute for you as soon as you leave the plane. Once your canopy has opened (which takes about 4 seconds), you will have complete control to steer it down for a safe, soft landing.
Your jump course takes place over a weekend, with training by a BPA-qualified instructor on the Saturday and then a brief refresh and jump on Sunday. We will supply transport to Netheravon, the dropzone where you train, usually on the Friday night before your course. You'll stay over in the onsite bunkhouse, so you will need to bring a sleeping bag for the weekend.
The course progresses through a series of levels, so when you have proven your ability at one level you will be able to progress onto a more difficult jump. The levels are as follows, most of which you will need to do well twice:
| Static Line | Designed to practise the position you will need for freefall, you leave the plane and your parachute opens automatically. |
| Dummy Pull | The same as a static line, except you pull a flag from where your ripcord will be. This shows that you will be able to pull your own ripcord when you do a freefall jump. |
| 3 Second Freefall | You will perform the same actions as you did for your dummy pulls, except this time it will be for real! |
| 5, 10 and 15 Second Freefalls | Progress through a series of short freefalls, jumping from a higher altitude each time. |
| Using Altimeter | Do a freefall of about 15 seconds, but instead of counting to 15 you use your altimeter to decide when to open your parachute |
| Turns | Jumping from full altitude, you will learn to do 360 degree turns in both directions and pull your parachute at a safe altitude. You'll also be taught how to perform a dive exit. |
| Backloop | You'll exit the aircraft in the most unstable way possible and tumble for 5-10 seconds (this is great fun - believe me!) You'll then stablise yourself and do a few back somersaults in the air. |
| Tracking | This is about moving across the sky instead of just down. You'll learn how to track in a straight line, and also how to turn your track. The exit will be floating - you'll actually climb outside the plane and jump off! |
| Qualifier | This consists of a dive exit, turns both ways, a back loop and a bit of tracking all in the same jump. Complete this and you're a qualified skydiving the world over! |
If you do every jump perfectly then you will complete the RAPS course in 18 jumps, but most people need to repeat some of the jumps and end up taking 30-40 jumps to qualify.
To reserve you place on a training course get down to one of our socials at The Honest Politician on Wednesday nights from 8:00pm.
Website created by Ian Thomas and Andy Burgess
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